Not a single HB 6 ‘yes’ vote lost their election. Some ‘no’ votes did.

By Tyler Buchanan

Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station

The scandal surrounding House Bill 6 took out the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. It has dominated the news pages and airwaves for months. It was the subject of countless campaign attack ads. 

In the end, voters didn’t seem to care.

The scandal implicating former Speaker Larry Householder and his effort to get a nuclear bailout enacted into law emerged as a major theme in the 2020 Statehouse elections, but seemingly had little impact on the results. 

In total, there were 46 lawmakers who voted for House Bill 6 and were on the ballot this November for a seat in the Ohio House or Ohio Senate. The unofficial results show that every single one of them won their election: 46-for-46. That includes Householder himself, who won reelection to his 72nd District over a slate of write-in opponents. 

In contrast, there were 35 “no” votes who were up for election. Four of them have been voted out, and a fifth lawmaker’s race is too close to call.

That’s a striking result considering the extent to which the scandal has enveloped Ohio politics since the July arrests of Householder and four political operatives. In recent months, news outlets have extensively covered an 81-page affidavit outlining the years of alleged corruption and bribery that went into HB 6 being enacted to benefit the former FirstEnergy Solutions of Akron. So too did news stories highlight the vote to remove Householder as the House leader; the ensuing trials; and the ongoing effort to get HB 6 repealed.

Voters got one last reminder last week, when two people charged in the alleged scheme pleaded guilty. 

The years-long plot, as alleged by federal investigators, involved FirstEnergy Solutions funneling “dark money” toward a group controlled by Householder. These resources were used to get Householder and a number of other Republican allies elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. These allies joined with more than two-dozen Democrats to elevate Householder as House speaker in 2019.

Within months, Republicans introduced the nuclear bailout bill and quickly pushed it through both chambers. It was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in July 2019.

Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, 
at the Ohio Statehouse

The controversy surrounding the bill did not translate to any electoral trouble for its supporters and top backers. Both HB 6 sponsors were easily reelected: Rep. Shane Wilkin, R-Lynchburg, won another term in the 91st District by an unofficial margin of 77% to 23%, and Lake County Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, won by an unofficial margin of 61% to 39% in the 61st District.

Ten other bill cosponsors were up for election this year. All 10 won their contests. Four were unopposed, and the remaining six won comfortably — by an average margin of 35%.

The remaining rank-and-file members who voted in favor of HB 6 and were up for election all were victorious as well. In the wake of Householder’s arrest, lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the scandal, claiming to be unaware of the alleged behind-the-scenes collusion between Householder and FirstEnergy Solutions to get the bill passed. The law was controversial, several conceded in retrospect, but their “yes” votes were matter of policy, not corruption. 

This election season, both political parties went out of their way to place blame on each other in attacking candidates with dubious connections to the plot. Republicans attacked one opposing Democratic candidate with a reference to “disgraced Larry Householder,” despite the fact the candidate wasn’t even in office last year to have been involved. 

Democrats likewise attacked Republican candidates who, in some cases, didn’t vote for Householder as speaker and did not vote for HB 6. The most suspect example involved an ad against Republican Rep. Dave Greenspan, R-Westlake, which stated: “Greenspan wants Ohio voters to think he is a moderate and had nothing to do with ex-Speaker Householder or (Householder’s) public corruption scandal.”

In fact, the criminal complaint against Householder mentions an unnamed lawmaker who gave incriminating texts from Householder to the FBI. The lawmaker was later identified by Cleveland.com as being Greenspan. He also voted against HB 6.

Nevertheless, the initial vote count has Greenspan being voted out of office. He trails his Democratic opponent by more than 1,000 votes with additional absentee and provisional ballots still yet to be counted. 

Other “no” votes on HB 6 who appear to have lost their reelection bids include Rep. Randi Clites, D-Ravenna; Rep. Gil Blair, D-Weathersfield; and Sen. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta. 

Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, is near-deadlocked with her opponent as the candidates await more votes to get counted. 

“I have never seen so much awareness about a state political issue before,” the Capital Journal quoted Micah Derry as saying prior to Election Day. Derry is the state director for Americans for Prosperty’s Ohio chapter and his organization campaigned door-to-door for candidates who had opposed HB 6 in 2019.

One reason why the anti-corruption message may not have broken through to voters? As Derry said in October, “No one’s blameless in this (scandal). Everyone’s hands are dirty in this whole process.”

Many Democrats had joined with Republicans to elect Householder as House speaker. HB 6 passed with support from eight Democrats in the House and three in the Senate. 

