Dark Money

This week, former Ohio Public Utilities chairman Sam Randazzo died of an apparent suicide. Power Grab host Renee Fox joins WOSU's Mike Thompson to discuss the latest news in the ongoing bribery scandal.

On the finale of The Power Grab we take a look at the cost of corruption and if it has led to any meaningful changes in the state.

FirstEnergy figured they could get their customers to subsidize their poorly performing nuclear power plants. To do so, they paid a $4 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Dark money for political campaigns helped make the Ohio nuclear bailout bribery scandal possible. But that $60 million FirstEnergy doled out to elect Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and his allies, to pass HB 6 and stop it from being rolled back, wasn’t the only cash that traded hands.

Lobbyist Neil Clark was paranoid that he was on the FBI’s radar and he was right for the nuclear bailout bribery scheme.The Columbus lobbyist from humble beginnings had made it far in Ohio politics. He was a fierce competitor and prided himself on going scorched earth for a cause. He left nothing on the table and hated to lose. He didn’t care if he believed in the cause or not.

In this episode, we’ll explore how Larry Householder rounded up votes to become Ohio House Speaker. And, how he strong-armed opponents of the bill he promised to FirstEnergy, known as HB 6. We’ll see how FirstEnergy’s team reacted to a campaign to fight the bill and how the conspirators scrambled to keep it all together as federal investigators honed in.

In our first episode, we delve into the shocking arrest of Republican House Speaker Larry Householder and the federal racketeering charges against him.

Starting Monday, November 6, WOSU's original podcast The Power Grab will take a tour of Ohio’s backrooms and listen in on clandestine FBI recordings of schemes by Larry Householder and FirstEnergy to wrangle power for corporate and personal profits.