Ohio House and Senate Democrats say Attorney General Dave Yost’s state investigation of the FirstEnergy bribery scandal is “laudable,” but they claim Mr. Yost will not be able to detach from Republican Party politics and follow the case into Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.
“The office itself is dependent for financial resources on those it would investigate or bring charges against,” Democratic House and Senate leaders say in a letter to U.S. Attorney Ken Parker.
The Statehouse Democrats used a news conference Thursday to call on Mr. Parker to wage a federal investigation following up on the Yost indictments.
The Democrats’ call for a more independent investigation than Mr. Yost’s prejudges the indictment and should not deter the state attorney general. But the additional pressure will help buttress his investigation.
State charges against former First Energy CEO Charles Jones, Executive Vice President Michael Dowling, and former Public Utilities of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo, brought through AG Yost’s Organized Crime Investigations Commission, prompted the Democrats to call for a federal takeover.
Specifically, what the Democrats want probed is the payment of $4.3 million by FirstEnergy to PUCO Chairman Randazzo that was made just prior to his appointment by Governor DeWine and which was disclosed to Chief of Staff Laurel Dawson, who claims she did not share that information with the governor — as indicated by the indictment brought by Mr. Yost’s task force.
FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution agreement with Mr. Parker acknowledges the payment was a bribe.
Legislative Democrats are calling on the U.S. Attorney to investigate why a potential crime was simply ignored by the governor’s staff. The suspicion of honest services fraud in the mystifying inaction justifies further investigation.
The Blade Editorial Board has made the same point, that the federal investigation that convicted bribe-takers Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges while leaving the bribe-payers at FirstEnergy uncharged is a clear injustice.
So far Mr. Yost is the only prosecutor probing that aspect of the scandal so we trust his integrity. But the Democrats are right that U.S. Attorney Parker needs to get in the game on the rest of his conspiracy case.
The PUCO is no longer waiting on Mr. Parker’s probe; like Mr. Yost they’ve begun an investigation of FirstEnergy.
The Statehouse Democrats lament to Mr. Parker that there is no support from the DeWine administration for needed reforms to fight corruption in the capitol.
They must have forgotten that they could have supported a House Speaker who pledged to make as his priority a bill enacting many of the ethics reforms they themselves have introduced. Instead, they voted to help install Rep. Jason Stephens who has totally ignored ethics reform legislation.
Statehouse Democrats may have killed ethics reform momentum with their political miscalculation, but they are correct that Governor DeWine and the Republican majority owe Ohioans legislation that responds to the crisis of corruption in the Capitol.
They are also correct that U.S. Attorney Parker needs to show investigative activity on the full scope of crime behind the bribery conspiracy which produced a $1.3 billion bailout for FirstEnergy.
First Published February 27, 2024, 5:00 a.m.
