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Tag: Ohio Capital Journal

Former GOP Chair Borges chair sentenced to five years in massive corruption case

Center, former Ohio Republican Party chair, and statehouse lobbyist, Matt Borges with his attorneys outside of the federal courthouse. Photo courtesy of WEWS.

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

CINCINNATI — It was Matt Borges, the former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, who was handcuffed by U.S. Marshals Friday after being sentenced to five years in prison for his participation in the biggest corruption scandal in state history.

But federal prosecutors made clear that they were trying to send a message to other state leaders who played roles in the scandal and are now trying to pretend they didn’t.

The sentencing of Borges, 51, follows the 20-year sentence U.S. District Judge Timothy Black meted out a day earlier to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder for masterminding the scheme. Akron-based FirstEnergy and other Ohio utilities ponied up more than $60 million between 2017 and 2020 to pass and protect a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout that was mostly intended to benefit FirstEnergy.

Borges received a lesser sentence because he was only involved in 2019, when FirstEnergy funneled $38 million into a dark-money group that funded an ugly, falsehood-strewn campaign to defeat a citizen-initiated repeal of the unpopular bailout. Because those voices were squelched — and because Ohio’s Republican legislature refuses to repeal the corrupt bailout — Ohioans continue to be harmed by the racketeering conspiracy, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Singer.

The bulk of the subsidies — those going to two nuclear plants in Northern Ohio and a fee to “recession-proof” FirstEnergy — have been suspended. But Ohio ratepayers continue to pay hundreds of millions to prop two coal plants owned by AEP and other utilities, including one that’s in Indiana.

The effort to gather enough voter signatures to put a repeal of the bailout — House Bill 6 — failed after Borges bribed a worker with the petition drive $15,000 for inside information and opened lines of communication with Republican officeholders.

At the same time, teams of “blockers” harassed and allegedly assaulted petition gatherers and Householder’s minions flooded the airways with ads falsely claiming that the repeal effort was really China’s bid to take over the Ohio energy grid.

The scheme Borges participated in was meant to “prevent Ohio voters from exercising their right to reject this corruption,” Singer said. “Ohioans never had the opportunity to vote up or down on this legislation.”

Singer also pointed the finger at people only speaking out about Householder now and not earlier.

“It’s interesting that some people are piling on (Householder) after the fact,” he said. “So many knew what was happening in real time and did nothing about it. Not only did they do nothing about it, they helped facilitate it.”

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in a Tuesday appearance on Cincinnati’s 700WLW claimed that everybody who knew Householder knew he was “a crook” at the time the mammoth conspiracy was taking place. However, LaRose never spoke out against the deal at the time. And in text messages presented to the jury, FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones said that LaRose — who also heads up the Ohio Ballot Board — was giving him “private” updates about the signature-gathering effort.

LaRose has refused to explain whether he was in communication with Jones or what he might have told him, but Singer, the prosecutor, seemed to refer to the state’s top elections official on Friday.

Not only did Householder, Borges and their Republican allies squelch a citizen-initiated attempt to repeal the corrupt utility bailout, the gerrymandered legislature is now putting Issue 1 on the Aug. 8 ballot. It would make it virtually impossible for citizens to initiate amendments to the state Constitution. LaRose, a major supporter of the move, claims it will reduce corruption in Ohio.

During Borges’ sentencing Friday, Singer decried the fact that many of the uncharged players in the racketeering scandal continue to thrive on Capitol Square. They include mega-lobbyist Robert Klaffkey, whom co-defendant Juan Cespedes testified slid a check for $400,000 in FirstEnergy dark money across a table to Householder during a 2018 meeting. Klaffkey denied sliding the check, but he didn’t deny being present.

Singer said that it was remarkable that Klaffkey was “comfortable sitting in a room and sliding a $400,000 check to a public official.”

Klaffkey is hardly alone.

Megan Fitzmartin was paid hundreds of thousands as she aided Householder and co-defendant Jeffrey Longstreth in creating a Householder-friendly Republican majority in the state House. Now she’s policy director for the Republican supermajority in Ohio’s gerrymandered House.

Corruption — and tolerance of it — corrodes our political foundation, Singer said.

“Once corruption takes hold democracy itself becomes a charade,” he said.

Cespedes and Longstreth are yet to be sentenced and U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker on Thursday hinted that others might yet be charged in the scandal.

MARTY SCHLADEN

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

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Jul 3, 2023
Ohio’s congressional redistricting case moves back to state supreme court

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

In an expected move, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday sent back an Ohio congressional redistricting appeal for reconsideration by the state’s highest court.

Following its decision in Moore v. Harper, in which a majority of the court rejected the concept of the independent state legislature theory, the court entered a short order regarding the Ohio case, directing the state supreme court to reconsider the case “in light of Moore v. Harper.”

The Moore v. Harper decision essentially rejected all of the arguments attorneys for Huffman and GOP leadership made for legislative authority over district maps.

