The trial of ex-Ohio House speaker Larry Householder begins in Cincinnati this week

If you break the law you should go to jail

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The governor himself has not been implicated, but court filings and news reporting on the case have revealed several members of his administration played roles in allowing it to happen.

Before becoming DeWine's legislative director, lobbyist Dan McCarthy — who has since changed jobs — helped set up one of the involved dark money groups. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted helped recruit Randazzo as head utility regulator. And then-Chief of Staff Laurel Dawson ignored warnings from environmentalists and fellow Republicans that Randazzo's ties to FirstEnergy might present problems.

DeWine has said tapping Randazzo was his decision alone and defended the move. His spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said this month that, to his knowledge, “none of these individuals have been subpoenaed to date as they have never been interviewed for this criminal case and the criminal case does not involve our office.”

Politically, the scandal appears to have done no damage to the Republican brand in Ohio.

A year out from Householder’s arrest, Ohio Democrats hoped the scandal might taint Republican candidates in 2022 midterm elections, but that didn’t happen. DeWine led the GOP’s entire statewide ticket to reelection, and Republicans picked up even stronger supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature.

Democratic strategist Dale Butland said the outcome shows further erosion of Ohio’s former status as a political bellwether.

“Back in the day, when we were a competitive state, some indictment like this — with the lobbyists and the former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party — this would have been an earthquake,” he said. “Now, it’s barely a ripple.”