COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s governor and lieutenant governor have been implicated in a lawsuit against FirstEnergy Corp. involving a $60 million bribery scheme concocted by the Akron-based energy company and a now-imprisoned House speaker.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine received a subpoena for documents in the case dated Nov. 17. This was first reported by cleveland.com. His spokesperson, Dan Tierney, stated that the governor’s legal team is evaluating the order.
The subpoena seeks any communications DeWine might have had with FirstEnergy, executives named in the lawsuit or Sam Randazzo, the state’s former top utility regulator, related to former House Speaker Larry Householder efforts to secure power, the tainted $1 billion nuclear bailout legislation Householder championed in exchange for the bribes, and a variety of other related topics.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, also a Republican, was issued a similar subpoena. According to a court filing, he is set to be deposed in the case between Feb. 28 and March 19.
“We’re aware of the civil investor lawsuit against FirstEnergy,” said Husted spokesperson Hayley Carducci in an email. “The Lt. Governor has already provided public records pertaining to this, and we will continue to comply as we have done in the past. There’s no new information to disclose.”
The civil lawsuit is separate from a separate criminal case where Householder, lobbyist Matt Borges, and two others have been found guilty. A fifth man charged died by suicide in 2021. Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Borges received five.
Tierney stated that no one in the DeWine administration has been subpoenaed or identified as under investigation in the criminal probe. Nor has Randazzo, the governor’s pick for the chairmanship of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, whose Columbus townhome was searched by the FBI in November 2020.
As chair of the commission, Randazzo held immense sway over the fortunes of FirstEnergy and other investor-owned utilities.
During his confirmation hearing, he testified before a state Senate committee that he was asked before DeWine and Husted took office on Jan. 14, 2019, to forgo plans to retire to Naples, Florida, where he owned an expensive waterfront home, and to return to government at the utility commission.
He specified during the confirmation hearing that Husted and Laurel Dawson, DeWine’s then-chief of staff, were among those who helped recruit him. DeWine disregarded concerns raised at the time, as well as pleas from GOP insiders, as reported by the AP in December 2020.
When he was Ohio House speaker in 2007, Husted appointed Randazzo to the Public Utilities Commission Nominating Council. The two were allies in thwarting renewable and alternative energy mandates proposed by then-Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and opposed by a coalition of utilities led by FirstEnergy.
