In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the arrest of Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and the federal investigation alleging a $60 million pay-to-play scheme. Ohio Public Radio reporter Andy Chow joins the show.
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In this week's episode:
Dark Energy
On Tuesday, federal investigators revealed details of a conspiracy involving Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who allegedly headed a scheme that funneled $60 million through a dark money group in order to pass a billion-dollar bailout for Ohio's nuclear power plants.
Householder is charged with accepting payments from the dark money group Generation Now for his personal benefit and to help advance his political career, in exchange for securing the passage of the law that imposed customer fees to send $150 million a year to subsidize FirstEnergy Solutions' nuclear plants. Four others were also arrested on Tuesday in connection with the case.
The complaint also alleges that Householder's "enterprise" spent millions to oppose a ballot referendum that sought to overturn the bailout by buying advertisements, mailing flyers, and bribing ballot collectors.
While state legislators from both parties are seeking to overturn the law, Gov. DeWine said he still supports the policy. But on Thursday, DeWine changed course and said the law was "tainted" and should be repealed.
Masked Mandate
After rolling out mask requirements county-by-county for weeks, DeWine issued a statewide mask mandate this week.
The move is sure to be controversial among fellow Republicans, who have been critical of masks, while questions remain about how public health orders can be effectively enforced.
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