COLUMBUS — State prosecutors have indicated they will call Gov. Mike DeWine’s former chief of staff and her lobbyist husband as witnesses in the corruption trial of Ohio's former top utilities regulator and two former FirstEnergy Corp. executives.
The names were among many potential witnesses listed in a filing this week in Summit County Common Pleas Court by Special Assistant Attorney General Matthew Meyer.
The state is prosecuting Samuel Randazzo, former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; Charles “Chuck” Jones, former FirstEnergy president and CEO; and Michael Dowling, a former corporate vice chairman.
Many of the names on the witness list are already familiar either from testifying at or being brought up during last year’s federal racketeering trial of former House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney declined to comment. The office has already said the governor’s now counselor, Laurel Dawson, learned of the $4.3 million payment that FirstEnergy Corp. made to Mr. Randazzo as he was being vetted to chair the powerful Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Mr. DeWine’s office, however, has said she didn’t bring that information to the governor’s attention until after Akron-based utility revealed the payout was not the final installment to a Randazzo consulting contract it had been purported to be but rather a bribe.
Ms. Dawson is a long-time adviser to the governor, serving as his chief of staff when he was in Congress.
Also on the witness list is her husband. Michael Dawson, former staffer under Gov. George Voinovich and then U.S. Sen. DeWine and a former FirstEnergy lobbyist.
Not on the list is either Mr. DeWine or Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. The governor has said that Mr. Randazzo’s experience with FirstEnergy and big industrial users of electricity was a plus in his consideration of him for PUCO chairman.
The case relates to but goes beyond the $61 million bribery scandal that led to the Householder and Borges convictions, for which they are serving 20 year and five-year federal prison sentences, respectively.
At the heart of the scandal is the 2019 passage of House Bill 6, the law that promised a $1.3 billion customer-financed bailout of two struggling nuclear power plants that were weighing down a FirstEnergy subsidiary at the time.
Mr. Randazzo, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Dowling face 27 counts of bribery, theft, corruption, and other charges in connection with what the utility has already admitted was a scheme to bribe the incoming PUCO chairman to push House Bill 6 and take other action to help the corporate bottom line.
Mr. Randazzo also faces federal charges, but this case marks the first time that alleged executive decision-makers at FirstEnergy have been criminally charged.
The lengthy list of potential witnesses also includes former political strategist and Householder ally Jeff Longstreth and former Columbus lobbyist Juan Cespedes. Both pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and testified during the Householder-Borges federal trial in hopes of getting lenient sentences.
Robert Cupp, the former Ohio Supreme Court justice who replaced Householder as speaker of the House, is on the list. The prosecution indicated that he was interviewed as part of the investigation last fall.
Former state Rep. Dave Greenspan (R., Westlake) had testified at the federal trial and may be called again. His initial complaint to the FBI triggered the Householder investigation. He voted against House Bill 6, the bailout law at the center of the investigation, and ultimately lost his bid for re-election.
The witness list also includes current and former utilities commissioners, including Jenifer French, who replaced Mr. Randazzo as chairman, and staff members.
First Published April 2, 2024, 4:19 p.m.
