On Tuesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called on the state's House Speaker, Larry Householder, to resign.
But when it comes to the legislation at the center of the alleged bribery scheme that resulted in Householder and four others being arrested and charged, DeWine said on Wednesday that he wouldn't support repealing House Bill 6, which secured an estimated $1 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants operated by FirstEnergy.
"For a long time, I've advocated and the Lt. Governor has advocated for a balanced energy policy in the state of Ohio. We think having nuclear plants is a part of that balanced policy," DeWine said. "We had a couple of big factors in my support for the bill. One is the jobs. We had the opportunity to visit one of the plants, saw some of the workers. When you look at the numbers, [there are] a lot of workers there.
"Second, if we would have lost our two nuclear plants, which we would have, I believe, without this bill, it would have meant that we would have had virtually no or very, very little non-carbon generating energy. I think that would have not have been good. We need balance in our energy."
Despite DeWine's objections, Ohio House Democrats announced on Wednesday that they will introduce legislation that would repeal House Bill 6. On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David DeVillers referred to the matter as "the largest bribery case ever in Ohio."
According to the investigation, "Company A" (which is believed to be FirstEnergy) paid the defendants $60 million, which they used to promote Householder, pass House Bill 6, and defeat a ballot initiative to overturn the legislation. The other four defendants along with Householder and Generation Now are:
- Jeffrey Longstreth, advisor to Householder
- Neil Clark, longtime Statehouse lobbyist
- Matthew Borges, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman
- Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group, a Columbus-based consulting firm
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