The Dark Money Game (2025) s01e01 Episode Script

- Ibrahim
X : @sle1i
Bravo seven to the accident.
At 6:00 PM
Machiavelli was a softie.
His writings offer a step-by-step plan
for the political game
with instruments like deception,
hardheartedness, and crime.
His lessons have been analyzed to death
by many politicians, myself included.
But I always thought that exiled political adviser was a softie.
I worked in politics in Ohio
for almost 40 years.
I heard about bribes, crimes
personal scandals at the top
of the Ohio government.
Some of the state's most beloved officials.
In fact, I knew how to keep their secrets.
Until the FBI decided to end my career.
News flash about the biggest bribery case
in Ohio history.
Five men are charged with racketeering.
It involves 61 million dollars
in hush money.
The accusation was that money was funneled
into a dark money corporation.
Dark money.
- Dark money. Secret money.
A non-profit dark money group.
- There is clearly a corrupt culture.
Corrupt through and through.
I no longer feel the need
to keep people's secrets.
Now that that burden has lifted off me,
it's time to talk.
And talk I will.
A Sicilian never forgets.
I am Neil Clark. I am a lobbyist.
Neil Clark's body was found in a field
near his home in Bonita Springs, Florida.
He died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Was it murder?
According to the police, it was suicide.
Suicide is always a mystery.
Why does someone take their own life?
The clues to this mystery
created more questions than answers.
Why was he wearing a campaign T-shirt
for Mike DeWine, the Governor of Ohio?
And what did he leave behind,
except for his grieving family?
His obituary featured a photo
of a poor kid from a rough neighborhood.
He grew up to be a generous family man
who in his spare time made mosaics
out of broken glass.
BEATS ME. I'M JUST A LOBBYIS
NEIL S. CLARK
His autobiography told a different story.
He had ugly nicknames.
'Godfather', 'Prince of Darkness',
'Asshole'.
'I was willing to go to extremes, bend
rules, cheat
and ensure that anyone who stood in my way
was severely punished.
I never looked back,
I always kept going.'
I heard his voice on wiretaps
and bugs.
Every politician has a hitman.
Everyone needs someone who
handles the dirty work.
But then I found a series of late-night,
unfiltered video diaries.
Hello, today is July 26, 2020.
My name is Neil Clark.
The purpose of these videos
is to shed a different light on
certain events in my life.
I won't try to justify
every aspect of my life.
I will describe how I saw
those events unfold.
Every facet of Clark was different.
Was there a way to make sense of it all?
What was he trying to tell us
from beyond the grave?
Did the scandal that led
to Clark's suicide
fit into a new kind of corruption
in American politics?
As a lobbyist, Clark made his living
trading favors.
But had he perhaps become confused
about what was legal and what wasn't?
In 2010, the Supreme Court made a ruling
called Citizens United
which granted money free access
to American politics.
Fifteen years later, interest groups
could pool billions into secret funds
to thwart democracy.
In Ohio, lured by the call
of dark money
Clark became entangled in a web
of religion, hush money, and political corruption.
The day I arrived in Ohio
to follow Clark's story
there was a demonstration at the Capitol
for abortion rights.
Whose house?
- Our house.
Whose house?
- Our house.
Whose house?
- Our house.
Whose house?
- Our house.
Over 60 percent of voters in Ohio
believe abortion should mostly be legal.
But today they are frustrated because
the lawmakers in Ohio aren't listening.
In fact, they passed just about
the strictest anti-abortion law in the country.
Will you pray with me?
Lord, those who sit in this chamber
are your servants and have the task
of governing the citizens
of the great state of Ohio.
I ask, Lord
The Republicans pay little attention
to the shouts of the protesters.
Through gerrymandering, the Republicans,
who are anti-abortion
hold 68 percent of the seats in the chamber.
Far more than their share of the votes.
Amen.
Today we are talking about abortion.
This government is currently considered
the most corrupt in the country.
This body has done nothing to restore
the trust of citizens
after the biggest bribery scandal
ever in this state.
This body refuses to abide
by the Supreme Court
which ordered us to draw maps
for the citizens and not for politicians.