Using a very old and often rejected legal theory, arguments were made in the North Carolina case that a state legislature holds power over the administration of elections, therefore rise above the scrutiny of the judicial system when setting voting districts.

SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts said the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution “does not insulate state legislatures” from judicial review.

But the Ohio case, listed under the lead parties Senate President Matt Huffman and district map challenger Meryl Neiman, is headed back to a state supreme court with a new chief justice, one who led the dissent in each of the court’s rejections of congressional (and, for that matter, statehouse) redistricting maps, leading to the appeal sent to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy would have upheld the very first map presented to the court nearly two years ago, and every map thereafter.

Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio said Friday that if Moore v. Harper is applied correctly by the Ohio Supreme Court, the court would uphold its previous decision, rejecting the current congressional maps.

“What SCOTUS said in Moore was that legislatures must follow their state constitutions — consistent with what the Ohio Supreme Court already decided,” Levenson said.

Before the court made either decision regarding redistricting, Huffman told reporters it “may simply be that we have the same congressional districts for the 2024 race as the one we have now.”

Regarding the SCOTUS decision, Huffman released a statement on Friday praising the court’s move, and saying the appeal “clearly recognized serious constitutional concerns with the narrow majority opinions rendered under the former Chief Justice.

“We are reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court’s message to determine the path forward,” Huffman said in a statement.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission would need to be reconvened by Gov. Mike DeWine, but a spokesperson for the governor suggested that won’t happen until after the state budget is finalized.

Also of note is DeWine’s son, Pat DeWine, who is a sitting justice on the supreme court. Pat DeWine has recused himself from previous cases in which the court considered contempt proceedings on ORC members (including DeWine) for missing redistricting deadlines, but has not recused himself from general redistricting lawsuits coming before the state supreme court.

SUSAN TEBBEN

Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

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Jun 30, 2023
Federal judge blasts disgraced Ohio House speaker as a “bully,” sends him straight to jail

Former House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford. Source: Ohio General Assembly.

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

CINCINNATI — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder spent possibly his last moments as a free man around 2:30 p.m. Thursday and they couldn’t have been pleasant.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Black gave the Glenford Republican the maximum possible sentence of 20 years and then ordered blue-shirted U.S. Marshals to immediately take him into custody. He rose, put his hands behind his back, the marshals cuffed him and led the once-powerful pol away.

But before that humiliation, the judge blistered Householder for being the ringleader of a racketeering scandal in which Akron-based FirstEnergy paid him more than $59 million in bribes in exchange for a $1.3 billion bailout, most of which was intended to save two failing nuclear plants in Northern Ohio.

Ratepayers could have used that money for things like education, health care or to start businesses, the judge said.

“You handed that money to suits in private jets,” Black said.

The judge made the speech and imposed the sentence after saying Householder clearly perjured himself during his criminal trial, which lasted from late January until mid-March.

In it, Householder claimed to barely know FirstEnergy executives as federal prosecutors put on a mountain of evidence that Householder flew on their corporate jets, sat in their luxury boxes and dined in fancy restaurants as they plowed tens of millions of the corporation’s dollars into dark-money accounts.

“You conned the people of Ohio and you tried to con the jury, too,” Black said in his gravely voice as Householder, clad in a gray suit and red tie, slumped his bulk back in his chair.

The money from FirstEnergy and one of its subsidiaries was used to elect fellow Republicans in 2018 who would vote to make Householder speaker in early 2019. More than $500,000 of it was used to pay off Householder’s credit card bills, settle a lawsuit and to repair a house he owned in Florida.

Tens of millions more went to pass the corrupt bailout — House Bill 6 — and to fund a thuggish campaign to thwart a citizen-initiated repeal.

Earlier in the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter said Householder used FirstEnergy’s dark money to crush a “citizen veto” and “because of this House Bill 6 remains in effect today.”

That’s also because Republican supermajorities in Ohio’s gerrymandered legislature have refused to repeal the corrupt law even after arrests were made, and as they try to make it virtually impossible for citizens to initiate amendments to the Ohio Constitution.

Also arrested in the scandal were lobbyists Juan Cespedes and Jeffrey Longstreth — who cooperated with prosecutors within days of their arrests — and Neil Clark, who died by suicide. Former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges is slated for sentencing at 11 a.m. today, Friday.

Steven Bradley, Householder’s attorney, sought leniency for his client. Referring to the possibility of a 20-year sentence, he said “That is effectively a life sentence for Larry Householder given his age and health situation.”

Householder is 64 and overweight.

Bradley argued that his client was around 60 when the racketeering conspiracy began in late 2016 and that prior to that, Householder did “innumerable” good deeds “for decades.” A 20-year sentence would “effectively give no consideration” to those good deeds, Bradley said.

But when he spoke on his own behalf, Householder appeared to do more to harm his case than to help it, just as he did at trial.

“My greatest commitment is to my creator… My next commitment is to my family,” he read from a prepared statement as he stood at the podium.

