Coal lobbyist Carey is lying about his record
Note from Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson: This guest column was written in response to the Sept. 25 guest column “Russo must tell voters who she is” by Robert Paduchik, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.
Coal lobbyist Mike Carey is lying again, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
First he lied about his connections to the House Bill 6 scandal and Larry Householder.
Now, Carey’s gotten a former coal lobbyist who’s also deeply tied up in the House Bill 6 scandal to try to smear Allison Russo in a desperate bid to distract from his own past.
Here’s the truth about Allison Russo.
Allison Russo was raised in a small, working-class town by a single mom. She was the first in her family to go to college and spent her career helping folks get access to healthcare. Now, Allison’s a working mom of three, wife of a combat veteran, a State Representative, and most importantly — a good person.
Allison has a record of standing up for working families and is an independent voice in the Statehouse for her constituents: taking on corruption, fighting for women and families, and pushing to lower the cost of healthcare.
Allison will always fight for what’s right for Ohioans, and she will work with anyone if they have good ideas to create good jobs in Ohio. Here’s the truth about Mike Carey.
As a team of investigative reporters found, “Congressional candidate Mike Carey claims he’s an ‘outsider.’ But he spent 20 years as an energy lobbyist and had a front-row seat to one of Ohio’s biggest corruption scandals.”
Carey spent decades as the top lobbyist for the infamous Murray Energy company, which was named as “Company B” in federal court documents in Larry Householder’s House Bill 6 (HB6) scandal — the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history.
Federal investigators recently found that Murray Energy and other Ohio energy companies created a dark money slush fund to pass HB6 that would give them $150 million in taxpayer dollars each year.
And as The Dispatch uncovered, Carey’s company “stood to benefit from” the passage of Householder’s corrupt House Bill and gave $100,000 to the dark money slush fund.
Carey initially denied any involvement in HB6, but an investigation caught Carey on emails discussing lobbyists’ plans to influence the bill.
But none of this should come as a surprise. Carey’s a career lobbyist and political insider. Lying is like breathing for him.
Mike Carey lied about his involvement with Householder’s HB6 scandal and is the wrong choice for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District.
NOTE: This is a submitted column from or about a candidate running for election. Its publication does not constitute the Dispatch Editorial Board’s endorsement of the views expressed.