Democrats fault GOP, return cash tainted by Ohio bribery scheme

COLUMBUS— With their presidential hopes high for fall, some Ohio Democrats who helped seat a now-indicted Republican House speaker and pass the nuclear bailout bill prosecutors allege he delivered as part of a nearly $61 million bribery scheme have begun shedding campaign contributions tainted by the related federal probe.

In doing so, Democrats sought to keep the corruption spotlight shining on theGOP, which has also tried to distance itself fromsince-ousted Speaker LarryHouseholder in a critical election year.

“I could never have known, and did not know, that Householder was actually conducting one of the largest bribery schemes in Ohio history,” said stateRep. Tavia Galonski, an Akron Democrat, in announcing she’d donate her FirstEnergy contributions to charity. “What I know now is that the legislative process surrounding HB6was irrevocably tainted by Republican corruption.”

Householder and four associates were arrested July 21 and charged with secretly receiving money from FirstEnergy, the government’s “Company A,” and using it to boost themselves politically and personally, to secure Householder’ s election as speaker and then to pass a $1 billion bailout bill and poison subsequent efforts to repeal it.

Ofthemorethan$400,000 that FirstEnergy’s political action committee has donated tolegislative campaigns since 2017, only about 12% went to Democrats, according to an Associated Press review. Still, all but two of 20 Democrats who received contributions fromthe PAC during that time voted either for Householder as speaker, for the bailout bill or both, the reviewfound. Atleastsixhave announced plans to shed the money: Galonski and Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, John Rogers ofMentor-on-the-Lake, Lisa Sobecki of Toledo, Terrence Upchurch of Cleveland and ThomasWest of Canton.

House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat who received no FirstEnergy contributions and opposed the bailout bill, told the AP her caucus was being pragmaticwhen some of its members joined Republicansin electing House holder speaker last year — but that does not imply they are culpable in the sweeping corruption alleged against him.

“When someone perpetrates wrongdoing, it is the fault of that person or those persons who did that,” she said. “And I recognize that the blame-all-sides is an easy argument to make, but it is false in its presumption that there was any participation in wrongdoing (by Democrats). The charging documents lay out clearly who is at fault, at least according to the FBI, and that is who is at fault.”