That is not democracy.
With their massive piles of campaign cash
from dark money donors
the anti-abortion group was laughing.
Like a team that knows
the game is rigged.
Here is what is happening in Ohio
The money is pouring in
and private interests
are taking over Ohio politics.
These are not ordinary rights, friends.
These are rights given to us
not by this government, but by
the God who created us.
It's becoming a sort of entrenched,
corrupt supermajority in government.
One person, one vote.
One person, one vote.
Shame on you all.
And the citizens have no recourse.
One person, one vote.
Watching the protesters
by the legislative chamber
I wondered why the anti-abortion movement
had so much money
and how that money had broken
majority rule.
One person, one vote.
Matthew wrote in the Bible that you cannot
serve God and money at the same time.
But in Ohio, the Republican Party
found a way to do it anyway.
Let us in.
The question is, how?
Let us in.
I grew up in Ohio.
I was always interested
in the law and society
and the impact of various forces on society.
When I was in the eighth grade, I think,
we were talking about taxes.
A girl said, 'You shouldn't have to pay taxes
for schools
if you don't have a child in school.'
I replied, 'Everyone benefits
from an educated population.'
And my teacher said, 'You should
become a lawyer.' And so
I became Chief Justice
of the Ohio Supreme Court.
I held that position for 12 years.
I am a registered Republican,
but I am not a Republican judge.
I always say, 'If you bring politics
into the courtroom, you don't belong there.'
but as Mitchell spins around
In Ohio, there is no voting majority.
When they say, 'All Ohio residents
are Republicans,' that isn't true.
Ohio was considered a purple state
but leaning slightly red.
But after Citizens United,
everything changed quickly.
For starters: a Supreme Court ruling
that thoroughly changes the funding
of political campaigns.
The Citizens United case came
before the Supreme Court
in January 2010 and ruled
that corporations have the right
to donate unlimited money
to American politics.
For the first time in many decades,
corporations and unions can
unlimited resources that will influence
the political process
in a way that will destroy our campaign
finance laws.
There is no evidence whatsoever
that participation by corporations and unions
ever had a corrupting effect
on our democracy.
I was heavily involved in Citizens United.
I brought it before the Supreme Court
and got it accepted.
We naturally relied on the First Amendment.
If you limit what people can spend on speech,
you limit speech.
If I have money, I can express my opinion
and buy an ad.
If a corporation has money, it can express
its opinion and buy an ad.
Essentially, the economic elite were now allowed
for the first time, to spend as much money as they wanted.
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
As long as they didn't give the money directly to the candidate
which would be bribery, so they set up supposedly independent organizations.
Those were the super PACs.
PRIORITIES USA ACTION - MAKE A DONATION
Political organizations, the super PACs
became major secret funds for elections.
CNN - CAMPAIGN CHAMPIONS
In 90 percent of U.S. congressional elections
the candidate who spent the most money won.
The Republican Party was very smart. They realized that
now that they could spend unlimited money
they could take over state legislatures on the cheap.
These are really cheap campaigns. And we saw that happen in Ohio in 2010.
POLITICAL TV AD
2010 was the ideal time. It was a census year.
That year, the state legislative districts
and voting districts were redrawn by whoever was in power.
EXISTING MAP
When districts are redrawn, the ruling party determines their shape.
The goal is packing and cracking.
Pack as many opponents as possible into a few districts.
Crack all other districts into weird shapes, not geographically
but according to political preference.
That is called 'gerrymandering'.
Gerrymandering has always resulted in
irregularly shaped districts.
There was one jokingly called 'The Snake on the Lake'.
OHIO VS DISTRICT 9
There was no logic to it, other than it being about gerrymandering.
These districts were
redrawn in a very unfair way.
They made it almost impossible for themselves to lose.
OHIO HOUSE DISTRICT 95
With districts absurdly drawn along political party lines
politicians focus solely on winning the primaries.
They have no reason to concern themselves with the public interest.
They win by leaning into extremes and stoking anger over current cultural issues.