Householder said that in the course of 38 years of marriage, “I can count on one hand” the number of nights he spent away from his wife, Taundra. Householder also described the crushing pain they suffered when they lost a four-year-old daughter.

But then he pushed his claims past the point of plausibility.

He said Taundra was planning to retire from her teaching position and next year, when he turns 65, he wanted to retire as well, saying he planned to “hang up my suit and tie.”

Householder made that statement in the same courtroom where, only three months earlier, prosecutors put on testimony and displayed bank records and written messages from early 2020 that showed FirstEnergy and AEP putting money into dark money groups intended to fund an effort to change the state’s term limits so Householder could stay in office for as long as 16 more years.

The former House speaker also implied that he wanted a lenient sentence not for himself, but for his family. Taundra, he said, would be alone while “I’ll be in a cold cell hours away.”

But what might really have set Judge Black off was Householder’s profession of selfless public service.

“My life has been a total and full dedication to making life better for those I serve,” he said.

Black described voters who put out Householder yard signs, donated their hard-earned money to his campaigns, and pushed a button for him in the voting booth.

“I’m not talking about some corporation or the (former FirstEnergy CEO) Chuck Joneses of the world,” Black said. Householder’s constituents who supported him “were saying, ‘I’m choosing to trust you,’ and you betrayed that trust,” the judge said.

Black used Householder’s own words to give the lie to his claims. He quoted several recordings of Householder that were surreptitiously made during the conspiracy and played at trial.

“If you’re going to fk with me, I’m going to fk with your kids,” Householder said in one of them.

“Bottom line, you were a bully,” the judge said.

If the federal racketeering statute didn’t cap sentences for a single count at 20 years, sentencing guidelines would have recommended life for the former House speaker, Black said. One reason for that is because Householder’s use of a mountain of hidden corporate money to elect a legislature, pass an exponentially bigger bailout for the company, and to crush a citizen repeal is “an assault on democracy,” the judge said.

Black explained the special harm done by public corruption like that committed by Householder and his co-conspirators. To do so, he quoted former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ironically advocated the citizen-initiated amendment process in Ohio that Householder’s former Republican colleagues in state government are now trying to gut.

“There can be no crime more serious than bribery,” Roosevelt said in a 1903 message. “Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law.”

When Borges, the former GOP chair, is sentenced today, it’s unclear what he’ll face. His involvement in the conspiracy was considerably less than Householder’s, but Judge Black showed that he’s not much in the mood for leniency when it comes to Ohio’s corrupt political culture.

Also uncertain is when — or if — others might be charged.

Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Vice President Micheal Dowling — as well as former FirstEnergy Solutions President John Kiani — directed the flood of corporate dollars into the Householder-controlled dark money groups, according to prosecutors.

And FirstEnergy admitted in a deferred prosecution agreement that it paid a $4.3 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just as Gov. Mike DeWine was appointing him to chair the Public Utilities Commission. Randazzo the helped draft the corrupt bailout law, according to trial testimony.

On the steps of the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse just after the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker was asked when or whether those men or others might be charged.

“We continue to look through evidence and we continue to listen to recordings and speak to individuals, so if something’s there we’re going to go there, too, and address it,” he said.

MARTY SCHLADEN

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

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Jun 30, 2023
Ohio Capital Journal wins seven Society of Professional Journalists awards

States Newsroom photo

“Congratulation to Loveland Magazine’s invaluable news source that reports from the Ohio Capital for you.” – David and Cassie

Commentary by David DeWitt

In the “Ohio’s Best Journalism Contest” from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Ohio Capital Journal won seven awards, including five first place finishes and two in second place. The contest covered stories and editorial from 2022.

In digital media categories, OCJ Senior Reporter Marty Schladen won first place for best news story; OCJ/WEWS Reporter Morgan Trau won first place for best government/political reporting and first place for best education issues reporting; OCJ Editor David DeWitt won first place for best editorial writing; OCJ Editor David DeWitt and Columnist Marilou Johanek won first place for best overall commentary/opinion blog section; and OCJ Reporter Susan Tebben won second place for best government/political reporting and second place for best education issues reporting.

We are incredibly honored and grateful for this recognition from our fellow journalists. We are also humbled by and grateful for all of the support we receive from our readers and Ohioans across the state.

Below we will share the award-winning entries.

If you’d like to support our work, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter, share our free newsletter subscription with family and friends, and consider making a tax-deductible donation.

