Justified Outrage, Misplaced Aggression: Don’t Take the Bait
Every time a particularly toxic piece of legislation crawls out of the Ohio Statehouse and into the headlines, the routine is painfully predictable.
Chain emails immediately start spamming the inbox of whatever state representative or state senator happens to have their name slapped on the top of the bill as the primary sponsor. Protests assemble on the Statehouse steps, generally organized by well-intentioned patriots who simply have their sights set on the wrong target.
It makes for great theater. And I am sure that it feels cathartic. There is just one small problem: those patriots are screaming at the wrong person.
Whether the target is Jerry Cirino for the implications of Senate Bill 1, Shane Wilkin for being the “author,” of House Bill 6, or Gary Click for House Bill 68, the sponsor is nothing more than a patsy. It was never even their idea in the first place.
Anytime that a controversial bill is passed into law down on Cap Square, it is because the Speaker of the Ohio House, Matt Huffman, or the President of the Ohio Senate, Rob McColley, have a vested interest in the measure, they just don’t want their name to be on it.
Whoever gets tapped to carry the bill is nothing more than a loyal, brown-nosing, foot soldier who is willing to absorb the public backlash in order to build what they perceive to be political capital with their respective legislative overlord.
The sponsor of the bill is a powerless, lowly, subordinate desperate for a scrap of influence, a committee gavel, or a head-pat.
The real architects know better than to put their names on the hot-button, radioactive stuff. Why take the black eye yourself when you have an endless line of politically ambitious sycophants eager to do it for you?
Exhibit A: The Insurance Salesman Who “Wrote” HB 6
The most recognizable example of this phenomenon occurred during the drafting process of House Bill 6, the $1.3 billion ratepayer-funded bailout which currently holds the undisputed title for the most egregious display of political corruption in Ohio’s history.
So corrupt that it sent former House Speaker Larry Householder to federal prison for 20 years.
But when HB 6 was introduced, whose name was on it as the bill’s primary sponsor? Representative Shane Wilkin.
Before assuming his role as a mindless yes man in Columbus, Shane Wilkin was a southern Ohio county commissioner and an insurance salesman. By virtually any definition known to man, Wilkin had zero background, zero expertise, and zero credentials in complex energy policy, utility grid mechanics, or nuclear power economics.
So how did an insurance agent suddenly become the intellectual force behind a sweeping restructuring of Ohio’s energy laws?
He didn’t.
Larry Householder needed a frontman. During his ruthless campaign to grab the Speaker’s gavel, Householder bankrolled Wilkin’s primary campaign against an incumbent Republican, buying Wilkin’s seat and earning his eternal, subservient loyalty.
When it came time to push through a corrupt utility bailout engineered by FirstEnergy executives, Householder knew exactly who to call.
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