Election 2022
How foreign government lobbyists are making contributions to Ohio members of U.S. Congress
As Ohio Senate Republicans move forward a bill to ban foreign contributions to ballot issue campaigns in the state, campaign finance records show Ohio’s U.S. Congressional delegation receiving contributions from foreign government lobbyists. Introduced by Republican state Sens. Theresa Gavorone and Rob McColley, Ohio Senate Bill 215 would ban foreign nationals from making campaign contributions […]
Ohio indictments provide a better picture of squalid relationships that spurred massive scandal
An Ohio grand jury has handed up a 44-count indictment against three players in what is likely the biggest bribery scandal in state history. And when the 50-page indictment was unveiled Monday, it provided new details about a decade of payoffs and conflicts as one of them — who became the state’s top regulator — […]
Analysis: Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance slams “elites” despite shared backgrounds
While it’s impossible to know what’s in his heart, Ohio Republican J.D. Vance has been taking some positions against so-called elites that would seem to be squarely opposed to… guys like him. They include statements he’s made about people trying to disqualify former President Donald Trump from running again. It’s widely thought that Vance is […]
Former U.S. attorney general warns of Ohio legislative attempts to cut court power
Some state legislatures are working to diminish the power of courts, imperiling the American system of checks and balances, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote Tuesday. He used Ohio as exhibit A. Holder, attorney general under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015, warned of an “alarming pattern” in an op-ed published by the […]
Shaker Heights man found guilty of double voting in 2020 and 2022
A Cuyahoga County judge found Shaker Heights resident James Saunders guilty of voter fraud Tuesday. Saunders cast votes in both Ohio and Florida during the 2020 and 2022 elections. Despite suspicions among conservatives about rampant voter fraud benefiting Democrats, Saunders is a Trump supporter. According to FEC data he gave more than $5,600 to the […]
Billionaire backing effort to raise Ohio amendment threshold funded election deniers, Jan. 6 rally
An out-of-state donor who wants to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution has a history of supporting candidates who falsely deny the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he's a major supporter of a group that helped organize the rally on Jan. 6, 2021 that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of five former attorneys general on Monday added their names to a swelling group that is opposed to the move. They join four former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats — more than 200 groups of all political stripes, and a group representing the state's election workers have all come out in opposition to the plan.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost jumps into Florida abortion fight
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 14 other attorneys general are arguing in federal court that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was within his powers when he removed a local prosecutor who had spoken out against the state's restrictive new abortion law. But the group that represents Ohio's local prosecutors doesn't seem to agree with that claim, expressing worries that the Florida case threatens the principle of "prosecutorial discretion:" that faced with many possible crimes and limited time and resources, prosecutors need great latitude to decide which cases are most wisely brought.
Poll: majority of GOP lawmakers want to cut voter access to Ohio Constitution
A majority of Ohio’s Republican lawmakers want to make it harder for voters to amend the state Constitution. But significantly fewer think it’s something Ohioans would support at the polls, according to a Gongwer-Werth poll published on Friday. Some Ohio House Republicans — and Secretary of State Frank LaRose — are reviving a measure that […]
Ohio SOS gives yet another reason to make it a lot harder for voters to amend Constitution
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday offered another rationale for making it much more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. Now he’s saying it’s needed to fight a possible power grab like one that grew out of a massive bribery and money-laundering scandal. But LaRose didn’t mention in his op-ed that […]
Ohio tax breaks adding up, watchdog says
A new analysis says that 15 new tax breaks — many benefiting wealthy people and corporations — are coming online in Ohio. That will swell the total cost of tax breaks in the state to $11 billion a year, or 37% of the state's annual revenue, the report by Policy Matters Ohio said. The new breaks will cost the state an additional $450 million a year as the state is ending a process to review the worthiness of its tax breaks, the report said.
Death penalty opponents take another run at repeal
A group of Ohio lawmakers is again trying to kill the death penalty. As she has since 2011, Sen. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, on Tuesday announced that she and some colleagues were introducing legislation abolishing it. It might seem like a shot in the dark. But amid exonerations and shifting sentiment about the ultimate punishment, Antonio […]
Coal plants helped cause bribery scandal. Now FirstEnergy might be buying one back
Akron-based FirstEnergy might be poised to increase its coal-fired generation capacity by 40% with the purchase of a West Virginia plant it owned less than four years ago and spun off as part of a massive racketeering scandal. The reason why the company paid out more than $60 million between 2017 and 2020 to force […]