Sam Randazzo
Ohio utility regulator front and center in massive bailout scandal
CINCINNATI — Ohio’s utility regulator is at the center of a massive bribery and money laundering scandal that has been the focus of a trial here since late last month. In 2019, its chairman and a very recent senior official played a central role in writing corrupt bailout legislation that would give more than $1 billion […]
Householder co-defendant: Campaign checks were “specifically tied” to $1.3B bailout
CINCINNATI — On Oct. 10, 2018, then-Rep. Larry Householder met with lobbyists representing a subsidiary of FirstEnergy in offices at 65 E. State Street that Householder shared with a 501(c)(4) dark money group. One of the lobbyists, Robert F. Klaffky, slid an envelope containing a check for $400,000 across the table and under Householder’s hand […]
Householder corruption trial: Regulator sent resume to utility he was regulating
CINCINNATI — At the start of 2019 — as work was beginning on a corrupt $1.3 billion bailout — a senior official with the state’s utility regulator sent his resume to a top lobbyist at one of the utilities he was supposed to be regulating. That might seem improper, but the top person charged in […]
PUCO approves big hike in gas charges
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Thursday agreed to a measure that could increase fixed monthly charges to 1.4 million Ohio natural gas customers by more than 50% over the next five years. Regulators approved a compromise that was agreed to by Columbia Gas and the Office of the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel, the state’s […]
Ohio Supreme Court will review FirstEnergy, Randazzo civil case
The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to hear the Ohio Attorney General’s appeal to freeze funds of a former state utility head who was named as part of a public corruption scandal. The court will decide whether to re-freeze the bank accounts of Sam Randazzo, who was chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. In […]
Householder trial set to begin next month
This story providing updates on Ohio’s ongoing utility corruption scandal is a joint project of Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism, and the nonprofit Energy News Network. Parties are in the home stretch of trial preparation in the federal government’s criminal case against former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others. The […]
Eye on Utilities: Will HB 6 impact the 2022 election?
This update on Ohio’s ongoing utility corruption scandal and is a joint project of Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism, and the nonprofit Energy News Network. It was originally published by Energy News Network. Concerns about corruption factor into multiple races as early voting is underway in Ohio. Other developments in the […]
DeWine can’t run from energy bailout bribery scandal as dirty laundry keeps piling up
Follow the money. Its corrupting influence runs through all the great scandals piling up in Ohio under Republican rule. From the biggest online charter school rip-off of tax dollars to the largest public corruption indictment in state history, money has paved the way to epic wrongdoing under GOP management. Find out who in Columbus is […]
“You’re fired.” Dem gov. candidate Cranley promises to clean house at PUCO
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful John Cranley is promising a scorched earth response to Ohio’s HB 6 scandal: fire every member of the public utilities commission. The former Cincinnati mayor contends a clean slate is the only way to restore trust in the Pubic Utilities Commission of Ohio, or PUCO, and he has additional reforms in mind […]
Economists pan Ohio coal subsidies
Coal subsidies passed in 2019 as part of a historically corrupt energy law are of no help to the state’s economy, the vast majority of a panel of academic economists said in a survey that was released Monday. Of the 22 economists responding, 21 disagreed with the proposition that “subsidies for coal plants paid for […]
After scandal broke, FirstEnergy lobbyist pushed DeWine on “covid response”
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
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 […]