A defeated 2018 Republican candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives is suing FirstEnergy, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others for subsidizing “defamatory” campaign ads against him in a blatant attempt to get one of Householder’s preferred candidates elected instead.
Bobby Mitchell alleges First Energy pushed money through a non-profit called Generation Now to funnel into the campaigns of nearly 20 house candidates who later supported Householder’s proposed House Bill 6 (HB6).
The legislation helped bail out two nuclear power plants in Ohio owned by a former subsidiary of FirstEnergy called FirstEnergy Solutions. According to allegations made in a criminal complaint against Ohio Rep. Householder (R) in July, the company was involved with the lobbying while it still owned the plants, although it claims otherwise. The subsidiary emerged from bankruptcy in February as Energy Harbor.
The Generation Now money was specifically pushed into a political action committee called “Growth & Opportunity”, which helped create political advertisements that defamed Mitchell, he argued in the $1 million suit.
Mitchell alleged that claims made in the advertisements that he has a “shady past” including a “history of debt and fraud” and a failure to pay child support were false.
The suit alleged FirstEnergy “knowingly gave Householder compensation to perform his official duties, for the general performance of the duties of his office or as a supplement to his public compensation” and was “ultimately used to launch a smear campaign” against Mitchell.
Repeal of HB6
Mitchell’s complaint is the latest in a series of lawsuits against FirstEnergy, its subsidiaries, Larry Householder and Generation Now over HB6. While many lawmakers and state authorities — including Attorney General David Yost — have petitioned for its repeal, the deadline to pass the bill through a simple majority before January has passed.
The Ohio legislature can still repeal HB6 between now and the November election or afterwards, University of Dayton political science professor Nancy Miller said. But ratepayers would have to continue paying the increased fees — around $0.85 per ratepayer — until the repeal takes effect under the regular Ohio legislative process, which bars laws from coming into effect until 90 days after they’re passed.
“They could bypass the 90-day rule by attaching an “emergency clause” to the repeal legislation, but that requires a 2/3 majority to pass — which is unlikely,” she wrote in an email. “Not every legislator believes that HB6 is bad policy and should be repealed — despite significant public opinion that it should be.”
No action to repeal the bill has been reported this week.
Yost suit denied
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by Yost to try and prohibit FirstEnergy and affiliates from lobbying the state legislature as it struggles to figure out what to do with HB6 has been struck down.
The judge said a ban on political spending would be a violation of the companies’ First Amendment rights.
In a statement Oct. 2, Yost said he was disappointed with the ruling, but called the suit a “preliminary round”, adding “there’s a lot more yet to go.”
“As the Judge noted from the bench, it would be foolish for anyone to accept campaign contributions from these defendants — or, I might add, to engage in private discussions with these defendants or their lobbyists,” Yost said. “Anything they have to say — and there is much for them to say — should be said in public, where the people’s business ought to be conducted.”
The judge still has to rule on whether Energy Harbor, the owner of the two plants posed to benefit from HB6, should receive any of the $1.3 billion collected through the rate increase.
