An “expensive friend” — in documents obtained by federal prosecutors, that’s how former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones sized up former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder.
What made the Speaker so Big Ticket?
“Republican Larry Householder hatched a plan to cement his hold on power for an additional 16 years,” The Columbus Dispatch reported, “and Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. invested $2 million into the effort.”
Their scheme?
Petition a citizen initiative onto the ballot to slap lifetime term limits on legislators, rather than the current eight-year consecutive limits, as bait to hook pro-limits voters — emphasizing this toughening part, while hiding the fact that the eight-year limits in each chamber would be doubled to a 16-year limit in either.
The initiative would also set a brand-new clock, wiping out all past service so that Householder could command the House, uninterrupted, for 16 more years.
“He told me he’ll retire from [the House],” Jones joked with an associate, “but get a lot done in 16 more years.”
The pandemic stopped Householder’s scam. And then, last July, the FBI dropped the other shoe, arresting him for racketeering. Now awaiting trial, Householder has been pushed out as Speaker and then expelled from the House completely — the first time in over 150 years.
FirstEnergy fired CEO Jones — who, according to The Washington Post, “prosecutors continue to investigate” for his “involvement in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by the company to win a $1 billion legislative bailout.”
Mr. Householder never liked term limits, but his corrupt attempts to thwart them serve as evidence of their importance.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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