Ohio House speaker, 4 others arrested in $60M bribery case

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and JOHN SEEWER

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The powerful Republican speaker of the Ohio House and four other people were arrested Tuesday in a $60 million federal bribery investigation, and the FBI raided the legislative leader’s rural farm.

Speaker Larry Householder was one of the driving forces behind a roughly $1 billion financial rescue for Ohio’s two nuclear power plants, which appeared to be tied to several targets of the investigation. The legislation added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.

Prosecutors would not discuss details of the case. U.S. Attorney David DeVillers’ office planned to hold a news conference later in the day.

Also arrested were Householder adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, longtime Statehouse lobbyist Neil Clark, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matthew Borges and Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group, a Columbus-based consulting firm.



This Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 file photo shows Ohio State Representative Larry Householder (R), of District 72, stands at the head of a legislative session as Speaker of the House, in Columbus. FBI agents were at the farm of Householder on Tuesday morning, hours ahead of a planned announcement of a $60 million bribe investigation by federal prosecutors. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/73f6969ef037a4e0f3c4f53f36bcff78

[Ohiogal]

1. We Ohio taxpayers

Should get that money back!

Throw their asses in prison!

[George II]

2. This is a duplicate:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142542298

[PJMcK]

5. So what?

Republican hypocrisy should be exposed far and wide.

Duplicate threads are hardly hurtful to the efficient functioning of DemocraticUnderground.com. More importantly, not everyone-- myself included-- saw the original thread that you linked.

Please reconsider your post. Thank you.

[Fullduplexxx]

10. Nope that you reference is a story about the police going

This is about them being arrested

[Hotler]

28. So. nt

[George II]

30. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142536396

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142536396

[PJMcK]

3. Who could imagine that Householder was a Republican? (n/t)

[irisblue]

4. And no public statement from his peers, Larry Oberoff & Mike DeWine yet

[harley_weewax]

20. News Says He said Resign

News is reporting DeWine asked him to resign. Of course, all of them were released without bond.

[mike_c]

6. Hans Solo will sort him out.

[Thomas Hurt]

9. damn beat me to it...

[Thomas Hurt]

7. Larry the Hutt

[Evolve Dammit]

8. Lock 'em up

[Alliepoo]

11. David Devillers did an outstanding job

In laying out the meat and potatoes of what happened. He had a flow chart that he said was pared down, that the one they were using for the investigation would cover the entire wall. He said the investigation is ongoing and they’d follow where it leads no matter who it is, where they work or what political party they belong to. That was in response to a couple of questions from reporters that (sounded like-kinda hard to hear) asked if this was aimed at trump and republicans. The sound for the questions wasn’t very good So if anyone else listening heard it differently-please correct me! Devillers also answered a question I couldn’t hear but he said what makes him angry is that they operate with limited funds and instead of being able to work on things like fentanyl flooding the state, bodies piling up, violence, opioids etc, they have to spend their time, manpower and money in investigating politicians that are trying to enrich themselves. Told Mr Poo that I’d bet there are some nervous folks out there waiting for the hammer to drop.

[Ohiogal]

13. Good summation Alliepoo

[regnaD kciN]

12. Republicans gonna Republican...

[yellowcanine]

14. Appears to be a homophobe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Householder

Library programming controversy
In May 2019, Householder addressed letters to the Ohio Library Council and the Newark Library in Licking County criticizing the use of providing an outlet for teens in the LGBTQ community at the taxpayers' expense. In response to the letter, the Newark Ohio Pride Coalition, the organization hosting the event, issued a formal statement, which noted that the LGBTQ teen event was being paid for by their organization via a non-governmental grant.[14] Later that evening, the Newark Library canceled the event for LGBTQ teens.[15] In response to the cancellation, the Newark Ohio Pride Coalition obtained a new location for the event.[16]

[OMGWTF]

18. Of course he's likely a self-loathing closeted homosexual.

Bet he calls himself a Christian, too.

[jpak]

15. Nuclear Power and corruption?

Who knew?

[Kaiserguy]

16. Another dishonest Republican

I'm not surprised. What would surprise me would be finding an honest one.

[ffr]

17. Would this fall under something tRump could pardon them for?

Because he will if he can. Bank on it!

[NBachers]

19. I would suggest a forensic team with cadaver dogs should go in and blanket Jabba the Hut's farm.

[rdking647]

21. i dont care of they are GOP or democrat

if convicted they should never get out of jail and be fined 3x the amount of teh bribe

[CaptainTruth]

23. I guess Householder won't be the House holder much longer.

[Mickju]

24. An extremely obese 72 year old should do well in prison.

[roamer65]

25. The nuke plant near Toledo must be Davis-Besse.

That nuke plant was about 3/8 of an inch of bubbled stainless steel jacketing away from a full meltdown in 2002.

The reactor vessel head was so corroded by boric acid that all that left between Ohioans and a large nuclear disaster was that thin stainless steel inner jacketing.

The plant had to be shutdown and the reactor head was replaced by the one from Consumers Energy never commissioned Midland, MI nuke plant.

Davis-Besse is still a nuclear nightmare waiting to happen. It’s safety track record is horrible.

https://www.nirs.org/press/03-13-2002/

[JDC]

26. How anyone can continue to vote GOP is beyond me

Unless you are a crook and are looking to get away with or in on the action. THEN I could see the reasoning.

[Hotler]

29. it starts with selfishness. nt

[Maeve]

27. It appears that while he was out of office, he amassed major debts

He left office in 2004 due to term limits, came back in 2017....and then he was suddenly able to pay off all that debt with the help of "Company A".
Meanwhile, Ohio was flooded with pro-HB6 propaganda...