COLUMBUS — Democratic state Rep. Jeff Crossman, of Parma, on Thursday announced that he will seek his party's nomination to do battle next fall with Republican Attorney General Dave Yost.
In the middle of his second two-year term in the Ohio House of Representatives, the attorney and former Parma city councilman has been among his party's more prominent faces responding to the Republican scandal in the Statehouse that has the chamber's former speaker facing federal racketeering charges.
“We have an attorney general now that has been asleep at the switch during the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history,” Mr. Crossman told The Blade. “He's filed a few civil cases, but there's been no (state) criminal charges, no investigations, nothing.
“The state of Ohio has concurrent jurisdiction to file criminal charges against all the players in the nuclear bailout scandal,” he said. “It's been, quite frankly, malfeasance that the attorney general hasn't done anything on the criminal side of things.”
Mr. Crossman, 49, who spent five years on city council, represents the 15th House District that includes part of Cleveland and some of its neighboring working-class communities. He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology and political science from the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, a Master's from the University of Akron, and his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
He practiced law in the private sector before running for city council. This marks his first run for statewide office.
Mr. Yost, a former state auditor and Delaware County prosecutor, is seeking the GOP nomination for a second four-year term as the state's top lawyer.
Mr. Crossman was among the leading Democrats who pushed for former House Speaker Larry Householder's ouster from the chamber earlier this year as the now-former legislator awaits trial on racketeering charges related to the $61 million bribery scheme involving FirstEnergy Corp. The scheme led to passage of a $1 billion consumer bailout of two nuclear power plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary in 2019.
He has called for members of Gov. Mike DeWine's administration that had ties to FirstEnergy to resign and has introduced several anti-corruption bills that have gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled House. Last week he joined with Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) to introduce bills to go after state vendors found to have defrauded taxpayers.
Mr. Yost made some high-profile moves in the wake of Mr. Householder's indictment, suing to block the nuclear subsidies promised in the tainted legislation and freezing assets of some of the major players in the scandal. Also facing criminal charges in the scandal is Matt Borges, a lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chairman. He served as Mr. Yost's campaign manager during his successful 2010 run for state auditor.
Going into his fourth statewide run, Mr. Yost had $1.7 million banked as of the last campaign finance filing in July, dwarfing the roughly $31,000 in Mr. Crossman’s campaign.
“A guy who voted for Larry Householder as speaker doesn’t bring a lot of credibility to this race,” Yost campaign spokesman Amy Natoce said. “Dave Yost is the one who went to court and sued FirstEnergy and took back $2 billion for Ohioans. Dave will run on his record protecting Ohioans.”
She said that criminal prosecution authority lies with county prosecutors, who would have to invite the attorney general's involvement.
“In this instance, Franklin County prosecutor has original jurisdiction,” she said. “If he wants to give the AG authority, he’d be happy to file suit. Shouldn’t someone running for attorney general know the authorities of the office he is seeking?”
Mr. Crossman filmed his campaign announcement video outside the empty parking lot of a local factory.
“I rode the school bus every day twice a day past that factory where my grandparents ultimately retired from,” Mr. Crossman said in an interview, getting emotional. “You see that parking lot, it gets me here. I'm angry that Ohioans have lost good-paying jobs...Their legacy has been betrayed by decisions being made out of Columbus...I understand why people are angry at Columbus and Washington D.C.”
Democrats have been slow so far in rolling out their full slate of candidates to challenge the Republicans who hold every statewide executive office.
So far, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley are vying for the nomination to challenge Gov. Mike DeWine in 2022. Chelsea Clark, city councilman in Forest Park near Cincinnati, is the only Democrat to date to announce a challenge to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
No candidate has been announced yet to challenge Treasurer Robert Sprague, the former state representative from Findlay.
First Published December 16, 2021, 2:30 p.m.