Bribery, Bailouts, and Apathy: A Dark Time for Democracy in the Buckeye State
While the previous installments in this series have focused on overall democratic health, this article will address a specific case study that illustrates the interaction between democracy and policymaking in the state of Ohio. As a policy analyst and not a political scientist, I generally view the political world through the lens of policymaking, which gives me a different perspective on Ohio’s democracy than other commentators. This piece will focus on a specific story in Ohio’s democratic history that has had a big impact on policy in the state.
In January of 2019, Larry Householder was elected Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives in a contested bipartisan vote. It was the culmination of an improbable political comeback for a representative from Appalachia who had served as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives over a decade before.
His first time as speaker, Householder shepherded in major legislation before coming under investigation for money laundering and irregular campaign practices. The case was closed without filing charges then Householder exited statewide politics for 12 years after being term-limited in 2004. His term was marked by him gaining a reputation as a shrewd politician, not afraid to run roughshod over relationships in order to seize power and get what he wanted.
Householder stormed back onto the scene in 2016, making his way back into the Ohio House of Representatives. Two years into his term, House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger came under investigation from the FBI due to his “lavish lifestyle” and potential inappropriate “relationships with lobbyists and donors,” leading him to a swift resignation from office.
This example of blatant corruption opened the door for Householder. He threw a wrench in the plans of the heir-apparent to the speakership—another Appalachian Representative, Ryan Smith. In June of 2018, Householder forced Smith into an embarrassing 11-round voting circus for his confirmation that then legally allowed the threshold of his confirmation to drop to a plurality, where Smith was elected Speaker with 44 of the chamber’s 99 votes.
What then ensued was a months-long battle leading up to the January election for a new speaker. Over this time period, Householder heavily courted Republicans and Democrats, making promises and using a soft line on policy toward unions to tempt Democrats into his fold. On January 7th, Householder won the votes of 26 Democrats and 26 Republicans to win the majority need to become the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Householder kept his promises to Democrats, not bringing forth any major legislation on unions. He also played hardball in budget negotiations, throwing sand in the gears of the governor’s proposal for a gas tax hike to pay for state roads and forcing Ohio into a rare deadline extension during budget negotiations.
What would become the most notable action of the Householder speakership was House Bill 6, the Orwellianly-dubbed “Ohio Clean Air Program.” The bill introduced $2 billion in new surcharges to subsidize two coal plants and two nuclear plants in the state while also reducing energy efficiency mandates and phasing out renewable energy standards. A prominent left-wing news site dubbed the bill “the worst energy bill of the 21st century.”
The bill’s 51-38 passage in the Ohio House and 19-12 passage in the Ohio Senate came as a surprise to some since a coalition of environmental groups, ratepayer advocacy organizations, and free-market advocates had come out against the bill. The reason it passed became much more clear soon enough.
In July 2020, Householder was arrested by FBI agents at his rural farm in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme orchestrated by agents of FirstEnergy Solutions, the power company that stood to benefit the most from House Bill 6. Also arrested were former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, Householder Adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, and lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes. Clark later committed suicide on his lawn at a home in Naples, Florida.
Householder was defiant after the arrest. Unlike Rosenberger, who resigned before investigators even filed charges, Householder refused to resign from his post as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Lawmakers hemmed and hawed, taking a deer-in-the-headlights approach to the biggest racketeering scandal in Ohio history and waiting nearly 11 months to expel him from their leadership role. In the meantime, Householder was reelected to his home district, largely because Democrats had failed to find a single Democrat in his 100,000-person district to file for a challenge to him that year prior to the scandal.
How did this massive racketeering scandal, where the Republican leader of the Ohio House of Representatives and the former chair of the Ohio Republican Party were arrested for a historic $60 million racketeering charge to pass an unpopular bill, impact the Republicans in the 2020 election? Well, Republicans picked up seats, increasing their House majority from 61-38 to 64-35 as Republicans picked off two Democratic incumbents and took over two districts held by term-limited democrats compared to just one pickup by the Democrats.
The lesson I have taken away from this scandal is that, cynically, state politics don’t matter to voters. The largest racketeering scandal in state history hardly registered in the minds of voters, completely swamped by a federal election that consumed everyone’s attention. In 2016, I found that Trump/Clinton election results explained 90% of the variation in contested Ohio House races and 98% of the variation in contested Ohio Senate races. The downballot effect is much more powerful than even monumental levels of corruption.
Are signals from voters enough to ensure policy is made in their interest? In March of last year, Governor DeWine signed a partial repeal of House Bill 6, repealing the nuclear bailouts while leaving the coal bailouts, the energy efficiency reductions, and the phaseout of renewable energy standards intact. At the same time, legislative leaders have ignored judicial mandates to follow fair redistricting rules they themselves agreed to previously out of fear it may threaten their ability to run up legislative seat margins much higher than their support in the general public.
I would be interested to see how Ohio stacks up to other states, but it is hard not to be pessimistic about democracy in the Buckeye state after watching the wake of the Householder scandal. If federalism is to work, it means people need to decouple their view of state politics from federal politics. This may be too difficult to do in an era of mass media and reality television politics. Only time will tell how far Ohio politics will ultimately sink and who will be hurt by that sinking along the way.
