Smith, Ohio Democrats Question Governor's Involvement in FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal, Request Assistance from U.S. Justice Department

Today, Senate Democratic Whip Kent Smith (D-Euclid) and other leaders of the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses held a press conference in response to the recent indictments of two former FirstEnergy executives and Sam Randazzo, the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).

“FirstEnergy's three-fold scheme, aided by a complicit Republican-led state government, defrauded the state of Ohio and left us to foot the bill,” said Smith. “Now, we are left with substantial questions about the governor's knowledge of the astonishing corruption between his PUCO appointee and FirstEnergy. Who in his administration knew about the $4.3 million payment to Sam Randazzo, who did they tell, and when?” 

At the press conference, Smith called on Governor Mike DeWine’s former chief of staff, Laurel Dawson, to state publicly whether she informed Governor DeWine of a $4.3 million payment Randazzo received from FirstEnergy shortly before he was appointed to lead the PUCO, which she testified to being aware of before his appointment.

“I urge investigators to focus on these individuals to uncover the truth,” said Smith. “Randazzo's decision to dismiss FirstEnergy’s audit was brazenly irresponsible and cost the people of Ohio millions of dollars. This collusion between FirstEnergy and the agency responsible for overseeing it, which still has not been remedied, harms everyday Ohioans struggling to pay bills and looking for any help they can get. In 2022, the Energy News Network reported that there were almost 200,000 Ohio electric utility disconnections. These are the people hurt most.”

Ohio Democrats additionally highlighted their bipartisan legislation that has been introduced to prevent similar corruption scandals from occurring in the future, and Leaders Antonio and Russo announced they sent a letter to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio requesting assistance from U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker in the ongoing House Bill 6 political corruption scandal and investigation.

Watch the full press conference here.