The Democrats That Enabled Householder
Like HB-6, Larry Householder's return to power couldn't have happened without aid from (some) of his Democratic colleagues.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Wednesday that while it was a shame about the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated on state taxpayers, it was “good policy” that should remain in effect.
Yesterday, Jessie Balmert of cincinnati.com reported:
COLUMBUS – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s legislative director was previously president of a dark money group accused of funneling money from FirstEnergy Corp. to Speaker Larry Householder’s efforts to gain control of the Ohio House, according to an Enquirer investigation.
Dan McCarthy, who now leads DeWine’s legislative efforts, was previously a lobbyist for Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., which had been asking lawmakers for a financial boost to save its nuclear plants in northern Ohio since 2016.
A couple hours of later, DeWine had a change of heart, calling for the Legislature to “repeal and replace” — that successful slogan from that time the Republicans failed to repeal and replace Obamacare — the most corrupt law in state history.
A notable about about-face.
Perhaps DeWine is starting to wonder why the FBI didn’t tip him about the two-year investigation into House Speaker Larry Householder.
After all, as Attorney General back in 2018 he received knowledge of an FBI investigation into then-Speaker of the House Cliff Rosenberger accepting bribes from the payday loan industry in exchange for stalling any modicum of reform. DeWine’s next call was to Rosenberger.
Three days after officially replacing Rosenberger as Speaker, Householder targeted that same industry as ripe for bribery.
DeWine claims he was surprised as the rest of us about Householder’s racketeering charges. If that’s true, the FBI is hunting bigger game than Householder and DeWine might need to consult a lawyer who is not himself.
Maybe his inner circle being aware of Householder’s racket isn’t enough to explain why he signed HB-6 into existence. But he was the Attorney General when ECOT swindled $1 billion from the public and nobody responsible saw the inside of a prison cell.
Enough conjecture about the Republicans. Today is about the Democrats that enabled Larry Householder in the first place.
FRED STRAHORN DIED FOR THIS!
Most Americans think term limits on politicians are a good thing, which is odd considering they are in fact bad. As the Statehouse found out this week, all term limits do is limit institutional memory. In Columbus, only the lobbyists can remember any time longer than eight years.
Consider the case of Larry Householder. Nineteen years ago, he was forced to leave the Speakership due to the pesky FBI poking around his “prodigious” fundraising ability.
A couple of DUIs and stints in Perry County in elected positions not powerful to command corporate bribes later, Householder decided to return to the Statehouse to finish what he started.
A Republican Civil War erupted between Householder and Interim Speaker Ryan Smith. Householder used a Statehouse floor spat between Smith and Democratic Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) as leverage to broker a deal with the Democrats.
There was only one Democrat that could remember Householder’s last stint as Speaker: Minority Leader Fred Strahorn, Dayton’s finest, who served in the Statehouse before and after term limits were enacted. While Strahorn conceded Householder was “a force of nature,” he didn’t support him for Speaker.
“Chaos is a ladder,” as Petyr Baelish used to say on Game of Thrones before the producers ruined the iconic franchise. Strahorn himself was term-limited, and new generation of Democrats decided to make their move.
Householder’s squishiness on unions — his wife belongs to one if you can believe that — meant he could single handily prevent Ohio from ever becoming a Right-to-Work state. Given the Democrats’ impotence in Columbus, many big unions like the influential AFL-CIO supported Householder’s bid.
Instead of asking why Big Labor wanted to get in bed with a career crook, Democrats like Emilia Sykes saw an opportunity. She threw Strahorn under the bus and brokered a deal with Householder for a promotion to House Minority Leader, another peg for her inevitable run for Congress.
In the end, 26 Democrats voted for Householder over Smith. Including what would become the Democrats’ new four-member leadership team.
Here is what future Assistant Minority Leader (and former prosecutor) State Rep. Kristin Boggs (Columbus) said on January 7th, moments after Householder officially vanquished Smith to his new role at Rio Grande College.
From Jeremy Pelzer of cleveland.com on January 7th, 2019:
State Rep. Kristin Boggs, a Columbus Democrat, said after the vote that she believes the House will be more bipartisan now under Speaker Householder, noting that she and other Democrats have spoken with him often in the weeks leading up to the vote.
“I feel comfortable calling on him and holding his feet to the fire about some conversations that we had," Boggs said. “And I believe, even as of today, I have a stronger line of communication to him than I had with previous members of the leadership team.”