Two of those Senate Democrats are part of the caucus leadership: Minority Leader Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights and Assistant Minority Whip Sandra Williams of Cleveland. Williams co-sponsored the bill. 

Over the years, money has flowed from FirstEnergy’s political action committee to Ohio politicians of both parties. In total, 32 of the 33 state senators and the majority of state representatives have received campaign contributions from FirstEnergy.

As the chambers return for their lame-duck sessions, the battle over what to do with the tainted law continues. Some believe it should be fully repealed. Others want it replaced through a cleaner, more transparent process. Others still believe it’s good policy, regardless of the alleged corruption it took to get it passed. 

Lawmakers survived their 2020 elections. How they proceed with a response to HB6 the rest of this term and in the next may or may not matter to voters the next time around. 

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This story is provided by Ohio Capital Journal, a part of States Newsroom, a national 501 (c)(3) nonprofit. See the original story here.

Ohio Republicans: It's Not What They Say, It's What They Do

If the Ohio Republican Party had the confidence that a majority of Ohio citizens actually shared the GOP's oft-stated core values — reducing taxes, reducing and/or eliminating regulations on businesses, exploiting fossil fuel and repressing women — they shouldn’t feel the need to rig Ohio’s Congressional districts in a way that guarantees them twelve seats no matter who the Democrats run.

In the early 1970s the Republicans  held a clear edge nationally on the Democrats. Unsatisfied with their lead, they overreached with Watergate, subverting the Constitution, disgracing themselves, and losing control.

In Ohio, they are content to make Ohio citizens pay $15 million extra for a second primary. Perhaps the governor will provide the funds from education, or health care, or unemployment benefits.

Rigging the Electoral Game

Chris Redfern, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, announced today that he would be filing a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn the Congressional redistricting bill passed last week by the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly. Redfern denounced the legislation, House Bill 319, as “ a blatantly partisan congressional map that dilutes important Democratic constituencies and attacks the very foundation of our political process.”

It’s good to see the Democrats show some spunk. The Republican playbook seems to contain an injunction that if they gain an inch, they should transform it into two miles. I guess that’s what the party of corporate interests does in a capitalist society.

Ohio has long been regarded as a bellwether state in national elections, a barometer of political winds, if you will, that both forecasts and reflects short-term changes in the weather. The GOP is working to transform both Congressional and statehouse districts into cold-weather thermostats that will permanently freeze the range of choices available to voters. In the process, they have displayed ruthless zeal in carving up communities [examples: four different Congress people would represent a part of Cuyahoga County; Toledo would be split into three districts.].

The Republican message to Ohio voters of all parties or no party, of whatever county or color, is a paraphrase of Moe Greene's remark to Michael Corleone upon the latter's arrival in Las Vegas to buy controlling interest in the casino: " You think you can come to the polls and decide who you want to represent you? No! You don't elect me: I choose you."

• • •

GOP zeal in district distortion does not diminish the continued cunning use of racial elements in non-post racial America. While new Congressional districts increase chances for a Columbus-area African American congressional representative to be elected, the state district guidelines create ten majority-minority districts.

This is called having your cake and eating it too. The net effect of all this extensive gerrymandering may be to produce more black elected officials who will be consigned to irrelevance within the confines of a permanent minority party. The GOP is thus tempting black political officials with the opportunity to become bigger fish in the junior pond. 

What would C. J. McLin do?[1]

These black state reps would be further weakened if HB 194 — the ballot access-restriction measure— takes effect this week. Opponents of the measure must file 231,000 valid signatures with the Ohio Secretary of State by Thursday to delay its immediate implementation of that law and give Ohio voters a chance to ratify or reject it next year.

Careful readers will note that I wrote the “net effect of gerrymandering may produce more black elected officials who would be functionally irrelevant. Rendering impotent a core Democratic constituency is undoubtedly the GOP aim. For them only thing better is the possibility that some of these black officials would switch parties to enhance their effectiveness. The diabolical aspect of this possibility is that Republicans, who have been unable to win the hearts and minds of the black electorate by policy advocacy, would gain inroads into the black community by underhandedness.

While I denounce their tactics, the blame would belong elsewhere if they succeeded.

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[1] C. J. McLin Jr. (1921 - 1988) was elected an Ohio State Representative in 1966 and quickly became one of the most influential leaders in the history of Ohio. The Dayton area politician was a formidable legislator who achieved numerous victories during his 22 years in office. He was a founder of what is today known as the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and is enshrined in Ohio’s Civil Rights Hall of Fame.