DISPATCH OHIO'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER
When I started as a politics and legislative reporter, the government
had the informal term the 'Caveman Caucus'.
That was a small group of lawmakers who were very conservative.
They wanted things like
concealed carry without a permit, a total ban on abortion.
Over time, that group
was no longer a small subgroup of the Republican caucus.
It became the majority of that caucus.
When extremists won in Ohio, they caught the attention of major donors
who heavily sponsored their campaigns.
OUTSIDE GROUPS PUMP MILLIONS INTO ELECTION
There was a new kind of backroom deal.
We'll sponsor your wedge issues so you stay in power
if you turn a blind eye to economic regulations.
To understand what happened, you had to follow the money.
When the court ruled on Citizens United
the justices suggested this money would be transparent.
That would be a check on kickbacks in politics.
SUPER PACS MUST DISCLOSE DONORS
But what happened then was that much of that money
was quickly spent by non-profit corporations
so-called 501(c)(4)s, which are allowed to keep their funding secret.
This is known as dark money, money from anonymous donors.
Basically, a lot of money in politics is untraceable.
That's deliberate, because they don't want people to know where it comes from
because they often have corrupt intentions.
I kind of like the word 'dark'. Shady, I don't know what's shady.
I get that.
My problem with dark money is: nobody knows it's unknown
Donors don't have to report their names.
- Secret groups lurking
Secret groups, donors.
- Lurking behind them.
I'd rather make sure people know there are secret
people we don't know telling us what to do.
I joined the FBI in 1999.
I mainly worked on corruption and fraud cases in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 2006, I was able to transfer to the Cincinnati field office.
The FBI realized that corruption can take root in our state capitals.
FBI leadership
wanted to bring agents to Columbus
who had experience with public corruption.
In early 2019, there was an investigation into Neil Clark.
Neil Clark was on our radar
as one of the best-known and most powerful lobbyists in Ohio history.
In Ohio, I have a reputation for not being pleasant to work with.
I make things very difficult for others.
He seemed to have clients and be involved in all the wedge issues
that might involve bribery or illegal activity.
We started deploying undercover agents.
They posed as businessmen and had to come across as corrupt
and willing to break the law to give their business interests priority.
U.C. 7760. It's about 7:28 AM.
Conversation between myself and Neil Clark.
How's it going, buddy?
- All good?
It worked. Neil Clark accepted them.
I've been doing this for 39 years. I know all the tricks to get things done.
The undercover agents became very familiar with Mr. Clark.
Some called him charismatic, others found him abrasive and rude.
I'm willing to screw people over. She said, 'Your feuds will be the death of you.'
And I replied, 'Jo Ann, my feuds keep me alive.'
I wake up in the morning and think: I'm going to screw you over today.
I'm going to ruin your life.
Other people said that Neil Clark
was full of shit.
Now don't think I'm a saint. But you have to understand
that I am virtuous.
The agents recorded the conversations they intercepted.
Some were relevant to their investigation
but others potentially involved illegal government activities.
I'm not saying he's corruptible, okay?
But he is clearly influenced by his friends who have money.
Why don't you run for office yourself?
Because I am the goddamn son of a convicted mobster.
Are you crazy? The ads against my candidacy would write themselves.
I chose the backroom from day one.
I'd rather be the kingmaker.
FBI agents had undoubtedly stumbled upon the biggest political corruption case
in Ohio's existence.
During their investigation into a corrupt councilman
undercover agents recording conversations discovered a potentially corrupt relationship
between Neil Clark and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.
What kind of guy is the Speaker?
- Who, Larry? Huge. Massive asshole.
Massive asshole.
He negotiates endlessly.
He screws you until he wins.
I've never trusted a politician.
But in early 1999, I had a meeting with Householder.
I am Larry Householder. I represent District 78.
My family, my wife and four sons, and I live on our family farm
in northern Perry County.
I have 14 years of experience as an independent business owner.
He had enough votes to become Speaker of the Ohio House.
He didn't want fundraising help, but my strategic advice.
The Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder
takes the floor.
It's an honor to be here with my colleagues.
