An accused FirstEnergy executive plans to call Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to testify as witnesses in a criminal trial, according to novel Summit County court documents.
Former FirstEnergy vice president Michael Dowling has pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen charges, ranging from corruption to bribery to money laundering. He is a party to a joint lawsuit with former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, who faces similar charges. The two will face a jury of their peers for their alleged roles in the largest bribery scheme in state history.
FirstEnergy as a company has already admitted to bribing public officials to sort of lend a hand the company behind the scenes by pushing and helping to pass HB 6. In 2019, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder accepted a $61 million bribe in return for the legislation granting FirstEnergy $1 billion in aid, dubbed HB 6, all at the expense of ratepayers.
As a result, Householder was sent to federal prison for 20 years and now also faces state charges.
DeWine, who was on Dowling’s list of potential witnesses, has had a abrasive week.
On Sunday, novel text messages revealed that he asked Jones for money, which he then received through a shadowy PAC account.
DeWine responded to questions about his relationship with former FirstEnergy executives.
While DeWine deals with the ongoing discovery of text messages linking him to indicted FirstEnergy executives, Republican lawmakers are drafting legislation requiring greater campaign finance disclosure.
Dowling intends to call more than twenty people as witnesses, in particular DeWine and Husted.
“The Governor has no comment on this filing containing a list of over 30 witnesses,” DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said in a text message.
We also contacted Husted’s team. We asked if they would oppose the possibility of him being a witness.
“The lieutenant governor was not called as a witness,” spokeswoman Hayley Carducci said, confirming my words. “It’s a list of potential witnesses.”
Several other state officials are on the list, including Dan McCarthy, a longtime DeWine employee who previously lobbied for FirstEnergy and is now a commissioner of the Ohio Racing Commission. Also included are former Senate staffer Frank Strigari and former Public Service Commission of Ohio (PUCO) employee John Ryan.
Additionally, Dowling has a potential list of two dozen people associated with FirstEnergy, as well as several people who worked for AEP.
Jones hasn’t released his list yet.
Former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo was expected to be a defendant in this trial, as he was charged with 22 state-level crimes and 11 federal-level crimes. He died in April by suicide.
He was the second of eight men to take their own lives after being linked to the scandal. Neil Clark, a lobbyist accused of bribery, died by suicide after pleading not guilty in 2021.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
