MEET STATE
OFFICIAL TWO:
JON HUSTED

Implicated in the House
Bill 6 Bribery Scandal

House Bill 6 (HB6) was a $60 million bribery scheme orchestrated by FirstEnegy and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

The scandal led to an FBI investigation and later the conviction of former Speaker of the House Larry Householder and former GOP Chairman Matt Borges. The scandal implicated lobbyists and every statewide Republican official, including new Senate-Appointee Jon Husted.

HB 6’s passage means Ohioans have paid $80,000 per day to fund two coal plants since January 1, 2020.

Husted was deeply involved in moving HB6 through the legislature, despite later denying any association with the bill or knowledge of corruption.

The Statehouse News Bureau: Texts from former FirstEnergy execs suggest Lt. Gov. Jon Husted pressed for nuclear bailout, Andy Chow, 07/11/2022

  • In a text message exchange on July 1, 2019, former FirstEnergy senior vice president Michael Dowling told former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones that Husted was working on getting the legislature to pass a nuclear power plant bailout that would last 10 years.

  • “Just had a long convo with JHusted just now,” Dowling told Jones. “All is well. JH is working on the 10 years. He’s afraid it’s going to end up being 8. Talk later. Husted was asked in November to describe the role he played in the passage of HB6 as it went through the committee process, the Ohio House, and the Ohio Senate. Husted said, “none.”

  • The newly-disclosed text messages confirm DeWine and Husted to be State Officials 1 and 2, respectively. The deferred prosecution agreement included a text that said State Official 2 was “fighting to the end” for an extension to the seven-year nuclear bailout.

Ohio Capitol Journal: New texts allegedly show Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted leading FirstEnergy's push for House Bill 6, Morgan Trau, 06/24/2024

  • Text messages revealed former FirstEnergy Executives Chuck Jones and Mike Dowling, who were both charged with bribery for their roles in the scandal. They hosted fundraisers for the DeWine Husted campaign, where Jones gave speeches about how the team would be great for “his company and shareholders,” a speech we received said. “Jon has always been very accessible and great to work with, and I can say without question, he is a good friend of FirstEnergy,” Jones continued in his speech.

  • Once in office, records show that it was Husted, not DeWine, who allegedly helped lead the charge for the bailout bill. Dowling emailed Jones before H.B. 6 passed in 2019, saying the governor “left the details of H.B. 6 to others — John [sic] Husted and Danny.” Dan McCarthy was DeWine’s legislative director after having been a lobbyist for FirstEnergy.

Ohio Capitol Journal: Ohio Lt. Gov. Husted denies knowledge of corruption scheme in wake of FirstEnergy texts, Morgan Trau, 07/01/2024

  • “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “We weren’t involved. Texts to other people — texts to other people shared amongst themselves — have nothing to do with me. And I wasn’t involved in that conversation,” he replied.

  • Going further, Husted was asked how he was ignorant of the behavior when phone logs show he talked to them more than 20 times. “I wasn’t involved in it. That was Larry Householder and there are no texts between me and him,” he responded.

FirstEnergy gave $1 million to a dark money group working to boost Husted’s primary campaign for governor. Husted refuses to say if he knew about the payment.

Energy News Network: FirstEnergy gave $1 million to boost Ohio Lt Gov Husted’s campaign before scandal, document shows, 04/10/2024 

  • A surge in FirstEnergy political spending ahead of the utility’s push to secure a legislative bailout for its nuclear power plants included a $1 million dark money contribution to support the campaign of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s eventual running mate.

  • One of the documents from the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Office is a spreadsheet attached to a January 2020 message labeled “confidential.” It shows $1 million went from FirstEnergy to the conservative group Freedom Frontier in 2017, with “Husted campaign” noted as the reason. That group backed Husted during his 2017 primary campaign for governor. The group then supported DeWine after Husted dropped out of the race to become his running mate.

  • Husted was also dubbed the “Golden Boy’ for FirstEnergy” by lobbyist Neil Clark, a co-defendant with Householder and others in the federal government’s criminal corruption case.

Ohio Capitol Journal: Ohio Lt. Gov. Husted won't say if he knew about $1M dark-money contribution

  • Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is refusing to say whether he was aware of a $1 million contribution in 2017 to a political group that was supporting his bid for governor. Instead, his office is only reiterating that the group wasn’t affiliated with the Husted campaign.