The Senator & The Restaurateur
A longtime relationship between restauranteur Tony George and former state legislator Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) could hold the key to a major revelation in the fallout from HB-6.
Ohio politics looked a lot different in July 2019.
House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was at the height of his political powers. He had successfully regained the Speaker’s gavel after vanquishing his chief rival, State Rep. Ryan Smith, in a Republican Civil War that Householder won with an assist from a (almost) unanimous Democratic House Caucus.
Our sweet boy Larry had successfully pushed HB-6, which we now know was the largest bribery scheme in state history (that we know about), through the Ohio House.
But Householder had a problem. The legislation had seemingly stalled in the Senate. And worse, a “decoupling” provision still needed to be added to the bill.
Decoupling would allow FirstEnergy, the corporation that since admitted to paying $60 million on political bribes in the $1 billion scheme, to charge ratepayers an extra $355 million and guarantee a yearly company revenue of $978 million.
“It fixes our base revenues, and essentially it takes about one-third of our company, and I think makes it somewhat recession-proof,” then-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones would tell investors later that year.
In their moment of need, with HB-6 at the goal line, Jones and Householder would find an unlikely ally in then-State Senator Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland).
Senator Williams would sponsor the decoupling amendment, a major win for FirstEnergy.
We know this because Chuck Jones and then-FirstEnergy executive Michael Dowling texted about their little scheme the night before Williams (known as “Senator 5” in FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution agreement) introduced the amendment.
From Seth A. Richardson of cleveland.com in July 2021:
Dowling: Budget conferees are meeting now – so budget looks good to go (or they wouldn’t be meeting). Our SEET (Significant Excessive Earnings Test) language is in the bill. Still awaiting word on HB6 but our intel is that [Official Aide 1], [State Official 2] and [Public Official B] are still trying to get [FirstEnergy Solutions] some more years.
Jones: Decoupling?
Dowling: Will be offered tomorrow by [Senator 5] with help from [Senator 6]. Stupid they’re making her offer it, but we are convinced there’s no monkey business. It’s greased.
Williams introduced the decoupling provision the day after the text exchange, which eventually made its way into the bailout bill.
Williams was the lone Senate Democratic co-sponsor of HB-6, which, again, was a terrible energy policy even before considering the obvious corruption that propelled the legislation through the Ohio Legislature.
Williams has not been charged with any crime. But she curiously acted like she had dementia when, a year after Larry Householder’s arrest, she got asked about the particulars of her proposal.
Again, from Richardson:
Williams said she did not have a clear recollection of how she came to sponsor the decoupling amendment or who in leadership wanted her to do so. She recounted a text exchange with Ty Pine, FirstEnergy’s then-director of state affairs, who said he had heard a rumor that leadership wanted her to sponsor the decoupling measure. Williams said she responded that she didn’t know anything about that. Pine did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Williams said she does not remember the specifics of how the amendment came to be, other than her office had the amendment drafted.
“Decoupling has been an issue that has come up for a long time in the state legislature, but specific to House Bill 6 or any other legislation that was going through, I do not recall,” Williams said. “I don’t even recall doing it, but I guess it is mine because I’m on record doing so.”
She said she did not know what the two executives meant by the amendment being “greased.”
“I would have to say you would have to ask them on that one,” Williams said. “No idea.”
These are the types of statements people make when they’re either wildly incompetent at their job or trying to distance themselves from the disgustingly corrupt legislation they sponsored for some reason.
But according to a well-connected political source who spoke to The Rooster, Williams’ involvement has a simple explanation.
Senator Williams raised an eye-popping $197,251 in 2020, according to opensecrets.org. That’s a rather insane number for a member who belongs to a superminority party.
She got there with help from the likes of Cleveland area businessman Tony George ($13,000), FirstEnergy Corp ($12,292) and First Energy-connected Pennsylvania businessman Chuck Betters ($13,000), who had a significant interest in a Democratic Senator in Ohio for some reason.
Those three names appear prominently in a federal government exhibit detailing the scheme that eventually sent Householder to prison for 20 years.
George, for his part, was mentioned at the first HB-6 trial more than Matt Borges, the former Ohio Republican Party chairman who was also found guilty as Householder’s co-defendant.
His connections to FirstEnergy and HB-6 run as deep as any private citizen’s could.
From John Caniglia of cleveland.com in August 2021:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Tony George, the prominent Westlake businessman and political rainmaker, has long been a recipient of FirstEnergy Corp.’s largesse, benefitting from billboard contracts, property leases and contributions to a nonprofit in honor of one of his children, a state audit released Tuesday shows.