Best News Story – Marty Schladen – First Place

Ohio docs say new abortion law has them working against oaths to do no harm

Affidavits: More pregnant minors who were raped denied Ohio abortions

While in effect, Ohio’s abortion ban led to chaos, suffering, and worse health care, doctor says

Best Editorial/Criticism Writing – David DeWitt – First Place

Ohio redistricting charade continues as GOP again passes more clearly rigged maps

Campaign finance and pay-to-play corruption is also destroying the American Republic

In 1912, Ohio voters asserted their democratic authority. Now Ohio Republicans want to rip it away

Best Overall Commentary/Opinion blog (news organization) – David DeWitt and Marilou Johanek – First Place

In 1912, Ohio voters asserted their democratic authority. Now Ohio Republicans want to rip it away

Ohio Republicans’ attempted erasure of a 10-year-old rape victim is incredibly sick and disturbed

Extremist Ohio legislators created the law forcing child rape victims to give birth

Best Education Issues Reporting – Morgan Trau – First Place

Comments about the Holocaust from representative sponsoring ‘divisive concepts’ bill raise concerns

GOP passes bill aiming to root out ‘suspected’ transgender female athletes with genital inspection

Former OSU professor begs for job back after ‘manic episode,’ university refuses

Best Government/Political Reporting – Morgan Trau – First Place

Comments about the Holocaust from representative sponsoring ‘divisive concepts’ bill raise concerns

Ohio lawmaker who wrote bill requiring gun training for teachers owns gun training business

Ohio Rep. behind bill limiting transgender care had never spoken to community

Best Education Issues Reporting – Susan Tebben – Second Place

Ohio governor, education groups at odds over board of ed district deadlines

No changes planned for state board of education districts, despite redistricting changes

Resolution condemning LGBTQ anti-discrimination language passed by Ohio’s state Board of Education

Best News Story – Susan Tebben – Second Place

Ohio Republicans abandon independent mapmakers to pass slightly modified GOP maps

Deja Vu: Republicans use simple majority to pass 4-year maps

Redistricting commission punts again, defies court order

DAVID DEWITT

OCJ Editor-in-Chief and Columnist David DeWitt has been covering government, politics, and policy in Ohio since 2007, including education, health care, crime and courts, poverty, state and local government, business, labor, energy, environment, and social issues. He has worked for the National Journal, The New York Observer, The Athens NEWS, and Plunderbund.com. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and is a board member of the E.W. Scripps Society of Alumni and Friends. He can be found on Twitter @DC_DeWitt

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Jun 30, 2023
More Ohio universities added to Senate bill that would create ‘intellectual diversity’ centers

Miami University, Cleveland State University, and the University of Cincinnati were added to Senate Bill 117, which was voted out of the Senate

BY: MEGAN HENRY – Ohio Capital Journal

The Ohio Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would create “intellectual diversity” centers at Ohio State University, the University of Toledo, Miami University, Cleveland State University, and the University of Cincinnati.

The party line vote came after an amendment was added during the Senate session that tacks on Miami, Cleveland State, and Cincinnati to Senate Bill 117. The bill now moves to the House for committee consideration.

SB 117 would create the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Ohio State University’s College of Public Affairs and the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership at the University of Toledo’s College of Law. It would also now create centers for civics, culture and society at Miami, Cleveland State and Cincinnati.

“The (Ohio State) center will educate students by means of free, open and rigorous intellectual inquiry, to seek truth, equip students with the skills they need to reach their own informed conclusions in matters of social and political importance,” said Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, one of the bill’s sponsors.

SB 117 amendment

Many Senate Democrats slammed SB 117 and the amendment during Wednesday’s session.

“SB 117 is forcing the installation of conservative think-tanks at our public universities across the state of Ohio and they are using taxpayer money to do it,” said state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus.

“The amendment is atrocious,” said Sen. Catherine Ingram, D-Cincinnati.

Miami and Cleveland State were not aware of the potential amendment adding them to the bill before Wednesday afternoon’s Senate Session.

“They had absolutely no idea,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, told reporters when she reached out to her alma mater Cleveland State. “They did not ask for it … and are very concerned about this being imposed on them.”

State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, did something similar with his alma maters Miami and Cleveland State, and both institutions of higher education said this was the first time they were hearing about the amendment.

“Committees are the best forums for thoroughly studying bills,” he said.

Senate President Matt Huffman said making the amendment on the Senate floor was not ideal.

“Certainly that’s not the best way to do these things,” he said to reporters. “I don’t like substantive floor amendments. We’re at a lengthy legislative break. Secondly, the House in their negotiations of essentially, at least for the moment, have rejected the concept of this higher education reform that we want to have. And so what we really want to do is tee these things up.”

The amendments also clarified that both these centers are “independent academic units in their respective universities,” Cirino said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — JUNE 15: Senate Majority Floor Leader Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, speaks during the Ohio Senate session, June 15, 2023, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)

He introduced the bill in May along with Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon — arguing that university faculty are predominantly liberal.

But McColley insisted Wednesday that SB 117 is not a conservative takeover of higher education.

“There is not a single letter, there is not a single word, there is not a single phrase that requires this to teach conservative principles,” he said. “The University of Toledo Law is supportive of this. The Ohio State University does not oppose this either.”

But Ohio State already has more than 70 centers, and many students and professors at both universities have spoken out against SB 117.

State Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, said college students do want these centers, but are afraid to speak out.

“If they speak out, they are afraid it might impact their academic career,” he claimed.

