Head of JobsOhio board to be deposed in federal civil lawsuit against FirstEnergy

By Marty Schladen
Ohio Capital Journal

The chairman of the JobsOhio board, Josh Rubin, will be deposed Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in advance of a federal civil trial in which Akron-based FirstEnergy is the defendant, according to court records. 

In the suit, state pension systems and other investors accuse FirstEnergy of failing to tell them of “an illicit campaign to corrupt high-profile state legislators in order to secure legislation favoring the company.”

Larry Householder, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for his role in the scheme, which prosecutors called one of the biggest bribery scandals in state history.

After a hung jury, FirstEnergy’s former top executives face a second state criminal trial over their involvement.

Rubin served as an advisor to the executives and then formally signed on as a lobbyist. He and JobsOhio didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Financially struggling FirstEnergy in 2018 and 2019 paid more than $60 million through 501(c)(4) dark money groups to pass and protect a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout related to Ohio House Bill 6.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the law and briefly defended it as good policy even after the FBI started making arrests in 2020.

His administration had numerous connections to FirstEnergy and the legislation, including a legislative affairs director who, as a FirstEnergy lobbyist, started one of the dark-money groups through which the utility funneled $25 million.

DeWine’s then-lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, was a staunch supporter of the bailout.

In 2017, FirstEnergy made a $1 million dark money contribution to an independent political group supporting Husted, although a spokeswoman said it wasn’t affiliated with Husted.

DeWine’s nominee to chair the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Sam Randazzo, received a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy just before his appointment. While working as head of the state utility regulator, Randazzo helped write the bailout legislation.

After Randazzo was charged criminally, he became one of two participants in the scandal to die by suicide.

Rubin, who is scheduled to be deposed in the civil litigation, is a longtime advisor to DeWine. In September 2023, DeWine made Rubin chairman of JobsOhio, the state’s controversial economic development agency. 

JobsOhio is legally exempt from most open meetings and records laws even though it was created by the legislature, the governor appoints its board, and it leases the state’s lucrative liquor franchise for much less than it’s worth.

JobsOhio has used more than $2 billion in proceeds from the arrangement to make grants and loans to private businesses — including FirstEnergy — in the name of economic development.

Rubin’s appointment to chair the JobsOhio board is also controversial among good government watchdogs because he is a lobbyist with dozens of clients, including many that are seeking money from JobsOhio. 

One of his clients, Intel, has received more than $150 million in commitments from JobsOhio and more than $2 billion from DeWine’s executive branch, which Intel is paying Rubin to lobby.

Before he joined the JobsOhio board, Rubin advised FirstEnergy’s top executives.

On Dec. 18, 2018, just after they were elected, DeWine and Husted attended a dinner meeting with FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Vice President Michael Dowling at the Columbus Athletic Club.

Rubin, who would within weeks become a FirstEnergy lobbyist, was there. The men discussed Randazzo’s suitability to be the state’s top regulator of the monopoly industry FirstEnergy was a part of, court proceedings showed.

Rubin advised the executives not to tell DeWine that they were going straight from the dinner to meet with Randazzo, the Associated Press reported in February. 

It was at that meeting at Randazzo’s German Village condo that the $4.3 million bribe was negotiated, prosecutors said.

An audit performed by the utility commission after the conspiracy had been exposed found that FirstEnergy paid Rubin’s lobbying firm, the CJR Group, $300,000 between 2018 and 2019.