A $60 million bribery case rocks the Ohio Statehouse: A bonus corruption episode of This Week in the CLE

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This Week in the Cle

Federal prosecutors say FirstEnergy paid $60 million in bribes to get Larry Householder elected as House speaker so that he could orchestrate a billion dollar bailout of the utility’s nearly obsolete nuclear plants and then undermine an effort to have voters reject the bailout.

That’s huge, a story that will rock the highest echelons of Ohio power for years, so we decided to publish a special edition of This Week in the CLE, our news podcast, to discuss it. My colleagues Jane Kahoun and Kris Wernowsky join me to talk about the ramifications for Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine and FirstEnergy.

Listen to the special episode here.

Jane describes the case as a corruption play in thee acts: The election of Householder as speaker, the ramming through of the bailout bill and the sleazy efforts to undermine a citizens’ effort to put the bailout in front of the voters.

Kris wonders whether the social and political upheaval taking place across the country might start to include the laws that allow $60 million to be transferred to politicians without any public notice.

And what might this mean for Gov. Mike DeWine, who is not implicated in any way in the corruption but was a big supporter of the bill that undermined the best interests of Ohioans? Will he take the lead in trying to undo the damage?

Want more? You can find all our past episodes here.

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