The bill would give UT $1 million in fiscal year 2024 and $2 million in fiscal year 2025 for the Institute, and Ohio State $5 million in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for the Center.

The bill’s amendment would each give Miami, Cleveland, and Cincinnati $2 million each fiscal year to support the centers, Cirino said.

State budget

SB 117 is one of the bills that the Senate added to their version of the state budget, which is currently in conference committee.

McColley clarified that what’s in the proposed budget when it comes to SB 117 doesn’t include the three new universities that were added to the bill through Wednesday’s amendment.

The Ohio House has pushed back on the higher education bills being added to the budget.

“We’re maybe not going to get 117 in the budget,” Huffman said. “You don’t know what the deal is until there’s a deal. So we’re just putting 117 forward as a bill.”

Senate Bill 83, also introduced by Cirino and which would overhaul higher education, was added to the budget by the Senate.

Among other things, SB 83 would ban university staff and employees from striking, college students would be forced to take certain American history courses, professor tenure would be based around “bias,” and mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training would be prohibited, with only specific exemptions.

“The House are not fans of 83,” Huffman said. “I think we’ve offered a pretty good higher education package that they rejected.”

While the constitutional deadline for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to sign the budget is Friday, it seems unclear at this point if that is actually going to happen.

“I’m optimistic and I think we’ll see what happens on Friday,” Huffmann said.

Lee Strang

Professor Lee Strang is the John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values at the University of Toledo Law School. (Photo from University of Toledo website.)

UT Law Professor Lee Strang first got the idea for the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership in 2019 after visiting the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and Princeton University’s James Madison Program.

He has also helped lawmakers get Issue 1 on the ballot in a special Aug. 8 election, which would make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution.

Lawmakers have insisted Issue 1 is not about abortion, but Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently said it is “100%” because of efforts to legalize abortion.

Strang has closely aligned himself with groups trying to stop an abortion rights amendment and has shown support for banning abortion care.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the last five years reporting on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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Jun 29, 2023
Rape survivor advocates push for ‘right to know’ provisions in state budget

Sexual assault examination kit. (photo from Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance)

Ohio already tracks rape kits, but the House included a more robust system for keeping survivors informed. The Senate pulled it, arguing it should pass as a standalone bill.

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

The Ohio House put language in the state budget granting sexual assault survivors the “right to know” what’s happening with their rape kit and developments in their case. The state Senate pulled that provision out. Not because they oppose the idea, but because they contend it should advance as a standalone bill. The state has taken numerous steps to track kits already, they add.

But as budget negotiators prepare for what could be a long scuffle, advocates are working behind the scenes to get the proposal back into the finished product.

The right to know

Rep. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, submitted the budget amendment establishing the right to know. The language allows survivors to request updates about the testing of their kit including the date, results, whether they got a DNA profile and whether it matched one in the database, as well as the estimated date of destruction. Survivors can also request updates about the progress of their case, for instance if investigators decide to close or reopen it.

“Removing that provision, I think that’s really disheartening to a lot of survivors,” she said. “They need a sense of closure, they need to make sure that they have the right to know the status of their rape kits, and the status of where it is and making sure that it’s processed in a timely manner.”

“It’s a piece of them, you know?” Grim explained. “It’s something that, they feel like they own, because it’s a piece of them. It’s their DNA.”

Ohio has a tracking system for kits. But Grim said survivors need to know more than just where it is — they need to know where their case stands.

Thirty one states around the country have passed their own versions of right to know legislation, Ilse Knecht explained. The Joyful Heart Foundation policy and advocacy director heads up the organization’s effort to end the backlog of untested rape kits.

The organization tracks states according to six pillars relating to how states inventory and test kits as well as inform survivors. Ohio has five of those six covered. The only one missing? Legislation ensuring a survivor’s “right to know” about their kit and case.

Most survivors, Knecht said, leave the hospital having just gone through an intrusive, uncomfortable procedure right after a traumatic experience. And then they never hear what happened with their kit.

“Think about if you went in to get a test for cancer or something, right?” Knecht said. “And you left and you could never get a hold of anybody who will tell you what the result was. I mean, it’s a little different — that’s a life and death kind of your medical situation, but I think that survivors feel like that.”

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and state Sen. Matt Dolan. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

Senate reticence

In an emailed statement, Senate spokesman John Fortney explained why lawmakers removed the language.

“Determining the best practice is paramount to these cases and to finding justice for survivors,” he said. “That discussion would be better served by a thorough debate and discussion devoted to a stand-alone bill.”

Senate President Matt Huffman made a similar point while defending the inclusion of a higher-ed overhaul in the budget. He said lawmakers have looked to the budget as a vehicle for policy changes for years.

“And my answer to that, and I think when I was Speaker Pro Tem the answer in the House was, we’re not just going to put a bill in the budget, a piece of policy, because we don’t want to talk about it, or it’s easier than having lots of committee hearings and witnesses and things like that,” Huffman explained.

