{"id":326,"date":"2023-01-26T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/the-new-mt-rushmore-householder-trial-updates-2-and-a-look-back-into-the-scandal\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:27:56","slug":"the-new-mt-rushmore-householder-trial-updates-2-and-a-look-back-into-the-scandal","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/the-new-mt-rushmore-householder-trial-updates-2-and-a-look-back-into-the-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Mt. Rushmore: Householder Trial Updates #2 and a Look Back into the Scandal"},"template":"","class_list":["post-326","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Larry Householder and Matt Borges\u2019 trial has been postponed until Monday, Jan. 30 because a juror tested positive for COVID.\u00a0 In the meantime, let\u2019s go back in time.\u00a0\u00a0","featured_image":"","article_type":153,"authors":"","related_issues":[423,105],"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"By Sandy Theis, former reporter and political analyst\r\n\r\nNew Faces on Mount Rushmore<\/b>\r\n\r\nIt was July 2019, and FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones just had to gloat.<\/span>\r\n\r\nGov. Mike DeWine had just signed House Bill 6 \u2014 a law designed to stick electricity customers with the cost of bailing out <\/span>nuclear power plants owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cHB6 - F*** ANYBODY WHO AIN\u2019T US,\u2019\u2019 Jones crowed in a text to Sam Randazzo, the <\/span>utility lawyer who DeWine had appointed chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio<\/span><\/a> a few months before. The text included a <\/span>photoshopped picture of Mount Rushmore<\/span> with the presidents\u2019 faces replaced with those of Randazzo, two FirstEnergy executives and a coal company executive\u2014the people Jones viewed as vital to finalizing the billion-dollar bailout.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nAlthough the <\/span>utility executives have since been fired<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>FirstEnergy now admits to bribing Randazzo<\/span><\/a>, none of the people Jones put on Mount Rushmore have been charged in the on-going investigation. But former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (who didn\u2019t make the mountain) is <\/span>standing trial for racketeering<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAccording to the U.S. Department of Justice, Householder secretly controlled a dark money group that received about $60 million from FirstEnergy, used some of it to enrich himself and some to win the Speaker\u2019s job and pass the bailout.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSo why is Householder on trial and not the lobbyists who helped collect and direct the alleged bribes or the now-former utility regulator who FirstEnergy said accepted its bribes?<\/b>\r\n\r\nWe posed that question to some of the bailout\u2019s toughest critics.<\/b>\r\n\r\nNed Hill<\/span><\/a>, a professor of economic development at Ohio State University, referenced <\/span>John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, the sculptor who gave us the <\/span>real<\/span><\/i> Mount Rushmore. <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Householder couldn\u2019t be on Mount Rushmore because he was the guy who carved the sucker,\u2019<\/i><\/b>\u2019 <\/span><\/i>Hill said.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nHe described the scandal as so complex \u201cand of such high magnitude that it\u2019s like trying to make a distinction among mortal sins.\u2019\u2019<\/span>\r\n\r\nFormer PUCO Commissioner <\/span>Ashley Brown<\/span><\/a> offered this theory: <\/span>\u201cDid they get their perch on Mount Rushmore not only for completing the crime<\/i><\/b> but for getting away with it?\u2019\u2019<\/i><\/b>\r\n\r\nThen Brown grew serious and said he\u2019s eager to learn more about the roles played by Gov. DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThey (DeWine and Husted) are central to this whole thing,\u2019\u2019 said Brown, who now heads the <\/span>Harvard Electricity Policy Group<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThey set up meetings, they asked for money, <\/span>Husted recruited Randazzo <\/span><\/a>\u2026. DeWine even asked FirstEnergy for money to help his daughter become the Greene County Prosecutor.\u2019\u2019 At the time, <\/span>DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said <\/span>the Republican governor has made \"this type of ask\" for numerous groups over the years<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nUnraveling the Conspiracy<\/b>\r\n\r\nBefore a COVID-infected juror temporarily halted the trial this week, <\/span>jurors heard from veteran FBI agent Blane Wetzel<\/span><\/a>, who led the massive investigation. He explained how the case began with a tip from an informant he did not name, and he detailed information culled from wiretaps, informants, and more than 250 subpoenas.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was like peeling back the layers of an onion,\u2019\u2019 <\/i><\/b>Wetzel testified.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nHe discussed the\u00a0<\/span>early days of Householder\u2019s talks with officials from FirstEnergy<\/span><\/a>, a 2017 <\/span>trip to President Trump\u2019s inaugural aboard the Akron utility\u2019s jet<\/span><\/a> and pricey steak dinners in the nation\u2019s capital. Flying with Householder were Dowling, Cleveland<\/span> businessman Tony George, lobbyist and Cuyahoga County GOP leader Rob Frost and Householder's son, Luke.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSoon after, <\/span>utility executives cut a $250,000 check for Generation Now, the dark money group created to back Householder and the candidates who pledged to support him for the powerful job of House Speaker.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFirings at FirstEnergy<\/b>\r\n\r\nIn October 2020, <\/span>FirstEnergy fired Jones as its CEO and Dowling as a senior Vice President.<\/span><\/a> The company said a review by an independent committee of the board found the executives violated company policies and code of conduct. The firings followed a plea deal earlier in the day involving\u00a0two\u00a0people charged in the investigation. Both are expected to testify on behalf of the prosecution.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe DC dinners \u2014 including two in one night \u2014 came just weeks after Householder won his House seat. But the Republican politician was crafting a plan to become Speaker for the second time.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn the weeks leading up to the trip, Householder began to list allies already on Team Householder or those he and his team hoped would come aboard. Among <\/span>possible donors they targeted<\/span><\/a> for $250,000: FirstEnergy, Boich Company and Murray Energy. Those targeted for $100,000 included Columbus-based AEP Corp. and Castellini Management.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe <\/span>previously learned that Dowling incorporated Partners for Progress<\/span><\/a> in the state of Delaware instead of Ohio so it would be harder for the public to learn details about the group. The FirstEnergy-funded dark money group served as what the FBI has called an \u201cenergy pass-through.\u201d We also previously learned that Matt Evans, a coal company executive, <\/span>donated $125,000 to pro-HB 6 groups<\/span><\/a>. Dowling and Evans both made Mount Rushmore.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe know from the <\/span>Dayton Daily News<\/span><\/a> that <\/span>Akron-based FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions donated more than $1 million to nonprofit groups and political campaigns since 2017 to help elect DeWine. We know the figure includes <\/span>$400,000 from FirstEnergy Solutions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 hand-delivered to Householder in an Oct. 10, 2018, meeting. Householder remembered his manners;<\/span> \"$400k..thank you,\" he wrote in a text to Dowling.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe FBI\u2019s Wenzel took the jury back to Householder\u2019s first documented outreach to FirstEnergy in 2016 as the company was \u201cbleeding cash\u201d over its poorly managed<\/span> nuclear plants as energy prices plunged. In an August 2016 email to Dowling, Householder wrote: \"Can we arrange for a meeting in the next week or so?\"<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe Householder trial is complicated, but we should not let the complexity cloud the obvious.\u00a0 The photoshopped image of Mt. Rushmore highlights that the Householder trial isn\u2019t just about money, it\u2019s also about power.\u00a0 It also demonstrates the absurdity of the whole enterprise.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTake action today <\/b><\/a>and let the Ohio General Assembly know that it\u2019s time to create greater transparency and accountability in elections and government.<\/span>\r\n

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