February 22, 2024

The Honorable Kenneth Parker, U.S. Attorney

United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
303 Marconi Boulevard, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43215

Cc:
The Honorable Dave Yost
Office of the Attorney General
30 E. Broad St., 14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

Dear U.S. Attorney Parker:

Without the involvement of the Department of Justice and Ohio’s Southern District Attorney,
Ohio taxpayers would likely have little to no sense of the truth behind the state’s costliest bribery
and corruption scheme in history.

Though one of Ohio’s top elected officials is now behind bars, taxpayers continue to bear the
economic costs of bribery and corruption from a system that was used to work against them
instead of for them. Through higher electric bills and additional utility fees, and because of a $61
million bribe, Ohio taxpayers will likely pay over $1 billion out of their pockets to cover the costs
of a corrupt government-backed deal to pay off a failing corporation, FirstEnergy.

Attorney General Yost recently announced state indictments of two former FirstEnergy
executives and the former top state utility regulator. Though the AG’s efforts are laudable, we
believe the office does not possess the capacity to detach itself from the political realities of
Ohio’s control of state government. The office itself is dependent for financial resources on those
it would investigate or bring charges against. The latest news reports highlight additional issues
within government that only your office in its objective position and resources could investigate.

Reports[1] are surfacing that officials at the highest level of the DeWine-Husted Administration
failed, either intentionally or otherwise, to act in the taxpayer's interest when confronted with
evidence of proven or potential criminal activity. Instead, reports seem to suggest an
administrative culture that willingly ignored potential criminal activity within the
Administration itself, or within proximity to it. For example, consider the following related to
the purported corrupt circumstances under which Sam Randazzo received the governor’s
appointment as the highest utility regulator in the state:

● The DeWine-Husted Administration received an internal memo detailing Mr. Randazzo’s

pattern of ethically questionable, anti-consumer approach to utility regulation in the
state, but ultimately failed to act and appointed Mr. Randazzo.[2]
● The DeWine-Husted Administration knew of Mr. Randazzo’s allegedly corrupt $4.3
million payout from FirstEnergy days prior to Mr. Randazzo’s appointment, but
ultimately failed to act and appointed Mr. Randazzo.
● The DeWine-Husted Administration had knowledge of Mr. Randazzo’s 2016 personal
loan of $10,000 that would benefit a member of the Administration, but ultimately they
failed to act and appointed Mr. Randazzo.[3]
● In addition to employing former FirstEnergy lobbyists within the Administration while
taking significant amounts of campaign money from the company, the DeWine-Husted
Administration appeared to establish a system of privileged access for the company to be
involved in state decision-making— one where Lt. Governor Husted seemingly played
the role of intermediary for corporate interests into the highest-ranking public offices in
the state.[4]

While we are doing all we can as Ohio state legislators serving in the minority, we continue to
have no support from the administration on our proposed needed reforms to ban corrupt
practices and undo the economic damage that corruption has inflicted on our constituents.

We respectfully ask for your assistance in investigating questionable practices and

circumstances at the highest levels of state government to once and for all root out corruption
that continues to cost Ohio taxpayers.

Respectfully,

Nickie J. Antonio C. Allison Russo

Minority Leader Minority Leader
Senate District 23 Ohio House District 7

[1]
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/02/16/fresh-bailout-and-bribery-indictments-raise-questions-about-what-ohio
-gov-dewine-knew-and-when/
[2]
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/04/former-dewine-aide-warned-governor-about-utility-regulator-before-th
e-fbi-raided-his-home.html
[3]
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2024/02/we-all-make-mistakes-dewine-admits-error-in-appointing-now-indicted
-regulator.html
[4]
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/02/16/fresh-bailout-and-bribery-indictments-raise-questions-about-what-ohio
-gov-dewine-knew-and-when/