Householder trial: Lobbyists detail $400K exchange
Just weeks before the November 2018 elections, lobbyist Bob Klaffky slid an envelope across a conference table into the hands of Republican Rep. Larry Householder. Inside was a $400,000 check.
“Our client cares very much about this issue,” Klaffky told him.
Householder peeked into the envelope to see the check from Firstenergy to Generation Now, a dark money group that helped Householder seize political power and become speaker of the Ohio House in 2019.
“Well yes they do,” Householder replied at the Oct. 10, 2018 meeting with Firstenergy Solutions lobbyists including Juan Cespedes and David Griffing.
In damaging testimony on Monday, Cespedes described the meeting and how Firstenergy Solutions sought to influence Householder.
It was the home stretch of the 2018 general election season, as Householder was working to elect his allies into Ohio House seats so he could become speaker. “So it was crunch time. Things were heating up, Cespedes said.
“Money at this point in a campaign is very, very important.”
Firstenergy Solutions, which owned two troubled nuclear power plants, desperately wanted legislation to collect a subsidy from Ohio consumers and apply it to the company’s bottom line. Past attempts had failed, in part because leaders in the House and Senate and the governor opposed the bailout.
Cespedes said it was made clear that Firstenergy Solutions’ financial support was tied to support for the bailout.
Householder and his co-defendant, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, have pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy. They’re accused to participating in a pay-to-play scheme in which Firstenergy pumped $61 million in bribes through dark money groups to benefit Householder and then pass and defend the bailout bill from a referendum effort.
Cespedes said the company held back another $100,000 in planned support so it could have another opportunity for more face time with Householder. But Cespedes ultimately delivered the check to Householder’s political strategist Jeff Longstreth instead because Householder was out campaigning with candidates.
After delivering the second check, Cespedes asked Longstreth to have Householder call Firstenergy Solutions’ then-president Don Moul to thank him. Cespedes testified that he wanted to be sure Householder knew where the money was coming from.
Both checks were made out to Generation Now. The exchange shows how closely Householder managed the finances of the 501(c)(4).
Cespedes also discussed how he kept longtime political and personal friend Borges in the loop, saying “I didn’t leave anything out of my conversations.”
Cespedes pleaded guilty in October 2020 to racketeering conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
“I’m here to tell the truth and be accountable for it,” Cespedes said at the outset of his testimony.
Cespedes said he worked for Firstenergy Solutions and coordinated tens of millions in donations steered to Generation Now, which he said was controlled by Householder and Longstreth.
Cespedes said John Kiani, the hedge fund manager who leads the Firstenergy Solutions board, planned to sell the nuclear plants shortly after Ohio lawmakers delivered a subsidy.
Former fundraiser takes the stand
Former Householder fundraiser Anna Lippincott took the stand on Monday for the prosecution.
Lippincott began working for Householder and Longstreth in early 2017. She testified about her role in raising money for a slate of about 20 Republican House candidates who would back Householder for speaker.
Lippincott also worked on the effort to block a ballot initiative aimed at killing the $1.3 billion in nuclear subsidies. After that campaign ended, Lippincott was asked to delete all her files related to it for fear that the other side of the ballot battle would sue.
At one point, someone collecting signatures dropped off paperwork at Lippincott’s office before leaving on an airplane, but she tossed the papers without reading them.
Lippincott also testified that Borges was not a member of Team Householder in 2017 and wasn’t invited to Householder’s state of the state breakfast in 2019. “He did not fit in with the rest of the demographic” as a supporter of former Gov. John Kasich, she said.