But in 2003, rumors started circulating
about corruption, an FBI investigation, and bribery.
DISHONORABLE DEPARTURE SPEAKER HOUSEHOLDER
Will corruption play a major role in the November elections?
No.
- Okay.
No, it just dominated the news for three years.
It was on every front page of No.
But I will say in the same breath that all federal investigations
yielded nothing. This has been going on for three years now.
Criticism of Householder and others. Nothing.
At some point, instead of complaining
someone needs to say, 'I don't like how you did business'
and 'I don't like your attitude', but that's not a crime.
You are only punished when there is a crime.
No charges were filed.
Larry and I didn't speak to each other for the next 15 years.
In 2016, Householder wanted to return to the House of Representatives. He called me.
He laid out his plans and said, 'I need your knowledge and help.'
I said, 'I'm in, if you promise you'll always tell me the truth.
I mean it, I never want to hear anything about bribery.'
He promised. And I believed him.
I'm Larry Householder, a pro-gun, pro-life conservative Christian.
A dark money group is spreading
unfair ads about me. But I'm fighting back.
Because where I come from, we hold our ground.
Larry Householder.
Larry Householder is just
a unique character, let's say.
He's from Perry County, a little under two hours east of Columbus.
It's on the edge of Appalachia.
He got a reputation as someone who could be charming when he wanted to.
But he also had a reputation as a bully. He was very aggressive.
He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be Speaker again.
That made a lot of people nervous.
They knew how it went last time. That he ruled with an iron fist.
But the mood shifted and people said, 'He's calmer now. He's changed.'
Larry Householder gathered
a group of candidates across Ohio for the primaries
who, if elected in November, would vote for him as Speaker.
I lined up candidates for him.
The House will now vote on the candidate
for Speaker of the House in order of their nomination.
On election day, Householder got enough of his men elected
and became Speaker again.
With 52 votes, after achieving the constitutional majority
of all votes cast, Larry Householder is declared
and elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Either this podium has shrunk in the past 18 years
or I'm just bigger now.
Many of us were happy. We had accomplished something big.
We had beaten a lot of people in the primaries. He was back.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION CLEVELAND
Speaker Householder was the third highest-ranking politician in Ohio.
He was a nice guy. But he had another side
that became clear on the recordings, when he thought nobody was listening.
I've beaten her three times.
I won leadership and then the speakership.
She is fucking 92 years old.
I'm going to take a big, fat shit on her grave when she dies.
In all public corruption investigations, the quid pro quo is crucial.
Those kinds of deals are usually not made out loud
in a public forum. They are said in private conversations.
Either in person, or on the phone.
There are various ways and investigative techniques
to gather those unfiltered conversations.
The undercover agents did a really good job in this case.
Sometime in late 2018
I was working with Rob and Brian.
They always drank good wine and always paid cash when we went out to eat.
They asked me if I could give the Speaker a check.
I asked a few questions.
Most of their answers were pretty vague.
At most, I would give them some simple things, although
I really liked Brian and Rob because of our nice dinners.
But I told them they looked like junior mobsters to me.
I let it go.
Neil Clark might have let it go because of something he said on the recordings.
He had become convinced that the Supreme Court ruling
meant that quid pro quo was now legal.
I only want the money in a c4a.
- So no PAC?
PAC money has to be reported. A c4 is secret, nobody knows
What Neil Clark was talking about right away on the recordings was the use of c4s.
501(c)(4).
A c4 is a political entity
that can receive undisclosed corporate contributions.
And it can spend that money on both campaigns and issues.
Is that the tax stuff they were arguing about years ago?
Now let me think, it's
Citizens United.
SUPER PACS CHANGE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Citizens United created super PACs.
The 501(c)(4) is a type of super PAC.
You can pour a tremendous amount of money into it, but unlike a super PAC
you don't have to reveal your donors.
You have a lot of experience prosecuting corruption.
Did you start to see a pattern as you went along?
Definitely. It's hiding money. That's what it's all about.
A c4 is shrouded in secrecy.
A 501(c)(4) is like an opaque paper bag
that can be a major, concerning tool for bribery.
