Ohio Lt. Gov Jon Husted was dubbed ‘golden boy’ as HB6 was being planned
In a previously unreported $1 million dark money contribution to support the campaign of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been linked to Lt. Gov. Jon Husted’s 2017 primary bid. Husted pushed for DeWine to appoint Sam Randazzo — a 74-year-old energy consultant turned regulator — as PUCO Chair. Randazzo is the second person charged both in state and federal courts over roles in a massive utility scandal that broke in July 2020, along with other alleged misdeeds, who has died by suicide. In the bribery scandal, Akron-based FirstEnergy paid more than $60 million in bribes between 2017 and 2020 in exchange for a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout – including $4.3 million to Randazzo as he secretly skimmed millions from settlements FirstEnergy paid the big users to get them to go along with rate hikes for everybody els