Imagine thinking the Statehouse would ever be bipartisan, especially under a guy like Householder. Couldn’t be me. We’re talking about a guy who tried to run the same play on the FBI twice. But sure, go on and think he’s going to answer to the Assistant Minority Leader.
In her defense, Householder made a helluva case for himself. His kids had had sex since the last time he was chased out of town.
“Eighteen years changes a lot of people,” he said. "I think I’m a lot more patient than I was before. I mean, before I was the father of 5 sons. This time, I’m a granddad. And I think I’ve learned a lot of patience and I’ve become hopefully wiser.”
Being a grandpa made Householder so wise and patient that three days later he spoke into an FBI wiretap about his plans to extort the payday loan industry. By the time HB-6 was put on the Statehouse docket, no doubt Householder thought the $60 million scheme would put him over the top with other industries.
If he could will the worst energy law of the 21st century into existence, what couldn’t he do for YOUR corporation or industry? Gotta admit, it’d be an enticing offer if I were a corrupt businessman and not some random-ass Substack blogger.
Like his position to even be in the position to try to run this racket, HB-6 wouldn’t have become law without the help of House Democrats. Householder only needed 10 of them to make the deal that will inevitably send him to federal prison.
Six of them supported Householder for Speaker and voted for HB6:
Richard Brown (Canal Winchester)
Jack Cera (Bellaire)
Tavia Galonski (Akron)
Lisa Sobecki (Toledo)
Terrence Upchurch (Cleveland)
Thomas West (Canton)
Of those six, Brown was the only one that didn’t receive any money from FirstEnergy. The rest of them accepted a combined $16,500 — and that’s just the money we know about.
I’m most disappointed in Cera, who is out the door at the end of the year and will be the last Democrat from Appalachia to serve in Columbus for the foreseeable future. I was never a fan of his votes for the coal industry, but at least he seemed like an affable guy who was a dedicated public servant.
Four other Democrats did not support Householder for Speaker but somehow thought a bill bailing out two coal plants in Indiana and wiping renewable energy standards off the books sounded like good, honest public policy:
Catherine Ingraham (Cincinnati)
Joe Miller (Amherst)
John Patterson (Ashtabula)
John Rogers (Mentor-on-the-Lake)
Ingraham and Miller have not accepted any money from FirstEnergy. Patterson received $500 and Rogers donated $1,000 to charity after accepting $850 from what is the most corrupt company in the state according to everyone except its CEO.
From Robin Goist of cleveland.com:
AKRON, Ohio -- On a call with investors Thursday afternoon, FirstEnergy CEO Charles Jones said his company “acted ethically” in connection with efforts to pass House Bill 6 that federal prosecutors say were fueled by bribery.
This is a company that spent $800 million on stock buybacks and $60 million on bribes instead of just spending that money on its shitty nuclear plants. It sponsors the Cleveland Browns, a team owned by truckstop fraudster Jimmy Haslam.
If this is ethical, I would hate to see what he considers unethical.
[I am 62% sure that guy in the bottom left corner isn’t Kent Smith.]
Speaking of ethics, the House Democratic leadership team of Emilia Sykes, Kristin Boggs, Kent Smith (Euclid) and Paula Hicks Hudson (Toledo) would resign if they had any.
I don’t care whatever excuses they want to offer. I don’t care if Big Labor decided to get in bed with a career criminal. Householder oozed corruption, and corruption is a Cardinal Sin.
Householder committed a $1 billion heist on his constituents in exchange for a (in comparison) paltry $500,000 to payoff credit card debt and finance renovations at his Florida home.
The House Democratic leadership bought the country bumpkin jive like they were an 80-year-old at the Perry County Fair shaking hands with him at the Cake Walk.
None of them come from competitive seats. And it’s not like the House will accomplish anything until a new Speaker is named. We can do better. We deserve better.
Why shouldn’t the Democrats take a similar look in the mirror? After all, Householder would be just another member of the 99-member chamber if the Democrats had listened to Strahorn’s advice.
We’re talking about a leadership team that couldn’t prevent 10 of its members from voting for a brazenly corrupt law. Why should they get to retain the privilege of leading the caucus, especially if the Democrats are successful in breaking the GOP supermajority, which sadly is no sure thing thanks to the Republicans’ laser-like gerrymandering.
What’s the point of an opposition party that’s going to enable a $60 million bribery scheme and then fail to stop it, when it had the numbers to do both?
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