Sixteen years ago, Rep. Larry Householder stepped down in the midst of an ethics investigation.Today, he appeared in federal court facing racketeering charges related to last year’s bailout of nuclear power plants.
Multiple lobbyists, and a top aide were charged as well. They could face up to 20 years in prison.
Five people arrested so far:
-Speaker @HouseholderOH
-Ex-@OhioGOP Chair/consultant @mattjborges
-Prominent lobbyist @NSCGRANTSTREET
-FirstEnergy Solutions/@EnergyHarbor lobbyist Juan Cespedes
-Householder aide Jeff Longstreth https://t.co/TgV7pmUwVw— Jeremy Pelzer (@jpelzer) July 21, 2020
The accusations in the early 2000’s that led to Householder leaving office centered around “bribery, fundraising irregularities, and kickback schemes involving caucus campaign vendors.”
Now Householder faces charges he orchestrated a $60 million scheme to pass the near billion-dollar nuclear power plant bailout, and then defeat an effort to repeal the measure through the petition process.
Householder was elected speaker with half of his votes coming from Democrat representatives. Perhaps not surprising given his opposition to protecting Ohio taxpayers, “Householder persuaded the conservative chamber to raise taxes to, among other things, protect local government funding. He encouraged members to never sign a no-tax pledge.”
Householder helped pass a regressive gas tax increase, and shove through a costly expansion of prevailing wage for local governments during his current, ongoing term as House Speaker.
A long list of Republican elected officials called for his ouster Tuesday, July 21, including the Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, and Governor. Democrat leadership called for him to resign as well, particularly relevant since they put him into the speaker role.
Of course, the nuclear bailout legislation was always questionable, giving hundreds of millions of dollars away with no strings attached in a way that distorts the energy market is bad policy. Now, we have to wonder if Ohioans are seeing new charges on their energy bills because opposition and efforts to repeal the bailout were impeded illegally.
The full charges are available here.