Trial related to Ohio House Bill 6 set to begin

A trial connected to Ohio’s controversial House Bill 6 is set to begin on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Two former FirstEnergy executives, CEO Chuck Jones and top lobbyist Michael Dowling, will face a jury in Summit County, Ohio. 

Prosecutors accuse them of orchestrating a bribery scheme.

This case centers around a $4.3 million payment made to former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo. Prosecutors say Jones and Dowling worked to get Randazzo appointed and then paid him to push policies that favored FirstEnergy. This included helping to pass House Bill 6 in 2019. That law provided significant financial benefits to the company, including a bailout worth more than $1 billion for two northern Ohio nuclear plants. Much of the law has since been repealed.

House Bill 6 was the infamous nuclear bailout bill, and was first introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives. It became the largest political corruption scheme in the state’s history. 

The federal trial and guilty verdict of former House Speaker Larry Householder helped bring to light some of the dark truths of Ohio’s political landscape.

The corruption scheme traded $60 million in bribes to influence powerful politicians to bailout two FirstEnergy nuclear power plants and two OVEC coal plants, one operating in Indiana.

According to Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, HB 6 utility subsidies alone cost $533,589 per day, totaling nearly $245 million collected already on utility bills.

Two former political activists and defendants, Randazzo and lobbyist Neil Clark, both reportedly died by suicide.

PUCO directly oversees investor-owned utility companies like FirstEnergy. In the state indictments, Randazzo and two former FirstEnergy executives were charged with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, including bribery, theft and fraud.