Ohio's House Speaker Just Got Caught In A $60 Million Bribery Scam But His Backward District Is So Right Wing That He Would Win Again If He Could Run From Prison

One Ohio legislator told me that watching Householder shovel food into his maw was one of the most disgusting sights she had ever experienced

It's not nice to call anyone a putrid bag of shit. But Sheldon Silver is a putrid bag of shit. I couldn't cover up the stink if I tried. And we've never tried. We've been covering his political demise since January of 2015 when the powerful and incredibly corrupt Democratic Speaker-for-life of the New York state Assembly was arrested and forced to resign from the speakership and then his Assembly district. He was 71 back then and his lawyers argued-- unsuccessfully-- that he should not be found guilty because the southern District of New York (when it was still a law and order operation instead of a Trump Mob arm) was charging him with activity that state legislators routinely engage in and are not thought of as criminal, i.e., bribery. Now the Yeshiva boy is 76 and has still not served a day in prison. Presumably that will end in late August when he starts serving his six and a half year prison sentence, having been sentenced to that-- and a million dollar fine-- on Monday.

Having denied, denied, denied for years, Silver told the judge on Monday that "My use of my office for personal gain was improper, selfish and ethically indefensible... I'm sorry." The judge pointed out that he had been using his office for corrupt purposes for at least 15 years, taking money from real estate developers-- Glenwood Management and the Witkoff Group-- in return for favorable treatment and special legislation to help their businesses.

That was Monday. The next day, a very similar kind of action exploded in Ohio, where Republican putrid bag of shit/Speaker of the House, Larry Householder, was arrested. He had served as Speaker from 2001 to 2004 but had only been Speaker time time since January 2019. He represents the 72nd state House district east of Columbus-- Coshocton and Perry counties and part of Licking County. The district is 96% white and solidly Republican. Trump's 2016 vote in each of the counties should tell you all you need to know about the people who put Householder in office:

• Coshocton- 69.4%
• Licking- 62.1%
• Perry- 68.1%

And then came the big blue wave of 2018... and no one told the folks in this backward part of Ohio. Sherrod Brown, who won statewide, didn't do as well in the 3 Householder counties:

• Coshocton- 39.5%
• Licking- 43.0%
• Perry- 40.0%

During his first speakership, Householder, a notorious anti-LGBTQ bigot and hate-monger, was best known for passing the first legislation anywhere in America defunding Planned Parenthood-- and for passing a concealed-carry gun law, making it easier for Buckeyes to kill each other. He nearly went to prison in 2004-- for the same kind of monkey business he was arrested for yesterday-- money laundering and bribery. He was arrested by the Feds Tuesday morning at his farm and taken into custody as part of a $60 million bribery scheme that bailed out two nuclear power plants while gutting subsidies for renewable energy projects and increasing rate-holders power bills substantially.

Reporting for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Andrew Tobias wrote that federal prosecutors charged Householder with conspiracy to commit racketeering in connection to the nuclear bailout bill he shepherded through the state legislature last year right after he became speaker. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine-- same as former Ohio Republican Party Chair-turned-lobbyist Matt Borges, prominent lobbyist Neil Clark, FirstEnergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes and Householder aide Jeff Longstreth.

Householder is one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians, and the investigation against him, news of which broke Tuesday morning, sent shockwaves through Ohio political circles.

...Prosecutors did not seek a monetary bond, although as a condition of their release, Bowman ordered them to surrender their firearms, to remain in the Southern District of Ohio, and to not have contact with other defendants or potential witnesses. This would mean Householder, one of the state’s most powerful politicians, could not travel the entire state or have contact with lobbyists or conceivably even other state lawmakers.