“Don’t just show up two weeks before the budget and say I got a good bill, throw it in there,” he added.

It’s worth noting the Senate’s budget maintains a $1 million earmark to fund kit testing and related expenses for local law enforcement. The Senate also included a modest increase beyond the governor and House’s proposal to double spending on rape crisis centers.

Carrying out the right to know changes would largely fall on the Attorney General’s office. The office didn’t request the changes in its budget request, and it already operates a kit tracking system.

Didn’t we just do this?

That tracking system comes from work that began under then-Attorney General Mike DeWine. As recently as 2018, Ohio had a backlog of untested rape kits that ran into the thousands. DeWine’s administration cleared that backlog, and Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Dublin, and Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville backed legislation directing the AG’s office to establish a tracking system.

The system allows survivors to use a unique reference number to track the path of their kit from law enforcement agency to testing lab and back. That puts the onus on survivors to track their kit rather than requiring agencies to inform survivors at their request.

Grim’s proposed changes also grant survivors more visibility into the investigative process.

And although Ohio cleared its backlog of untested kits, the fact that the state had one at all gives Grim pause. “We need to make sure that there isn’t that issue again,” she said. To that end, her amendment would also require an annual audit and summary report prepared by the Attorney General’s office.

The removal of the amendment is a setback, but Grim and Knecht say they’ll keep pushing for its inclusion in the final budget package.

“It definitely needs to go back (in) in conference committee,” Grim said. “It’s a really important provision.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

NICK EVANS

Nick Evans has spent the past seven years reporting for NPR member stations in Florida and Ohio. He got his start in Tallahassee, covering issues like redistricting, same sex marriage and medical marijuana. Since arriving in Columbus in 2018, he has covered everything from city council to football. His work on Ohio politics and local policing have been featured numerous times on NPR.

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Jun 26, 2023
Gathering signatures to put abortion amendment on November ballot is ‘going very well’

Abortion rights groups attempting to get the measure on the ballot need to get 413,000 signatures by July 5.

BY: MEGAN HENRY – Ohio Capital Journal

Less than two weeks until the deadline, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights is saying abortion right advocates will get the signatures needed to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution.

Abortion advocates attempting to get the amendment on the ballot need to collect 413,000 signatures by July 5.

“The signature gathering effort has been going very well and we are on track to be successful,” Dr. Lauren Beene, OPRR co-founder and general pediatrician in Northeast Ohio, said Thursday during a media call. “We will have reached our goals to be able to submit before the deadline coming up in July.”

OPRR said they were unable to quantify how many signatures have been gathered so far because the number constantly changes.

“We’re actually in the verification and counting phase right now,” Beene said.

This comes as the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision nears, which overturned Roe v. Wade and gave states the power to regulate abortion access. OPRR, which formed after the Dobbs decision, has grown to more than 4,000 individual healthcare members.

Abortion is currently legal in Ohio up to 21 weeks as the six-week abortion ban is held up in court.

Issue 1

Before the November election, abortion advocates first must look to the Aug. 8 special election when Ohioans will vote on Issue 1, which would raise the threshold for a constitutional amendment to pass from a simple majority of 50% plus one to 60%.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently said Issue 1 is, “100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution.”

“Issue 1 is obviously extremely important to us,” OPRR co-founder and pulmonologist Dr. Marcela Azevedo said. It is targeted towards our issue. … We are pretty aware that this is just another desperate attempt to thwart the will of voters with a goal of ending majority rule and transferring the power from the people to politicians and lobbyists in Columbus. This constitutional amendment is just another ploy.”

Heartbeat bill

After the Dobbs decision last June, Ohio’s six-week abortion ban was in place for about 11 weeks until a Hamilton County judge put a temporary restraining order on the heartbeat bill.

“Living under a time period where you’re doing the right thing for patients and it’s illegal was not something I would have thought it would have experienced in my career,” said Dr. Amy Burkett, a board-certified OB/GYN in northeast Ohio and OPRR member. “Doing the right thing was not supported by my state legislature.”

That’s how the constitutional amendment was born.

“Our solution to the ambiguity and confusing nature of the poorly written heartbeat ban is our constitutional amendment right,” Beene said. “What we are putting forth what people have been coming out of the woodwork to sign.”

She said the decision for someone to get an abortion should be between them and their doctor.

“You have to make sure what’s most important is that when our patients need access to care, that access to care is available and available immediately,” Beene said.

OPRR members said it’s tough to quantify how many people were referred out of state by Ohio doctors while the six-week ban was in place, but said it’s not always possible for patients to go out of state.

“That’s a huge burden to patients to have to go somewhere else for the care that’s considered evidence based health care,” Burkett said. “They need funds for travel. If it’s overnight they’re missing more work, they may need childcare.”

Ohio had 21,813 abortions in 2021, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the last five years reporting on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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Jun 23, 2023
“A great step forward,” Senate’s budget restores proposed affordable housing tax credit program

Getty Image

The amount of credits would be capped at $100 million, creating about 4,000 housing units during the program’s term.

