Governor says he did not suspect illegal activity, does not support repealing HB6

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he would not support repealing House Bill 6, the bill that is at the center of a federal investigation that has seen the arrest of Speaker of the House Larry Householder and others.

He also told News Center 7′s Jim Otte that he did not suspect illegal activity.

“Governor, your reaction to the federal investigation and the charges,” Otte aksed during the news conference, “and did you have any suspicion at all of illegal activity right here at the state house?”

“No, I had no suspicion of any illegal activity,” answered Governor DeWine. “I quickly read the document you all have seen that came from the U.S. Attorney’s office. It is a very sad story. I said yesterday this is a sad day for Ohio when you have the speaker of the house charged with a very, very serious crime. It’s a disgusting story. Having said that, I think we always have to say in this great country of ours, that everyone who is accused has a presumption of innocence. And we have to maintain that. But the story laid out by the U.S. Attorney is kind of a sickening story. Look we all knew ads were being run; I saw what all other Ohioans saw. We all knew ads were being run, but I didn’t know the back story.”

Tuesday, the governor had called on Householder to resign.

Earlier in the news conference the governor was asked if he would join some state lawmakers who have now called for a repeal of the bill.

“No I would not. For a long time I have advocated, and the lieutenant governor has advocated for a balanced energy policy in the state of Ohio. We think having nuclear plants is a part of that balanced policy,” said Governor DeWine.

“We had a couple of big factors in my support for the bill. One is the jobs. We had an opportunity to visit one of the plants and saw some of the workers, when you look at the numbers, there are a lot of workers there. Second, if we would have lost our two nuclear plants, which we would have, I believe, without this bill, it would have meant that we have had virtually no, very very little non-carbon generating energy. And I think that would not have been good. We need balance in our energy, and as much as we would like to see other forms of energy that are non-carbon, the nuclear is where you get the most of it today, and certainly where you get the most of it in the state of Ohio. So what was going on in that campaign, the very very sad story that we all read yesterday, when we looked at the charges, or looked at the affidavit, does not impact where I am in regard to the policy,” said Governor DeWine.

Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted also expressed his support for HB6.

“I have been involved in energy policy in Ohio for a long time,” said the lieutenant governor. “When I was speaker of the house, I put the original clean energy standards in for Ohio. Ohio needs zero carbon energy to hit our targeted goals for carbon reduction, and in the near term--I literally talked to the US Secretary of Energy this morning--in the near term, nuclear is the only large-scale way to do that. And we hope over time we will have more wind, solar, conservation options, and battery technology that will enable to do this, but for the time being for Ohio to hit any reasonable reduction goals, we have to have nuclear energy.”

The governor was also asked about campaign contributions, and whether he would return any contributions from First Energy. First Energy was not named in the investigation, but a subsidiary of First Energy operated the nuclear plants at the heart of HB6. The governor says his campaign would donate to charity any money from anyone charged with a crime.

“We are going to give money back to anybody that has been charged—not to those who have been charged, I said that wrong—anybody who gave us money, we are checking, anybody who gave us money if they have been charged, we are going to give that money to charity; they should not benefit from it, frankly,” said the governor. “The charity should get that. Thinking about taking that money and sending it to food banks, which they have a big need for. As far as First Energy, look, it is not even named in the indictment--it wasn’t an indictment, but it is not named in the affidavit--if it would appear that First Energy’s name is in there, also First Energy, the spinoff group, and so we are going to see. The U.S. Attorney’s office says the investigation is not over. If they are charged, we are certainly going to give back any campaign money, again not give money back but give it to charity. We have no problem doing that, at all.”

The spinoff group the governor was referring to is First Energy Solutions, which is now know as Energy Harbor. Click here to read more about the people and companies involved, and about HB6.

Cox Media Group