For political observers outside of Ohio, Larry Householder’s name is probably unfamiliar. But the former Republican state House speaker was facing federal criminal charges that generated attention far outside the Buckeye State, making his conviction yesterday that much more notable. The Associated Press reported:
Former state House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges were convicted Thursday in a $60 million bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history. A jury in Cincinnati found the two guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering, after about 9-1/2 half hours of deliberations over two days.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker told reporters that the prosecutorial team proved that Householder “sold the statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the people of the great state of Ohio he was elected to serve.”
As is often the case in corruption cases, there’s a degree of complexity to the underlying allegations, but as The Boston Globe explained in a good report this week, prosecutors argued that the former GOP speaker funneled more than $60 million from an energy company through a dark-money group in exchange for a lucrative bailout.
A Cleveland Plain Dealer report added that some of that $60 million ended up benefiting the Republican lawmaker personally: Prosecutors pointed to evidence that Householder used the money to pay down legal debts, credit card bills, and repairs to a home in Florida.
Why would this matter to political observers outside of Ohio? From the Globe’s article, published before yesterday’s conviction was announced:
Legal experts say that if the jury convicts Householder, the case could send a message through the campaign finance world about the consequences of misusing dark-money groups, a term for a category of tax-exempt nonprofits that can raise unlimited sums to influence politics without…
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