BY: MEGAN HENRY Ohio Capital Journal

In a positive turn of events, the Senate’s version of the two-year operating budget restores a new affordable housing tax credit program that was originally nowhere to be seen in the Senate’s proposed budget.

The program would attract developers to build low-income housing by making state tax credits accessible to projects receiving federal aid. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine proposed the program by putting it in his budget, but the Senate’s initial proposed budget cut the program altogether — causing an outcry from housing advocates, who called it an “all out assault … on rental housing.”

But DeWine’s version of the affordable housing tax credit program was back in the budget the Senate passed last week.

“With the state housing tax credit it would bring new dollars to the state of Ohio for the production of affordable workforce housing,” said Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) executive director Amy Riegel. “This will help build new housing units into communities all across the state that will help drive that economic growth and offer communities new options for housing for their workforce.”

The Senate went with what DeWine originally proposed: capping the amount of credits at $100 million, which would create about 4,000 housing units during the program’s term from July 2 to June 30, 2027, Riegel said.

“Restoring the governor’s introduced program is a great step forward,” she said.

However, the House’s budget proposal had upped the amount of credits to $500 million, which would have created 26,000 housing units, Riegel said.

“That’s a significant difference,” she said. “We hope there may still be room to consider the House’s version of the state housing tax credit knowing just how much of a deficit we have right now in housing across the state and the economic development that is on the horizon.”

Shortage of affordable housing

There is a deficit of about 270,000 affordable and available rental units to the 448,000 extremely low-income households in Ohio — meaning there are only 40 affordable units for every 100 households, according to a March report from COHHIO and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

“In recent years we’ve seen the number of affordable rental units plummet, which means more families are experiencing longer bouts of homelessness,” Erica Mulryan, Director of the Ohio Balance of State Continuum of Care, said in a news release.

Full-time workers in Ohio need to make at least $19.09 an hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Ohio — a $2.04 increase from last year, according to a new joint report according from the NLIHC and COHHIO.

“When so many jobs pay too little to afford a secure place to live, families are forced to make impossible decisions about whether to pay the rent, buy food, or forego medicine, transportation or education,” Riegel said in a release. “A precarious workforce means tired, stressed, unhealthy employees, higher absenteeism, and lower productivity.”

Nixing the Ohio Housing Finance Agency

The Senate’s version of the budget would transfer the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) to the newly created Governor’s Office of Housing Transformation starting in January.

OHFA has a proposed budget of $16.8 million for fiscal year 2024 and $17.4 for fiscal year 2025 — a nearly 8% percent decrease for both years when compared to the House’s version of the budget.

Under the Senate’s budget, all the current employees of OHFA would stay on staff, but the governor would be able to pick the director and appoint all new members. The number of Tax Credit Authority members would increase from five to seven and the office would have to get the green light from the Tax Credit Authority before approving funding for multifamily rental housing.

The budget would also nix their authority to create pilot programs to increase housing opportunities for “extremely low-income households, pregnant women, and new mothers,” according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission.

Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio said it’s crucial OHFA remains independent.

“This was a firewall erected nearly twenty years ago by Republican legislators to keep influence from developers, lobbyists, and other special interests shielded from the funding decisions our local communities rely upon,” AHACO said in a statement.

“The Alliance respectfully requests that this monumental shift in state policy be given the full debate it deserves by removing it from the fast-moving budget and allowing hearings and expert opinions on the ramifications Ohio may suffer.”

State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, implored his fellow Senators not to make these changes to OHFA during last week’s Senate session.

“It’s the last thing we should be doing,” he said. “Frankly, we don’t need to eliminate OHFA, we need it on steroids to meet the needs of Ohioans.”

He said transferring OHFA to the governor’s office will “add bureaucratic hurdles that will jeopardize Ohio’s economic growth.”

“The Senate’s proposal will put housing that is affordable further out of reach for many Ohioans,” Smith said.

DeWine must sign the budget by June 30.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the last five years reporting on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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Jun 21, 2023
Voter deadlines approaching for Ohio’s August special election
People enter a voting precinct to vote in the Michigan primary election at Trombly School Aug. 7, 2018 in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Deadlines are coming up quick for Ohio voters participating in the Aug. 8 special election over State Issue 1, which seeks to make it harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution by raising the threshold from 50% to 60%, and increases the number of counties ballot signatures for citizen initiatives must be collected, from 44 to 88.

Here are some important dates to keep in mind:
- July 10: Voter registration deadline for the Aug. 8 primary
- July 11: First day of early in-person voting
- July 15: Certification for independent candidates
- Aug. 1: Absentee ballot applications must be turned in
- Aug. 8: Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and absentee ballots are due by close of polls.
If State Issue 1 passes, its provisions making it harder for voters to bring forward and pass proposed amendments would impact future ballot initiatives, including some that are already in the works, such as the abortion ballot measure, set to go before voters in November, along with initiatives to change marijuana regulation and minimum wage.

