Householder did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Householder and four other men were arrested by FBI agents in July and charged in U.S. District Court with federal racketeering. U.S. Attorney David DeVillers described it as a $60 million bribery scheme to elect pro-Householder legislators, get him elected speaker and then pass and defend a $1.3 billion bailout bill for an Ohio-based company that owns two nuclear power plants.
“Our campaign finance and elections team has spent countless hours digging deep into campaign finance reports — connecting the dots and building on the work done by the FBI as detailed in their criminal complaint,” said LaRose in a written statement. “Today’s referral to the Ohio Elections Commission is the next step in continuing to hold Rep. Householder and his cronies accountable.”
Lobbyists Juan Cespedes and Neil Clark, former Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges and political strategist Jeff Longstreth have each pleaded not guilty to racketeering. Householder, who is still seeking legal counsel, is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 3.
LaRose said his team found evidence that corporations improperly gave corporate money to elect candidates in 2018 and 2020, shell companies were used to hide contributions, people converted campaign money for personal use and money was used to run a counter-campaign that used threats and intimidation tactics.
State Rep. Nino Vitale accused of campaign finance violations https://t.co/D6qHPZ8PGr
— Dayton Daily News (@daytondailynews) August 27, 2020
The full referral to the Ohio Elections Commission can be found by clicking here.
After Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 6 into law in July 2019, opponents organized a referendum campaign to block it from taking effect. A counter-campaign was launched to defend HB6. The referendum failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and the law went into effect in October.
The law weakens Ohio’s renewable energy standards and energy efficiency programs that have been in place for a decade and it provides subsidies for coal-fired plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Company and subsidies for two nuclear power plants owned by Akron-based Energy Harbor.
Energy Harbor was formerly known as FirstEnergy Solutions, which previously was a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp.
On Wednesday, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a fee that will be added to 4.8 million ratepayers’ electricity bills across the state starting in January. The Clean Air Fund rider will generate the subsidies for the nuclear power plants.
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