Republican Crime Blotter -- Bribery And Racketeering Edition

While Trump's Praetorian Guards cosplaying banana republican thugs were violating due process and First Amendment guarantees in Portland (and coming soon to other Democratic cities!) to distract from the out- of- control pandemic, fellow Republicans in Ohio have been busy getting their palms greased.  (LAW AND ORDER!  Look over there!)

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is among five local political insiders reportedly arrested Tuesday in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme related to the state’s new nuclear bailout law.

According to several media reports, FBI agents and local authorities stormed Householder’s Glenford farm on Tuesday morning. Four other men were reportedly arrested alongside Householder, who has led the Republican-controlled Ohio House since last January: Neil Clark, a lobbyist and founder of Grant Street Consultants; former Ohio Republican Party chair Matthew Borges; Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group in Columbus; and one of Householder’s advisers, Jeffrey Longstreth.

A spokesperson for David DeVillers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, confirmed to The Daily Beast an Ohio official “and associates” were charged in a “public corruption racketeering conspiracy involving $60 million,” but would not go into detail about the case ahead of a scheduled Tuesday afternoon press conference. 

The investigation into the Republican lawmaker centers on House Bill 6, a $1 billion bailout plan for two Ohio nuclear power plants—which Householder notably helped push through last year, according to Cleveland.com. The bill was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in June and was immediately met with efforts to overturn the bailout.

It's not the first time the Republican power broker has been accused of greasing his palm:

In 2004, the FBI launched an investigation into allegations that Householder and his aides took kickbacks from various vendors and traded political favors for campaign contributions. The investigation ended two years later and no charges were filed against the Republican.

Seems to be a pattern there. 

It's in the Republican Party DNA to look at government service as a way to enrich themselves -- either within the law or not -- while, for example, complaining about the "freeloaders" who want extended unemployment benefits.  One other thing is always certain:  you can count on the greedy, the grifters and the charlatans rising to the top in a criminal enterprise like the Trump Republican Party!

(Photo: Ohio House Speaker Householder, fresh from the trough.)