Republicans who are in support of Issue 1, including Ohio’s elections chief Secretary of State Frank LaRose, have pointed to the abortion proposal as a main reason they’d like to see the voter threshold amendment pass in August, as it would cause significant challenges for the amendment, for which signature gathering has been well under way.

Critics of Issue 1 have said the measure would roll back more that 112 years of Ohio majority voter powers and give even more power to an already gerrymandered GOP supermajority legislature.

Issue 1 had to get through a few challenges of its own to get to the ballot, with the Ohio Supreme Court giving it the official go ahead just last week, after a lawsuit sought the court’s intervention. This was because Ohio lawmakers passed a law in December outlawing August elections before brining back this August election in defiance of the new law.

The Ohio Supreme Court in a split decision sided with Republican lawmakers, after the court asked that the Ohio Ballot Board rewrite some of the language in the ballot measure, including the title and explanations of the term “electors.”

The ballot board, led by LaRose, did just that on June 14, though the changes were approved on partisan lines.

SUSAN TEBBEN

Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

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Jun 21, 2023
Ohio redistricting slated for later this summer, maps in September, Senate president predicts

Redistricting ahead with budget cycle’s end, Alabama decision could have impacts

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Once the Ohio two-year budget cycle is finished by June 30, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman expects work to begin again on redistricting for Statehouse maps, with September as a likely date for them, he told reporters recently.

Both Ohio’s U.S. Congressional district maps and Statehouse maps were declared unconstitutional gerrymanders multiple times by a bipartisan majority of the former Ohio Supreme Court, but voters were nevertheless forced to vote under them in 2022 after Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission ran out the clock and appealed to a federal court.

With swing vote former Ohio Supreme Court Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor forced to retired due to age, Republicans added partisan labels to the 2022 Ohio Supreme Court races and won a majority of justices. Gov. Mike DeWine then appointed a family friend to an open seats after Justice Sharon Kennedy was elected chief justice.

The new right-wing 4-3 majority on the court is not expected by analysts to have a swing vote on the issue of gerrymandering going forward. O’Connor has called for further anti-gerrymandering reform by Ohio voters, which had passed such reform in 2015 and 2018 with more than 70% of the vote. That system left politicians in charge of the process, however. O’Connor has since called for an independent commission.

Ohio Republicans have also brought a case to the U.S. Supreme Court over the congressional district maps, seeking the court to declare under a theory called “independent state legislature doctrine” that the Ohio General Assembly has total control over the maps and the Ohio Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction.

Because the high court has yet to decide whether or not it will review the case, Huffman told reporters last week that the congressional maps could stay the same for the 2024 election.

“(The congressional map’s) a little bit more uncertain, it may simply be that we have the same congressional districts for the 2024 race as the one we have now,” Huffman said.

As for the Statehouse maps, it’s up to the governor to call the Ohio Redistricting Commission back into session, Huffman said. The commission is made up of a majority of Republican leaders, including the governor, Auditor of State Keith Faber and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, as well as a Republican and Democrat from each chamber of the state legislature.

Huffman – who was on the commission until he and then-House Speaker Bob Cupp removed themselves, saying they were needed for other legislative duties – sees a mid-September date as a likely end date for the Statehouse district discussion.

“The plan in my head…is that we would start in earnest after June 30, have hearings and all of the other negotiations and things that are to be done and to try to have a map by mid-September,” Huffman said.

He said he doesn’t know “how much all the districts will change” in the General Assembly maps, but action will be needed on them.

One change that could come into play for the Statehouse maps has to do with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Alabama redistricting case.

In the case, the court upheld a lower court decision that the state had likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional map that had one majority Black district.

Amid redistricting deliberations in Ohio, a staffer who helped draw some of the earliest maps in the process said he was directed to ignore racial data in drawing state districts.

A lawsuit was filed by two Youngstown residents accusing redistricting officials of racial discrimination. The lawsuit did not see further action as maps were redrawn several times, and a federal court ordered the commission to redraw maps after they were used for the 2022 election.

Though the Alabama decision was considered a general win for the Voting Rights Act, it’s not clear how much change it will make in Ohio.

“It may prompt the legislature or the commission to approach the redraw differently, but I don’t see anything in the lawsuit that necessitates that change,” said Yurij Rudensky, senior counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Alabama decision upheld existing Voting Rights Act language that bars states from ignoring demographics.

“If it is such that the conditions on the ground could lock out voters of color from being able to participate in the process … there has to be an eye to how voters of different races are being grouped together,” Rudensky said.

Rudensky is also counsel in a lawsuit between the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the ORC challenging district maps in the state.

A spokesperson for Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens did not respond to requests for comment on the status of the redistricting process.

Asked whether Gov. Mike DeWine had a plan when it came to redistricting post-budget cycle, a spokesperson said “it is accurate we are focused on the biennial budget due June 30th, as is the General Assembly.”

SUSAN TEBBEN

Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

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Jun 20, 2023