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Rotunda Rumblings Case closed? More than four years since the first arrests in the House Bill 6 bribery scandal, the Justice Department has secured four convictions and sent a former Ohio House speaker to prison. But it has never charged the executives FirstEnergy says paid the bribes. Jake Zuckerman and Adam Ferrise interviewed a dozen people close to the matter to determine whether indictments might come in the future and why the case appears to have stalled.
The reasons are murky. Legal beagles: One potential explanation for federal prosecutors inaction against FirstEnergy executives might be their legal team. Zuckerman and Ferrise report that the Akron utility and its former executives have hired top-shelf lawyers to defend them, including former U.
S. attorneys, former assistant U.S.
attorneys, top regulatory lawyers and ex-FBI agents. One of the lawyers investigated President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents. Prison letters: Zuckerman also got a rare glimpse into life behind bars for Matt Borges, the former Ohio Republican Party chairman and ex-lobbyist who is serving five years for trying to bribe a political operative during the repeal effort around HB6.
He says the court’s presentencing bureaucracy has wrongly classified him as being guilty of robbery, which, as a violent crime, precludes him from serving his time at minimum-security prison. He’s watching for prison mail at FCI Milan in Michigan as he awaits a decision from a judge about correcting the record. Read more Ohio politics stories Dale Miller for Cuyahoga County Council, District 2: endorsement editorial From influence peddler to inmate, Matt Borges wants a break The DOJ called it the biggest bribery case in Ohio history.
Did they let the bribers walk? Hillbilly revisited: JD Vance launched a political career off the success of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a 2016 memoir that paints a bleak picture of the struggles in his southwest Ohio hometown and offers his opinions about their causes. Eight years later, as Vance tries to jump from Republican U.S.
Senator to vice president, the reality in Middletown – as in so many towns like it – is complicated, Sabrina Eaton reports . OHRA reversal: A state appeals court panel has thrown out a lawsuit from House Republican rivals of Speaker Jason Stephens challenging the speaker’s control of the House GOP’s campaign arm, as well as an earlier court injunction blocking Stephens’ access to the caucus’ campaign account. As Jeremy Pelzer reports , while Stephens said the ruling (authored by ex-Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Leland) provides “certainty” regarding the Ohio House Republican Alliance, the plaintiffs in the case said it actually marks a victory for them – while, at the same time, vowing to appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Coming soon: So far, 123 dispensaries have opened their doors to recreational customers in Ohio, all of them serving both the state’s medical program as well as its new recreational program. Laura Hancock reports that more are on the way after 121 companies applied for the next phase of recreational marijuana dispensary licenses. It could take months for them to open, but the state already has begun giving provisional approvals, an early step toward an operating license.
School safety: Gov. Mike DeWine sent a memo to the state’s K-12 schools on Friday reminding them about state resources meant to prevent school shootings after a 14-year-old student shot and killed two teachers and two students on Wednesday in Georgia. Per Andrew Tobias , DeWine also told reporters he’s asked his staff to review the shooting for potential lessons.
Advantage Kaptur: The Cook Political Report last week shifted its assessment of U.S. Rep.
Marcy Kaptur’s reelection bid from “undecided” to “leans Democrat,” one of several House races the political forecasters shifted to favor Democrats. Polls continue to show the Toledo Democrat ahead of her Republican challenger, Ohio Rep. Derek Merrin, and she’s got the fundraising advantage, The Hill reports.
School security: Vance last week lamented that school shootings are a “fact of life” and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia , The Associated Press writes .
When asked what could be done to stop school shootings, the Cincinnati Republican said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security. Fast friends: Vance declined to denounce the right-wing talk-show host Tucker Carlson for praising and airing the views of a Holocaust revisionist who falsely claimed that the Nazis’ destruction of European Jewry was not an intentional act of premeditated genocide, The New York Times writes.
A Vance campaign spokesman told the publication that Vance doesn’t “believe in guilt-by-association cancel culture but he obviously does not share the views of the guest interviewed by Tucker Carlson.” Carlson pressed Trump to select Vance as his running mate, and is scheduled to be interviewed live by Carlson for his social media show on Sept. 21 in Hershey, Pa.
Calling Grandma: During a discussion of high U.S. childcare costs with Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative organization Turning Point Action, Vance suggested extended family members step in to relieve the financial burden on parents, Business Insider reports .
After getting flak for his remarks, Vance posted a clarification on X saying “parents or grandparents might not be able to help, but they might want to, and for those families, federal policy should not be forcing one particular family model.” He also emphasized that there should be more accessible educational routes for people to get into the childcare field. Inflation update: The AFL-CIO and other organized labor groups, along with the Ohio Democratic Party, held a press conference Friday across the street from 25-acre plot of land that Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno recently bought to develop into a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
The stunt included once again trotting out a 20-foot inflatable “fat cat” they’ve been lugging around the state , as well as a giant inflatable “tube man” like the one you might see outside a car dealership. Columbus Central Ohio Building Trades Executive Secretary Dorsey Hager said the project cuts against Moreno’s statements that he divested his business interests to focus on his Senate race. Moreno has said the dealership is for his 25-year-old son.
Construction isn’t expected to begin until after the November election. Full Disclosure Five things we learned from the May 14, 2024, financial disclosure of state Treasurer Robert Sprague, a Findlay Republican: 1. Besides his state salary and various investments, Sprague reported income from two different sources: from Music Together of Findlay, a business run by his wife, Amanda, and Vasa Capital LLC.
2. He is an owner of Music Together, a partner for Vasa Capital and the beneficiary of the Ralph D. Cole blind trust.
3. He owns a home and an acre of land outside Findlay that’s held in a blind trust. 4.
He owes at least $1,000 to three different sources: American Express, USAA and Fifth Third Bank. 5. He has five children living at home.
On The Move Ohio Teamsters DRIVE has endorsed Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters in the November election. Birthdays Bryanna Austin, law clerk at Pollack Law, LLC and former legislative liaison to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services James Kennedy, policy analyst, County Commissioners Association of Ohio Aftab Pureval, mayor of Cincinnati Straight From The Source “Orwell himself would have trouble topping the efforts of the Ohio Ballot Board.” Professors Nicholas Stephanopoulos, of Harvard, Ned Foley, of Ohio State University, Ruth Greenwood, of Harvard and Dan Tokaji, of the University of Wisconsin, in a “friend of the court” amicus brief filed with the Ohio Supreme Court on Friday .
They were referencing the ballot language for Issue 1, the redistricting-reform amendment, which is the subject of a lawsuit from the pro-Issue 1 campaign. The court is expected to make a decision soon. Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government.
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