Dan McCarthy

FirstEnergy exec tried to keep DeWine aide’s name off of $10M transaction

BY: - February 8, 2023

CINCINNATI — In October 2019, as a battle raged over an attempt to repeal a $1.3 billion utility bailout, a FirstEnergy executive worked to keep the name of a senior aide to Gov. Mike DeWine off of a $10 million infusion of corporate cash into the fight.  The executive, Vice President Michael Dowling, did so […]

Householder trial: Millions in dark money used to call dark money “dirty”

BY: - February 1, 2023

CINCINNATI — In politics, logical and moral consistency often aren’t the highest priorities. That was starkly true in the 2018 campaign to make then-Rep. Larry Householder speaker in the legislative session that would begin the following January, according to evidence presented in federal court on Wednesday. Householder is accused of racketeering in a scheme to […]

After scandal broke, FirstEnergy lobbyist pushed DeWine on “covid response”

BY: - August 16, 2021

On Sept. 23, 2020, McKenzie K. Davis, a lobbyist with the Success Group, registered to lobby the administration of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on “covid response.” The timing is curious because only six weeks earlier, federal authorities announced they’d arrested then-Speaker Larry Householder and four associates in what they said was  “likely the largest bribery […]

Ohio governor won’t say he regrets picking regulator now at the center of historic utility scandal

BY: - August 12, 2021

A huge Ohio utility paid Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s pick to be the state’s top utility regulator millions and the regulator, Sam Randazzo, proceeded to do favors for the utility that were worth at least hundreds of millions, the utility and federal prosecutors have said. But more than a year into one of the biggest […]

DeWine reaffirms support for aides, despite their roles in scandal-tainted legislation

BY: - July 28, 2021

One staffer waited weeks — and until after an FBI raid — to inform Gov. Mike DeWine that FirstEnergy had paid Sam Randazzo a massive sum just weeks before DeWine nominated Randazzo to be Ohio’s top utility regulator. Another staffer, while still a FirstEnergy lobbyist, founded a dark-money group that would funnel tens of millions […]

COMMENTARY

Gov. DeWine doesn’t seem interested in holding staff and allies accountable in bribery scandal

BY: - July 28, 2021

Nothing to see here. Remain calm. All is well. No big deal. Everybody knew. That appears to be Gov. Mike DeWine’s reaction to the public finding out he appointed a FirstEnergy consultant to regulate utilities in Ohio the company now admits paying $4.3 million to do their bidding. As the fallout from the $61 million […]

FirstEnergy admits it controlled dark money group started by DeWine aide

BY: - July 23, 2021

The mammoth scandal surrounding a 2019 energy bailout appeared to creep closer on Thursday to the administration of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. FirstEnergy said in a deferred prosecution agreement that the man DeWine appointed to lead the Public Utility Commission of Ohio took a $4.3 million payment and then acted on behalf of the Akron-based […]

U.S. attorney departs, but HB 6 investigation is far from over

BY: - March 1, 2021

The cruel fortunes of politics mean that David M. DeVillers stopped being the top federal law enforcement official for Southern Ohio on Sunday. But the attorney who last July announced the arrest of then-House Speaker Larry Householder, last week said the investigation that led to the arrest isn’t going anywhere.  The scandal surrounding what DeVillers said […]

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station with electricity pylons, Ohio. Getty Images.

DeWine refuses to explain aide’s role in bailout scandal

BY: - February 17, 2021

If you asked most people to start up a dark money group and then funnel more than $1 million through it and into another such group, they’d probably want to know what it was going to be used for. But now that the second 501(c)(4) dark-money group, Generation Now, has pleaded guilty to being at […]

Ohio AG files suit in mammoth bribery scandal

BY: - September 24, 2020

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday sued the players in a massive scandal that continues to roil state politics.  Yost is seeking to stop a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout from flowing to a Northern Ohio electric utility after a rate hike to pay for it that is scheduled to start Jan. 1. And he’s […]

DeWine might use former president of dark money group to lobby for another nuclear bailout

BY: - August 5, 2020

Not only does he intend to keep Dan McCarthy in his administration, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine might use McCarthy to lobby the legislature for another nuclear bailout. McCarthy, DeWine’s legislative affairs director, is a former lobbyist for FirstEnergy who set up a dark money group that funneled millions of corporate dollars into a second dark-money […]

COMMENTARY

Unaccountable dark money has corrupted Ohio politics. It’s time to require disclosure.

BY: - July 28, 2020

The ugly saga of alleged corruption, bribery, money laundering and racketeering on the part of Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four political operatives in Ohio lays bare a nasty truth in the Buckeye State: Unaccountable dark money has corrupted our politics, so now we must demand the legislature act to require disclosure. The mechanism […]