Householder allies fund son’s campaign

Political friends of Larry Householder’s have ponied up to help seed his son’s efforts to follow in his dad’s footsteps by seeking elected office.

Campaign finance reports obtained through a public-records request show that Derek Householder in January raised $42,100 for his Perry County commission race, most of which has come from donors with ties to Larry Householder’s political team. Nearly two-thirds came from organized-labor groups around the state via chapters in Akron, Cleveland, Marietta, Westerville and Zanesville.

At the time of the contributions, Larry Householder, who represents Perry County, was one of the state’s most powerful politicians, although his influence in Columbus has all but evaporated after he was arrested last month as part of a federal racketeering investigation.

Derek Householder, who did not return a message seeking comment, ran unopposed in a spring primary to replace a retiring Perry County commissioner, according to the Logan Daily News. He will face Frank Fondale, a Democrat and local township trustee, in the November general election. Householder is an employee of Buckingham Coal Co., according to a state ethics filing.

Six local chapters of the Laborers, a building-trades union, donated a total of $17,000 to Derek Householder’s county commission race. Organizedlabor groups in Ohio traditionally have been tied to Democrats but increasingly have contributed to Republicans in recent years. Various Laborers chapters have given Larry Householder more than $289,000 in campaign contributions since 2017.

Derek Householder’s largest donation, $10,000, came from Political Education Patterns, the political arm of Operating Engineers Local 18 in Cleveland, which represents road-construction workers.

Political Education Patterns was among the donors to Larry Householder’s political operation in 2018 to elect allies to more than a dozen open legislative seats, which helped Householder return to power. PEP is among the biggest donors in Ohio politics, having given more than $1 million to Republican and Democratic state-level candidates since 2018, including $26,000 to Larry Householder.

Three donors gave Derek Householder $5,000 each. They are Wayne Boich, CEO of Boich Cos., which has major holdings in coal and is a major supporter of Larry Householder’s; Rex Elsass, a Columbus political consultant with close ties to Larry Householder; and the political action committee for Shelly Materials Inc., a major pavingmaterials company based in Perry County.

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