The document outlines a longtime financial relationship that goes well beyond most business dealings. FirstEnergy paid George’s businesses $35,000 a month in rent for a warehouse on Euclid Avenue, $400,000 to be an “alternative energy consultant” and $47,000 to develop FirstEnergy credit and debit cards, according to the report.
Or this, from Jeremy Pelzer of cleveland.com in August 2022:
COLUMBUS, Ohio— New documents reveal a close relationship between Cleveland restaurateur Tony George and FirstEnergy in the House Bill 6 bribery scheme, with George acting as an intermediary between top FirstEnergy officials and now-indicted former House Speaker Larry Householder.
George, who has extensive financial connections with FirstEnergy, was so close to Householder and FirstEnergy executives that they together attended Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017, according to Tracy Ashton, FirstEnergy’s assistant controller, in a deposition transcript made public Friday in a state filing by the office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.
According to the source, George ran around Cleveland, bragging about getting Senator Williams to sponsor the decoupling amendment. “He told 500 people,” the source estimated.
Williams’ inspiration to sponsor the amendment came from the type of donation that doesn’t appear on legislators’ campaign finance reports.
In return for sponsoring the crucial element to HB-6 in the Senate, George and First Energy would financially back Williams’ run for Cleveland mayor, which she eventually launched in 2021.
That run for mayor, however, came after the Householder arrest.
And wouldn’t you know it? The promised money from George, Betters and FirstEnergy never materialized to disastrous effects on the Williams campaign.
The current speculation in Cleveland among those following the ongoing HB-6 investigation is that Williams has flipped and cooperated with investigators. She would certainly have the motive after her humiliating finish in the Democratic primary in which she was the only woman running.
But wanting to do my journalistic diligence, I obtained Mr. George’s phone number and gave him a ring Tuesday night to ask about his alleged involvement with Ms. Williams.
I figured that George would tell me to go fuck myself. But I got to explain why some random blogger called him at 8:47 p.m. on a weeknight.
“I’ve got it on good authority you were the one who pushed her to offer the amendment, and in exchange … your group and FirstEnergy would back her in the mayoral race. And when that blew up [with Householder’s arrest], you guys backed out of the deal," I said.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” George said.
“Listen,” he continued. “I’m not going to talk to somebody over the phone, first of all. I don’t even know who you are. This number comes up—you’re in some other county. I don’t know who gave you my number. If you want to talk, you have to come up here personally, number one. Number two, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
George did have some idea of what I was talking about because he detailed his long and storied history as a financial supporter of Williams’ political career.
“I can tell you I have always supported her,” George said. “She’s been great for government up here. She’s done a great job as a State Representative and a State Senator—for her whole community and her whole district.
“And I support about one hundred elected officials,” George said.
“Did you donate to her mayoral campaign?” I asked.
“I donate to everybody,” George said.
“Did you donate to her mayoral campaign?”
“If you look at a list of who I give money to, I give to both sides,” George, who recently hosted a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said.
“If you’re running for office, and you’re good for government, I would probably give you money,” he said.
“I appreciate that,” I said.
“Thank you for calling, and have a good night,” George said before hanging up the phone.
You can listen to the call in full here:
I didn’t expect George to confess to a criminal conspiracy, though it certainly would have been a lot cooler and better for my business if he did.
But I did find it noteworthy that, for some reason, he immediately started talking like a mafia boss saying that he “didn’t talk over the phone” and that I had to come to Cleveland and talk to him personally. Let the record state that I have been looking for a reason to ride my bike to Cleveland and will gladly take him up on that.
But it was curious that he refused to give a straight answer when asked repeatedly a straightforward question like, “Did you donate to [Williams'] mayoral campaign?”
George had supported her throughout her career—going back to her time in the Ohio House—but that support suddenly evaporated when she ran for mayor.
Was she no longer good for the government? Or was she no longer good for Tony George? I guess we’ll never know… unless George is in the next wave of arrests that insiders tell The Rooster is almost assuredly coming in the ongoing HB-6 investigation.
THOSE WMDs. How he survived for 13 days: Calvacante on the run in Pennsylvania… Scientists have spent 40 years trying to understand salt… The trad wife is pioneer burlesque… How cars ruin wild animals’ lives… Inside the expensive, very strange race to “de-age.”
Skin crawling at 6:27 am… blech. I hate politics in Ohio.
This is fucking great stuff, DJ. Excellent, as always.