You have to donate to two c4s.
The governor, but you shouldn't give anything unless I know
he's making the right decision.
The Speaker I've already raised money for Householder's c4.
But he has a c4.
At first, we only heard references to the Speaker's 501(c)(4)
or a 501(c)(4). That was an important piece of the puzzle.
There shouldn't really be any coordination between the candidate
and what the 501(c)(4) uses the money for.
You don't discuss figures on the phone. You say, 'We want to help.'
He says, 'Great, talk to Jeff' [Householder's strategist].
It's all about protecting your bosses.
Those people can't get on the phone, because then it's a conspiracy.
Right.
Prosecuting a person for bribery is very difficult.
You need a quid pro quo, implicit or explicit, depending on the circumstances.
If I take an official action for you
in exchange for money, money and property, then that is a crime.
But you need a motive.
The question is: what are you doing with the c4?
Are you helping get people elected or are you doing it for your business?
The c4 I'm working on
received 17 million dollars in the last ten weeks.
Geez.
In bribery cases, you often have
either the money, or the law, or action, and you have to find a link between the two.
We heard about an account, but we didn't have an action.
But when House Bill 6 was proposed, our interest was piqued.
Thanks for everyone being here.
We're ready to get to work on this mystery
this mysterious bill that we've
been working on for a while in the House of Representatives.
If you look at Ohio and Ohio's history
you'll see that we were always a major industrial state.
We were always a major manufacturing state.
What we have put together now
and are presenting today is the 'Ohio Clean Air Program'.
I remember a staffer calling me about House Bill 6.
They asked if I was watching.
House Bill 6 was the lifeline for nuclear energy.
It provided a subsidy to struggling nuclear power plants in Ohio.
Do you mean FirstEnergy's nuclear plants by that?
Yes.
FirstEnergy is based in Akron. It's a regulated utility company.
They operate from Ohio to New Jersey, so in multiple states.
We didn't look at
a specific user.
We didn't look at a specific provider. Nor a specific producer.
We simply wanted to do the right thing for Ohio.
The legislation was drafted so that anyone could apply for the subsidy.
But the conditions you had to meet and who could
all those things seemed specially tailored for FirstEnergy.
And it was a subsidy, not a loan. So it was about
a billion dollars coughed up by taxpayers.
Something was wrong with that subsidy.
Why did so much money have to go to one company?
CLEAN
And why did it have to be FirstEnergy?
RELIABLE - NUCLEAR ENERGY
One of America's biggest polluters, FirstEnergy, was sued
for dumping 20 billion gallons of arsenic-laced coal ash
into groundwater and water reservoirs.
Their nuclear power plants were heavily fined for concealing safety violations.
FIRSTENERGY BANKRUP
Their balance sheet was so poor that they filed for bankruptcy
a year before Householder touted the benefits of House Bill 6.
It's about cleaner air in Ohio and we want to stimulate that
and it's about stimulating jobs in Ohio.
I won't judge the wisdom of House Bill 6 here.
But the argument was: 'We want energy independence.
We want to keep those jobs. We don't want to shut down.'
And the only way was a rescue operation
by the people of Ohio, through House Bill 6.
Any questions?
I sat next to Larry Householder at the press conference and asked the question.
A lot of campaign money is flowing into the political coffers of Ohio
from FirstEnergy, FirstEnergy Solutions and their allies.
Because of this bill, those companies are eligible for 150 million.
Is there a connection?
- No.
Okay.
I mean I thought: this is just a giant gift to FirstEnergy.
And that was the law he was known for.
Householder asked me to follow HB6 for him.
He said, 'I'm giving you my proxy. If I'm not there, you decide.'
I decided to help him.
HB6 was a bailout, so what?
Householder called it the 'Clean Air Act'.
The catch was that a program
subsidizing wind energy would be scrapped.
Press reports and testimony weren't going very well.
My name is Michael Holland, witness for the Ohio Consumers' Counsel.
We are opposing this on behalf of all residents
and especially seniors living on a fixed income.
Under the guise of clean air
300 million in taxes would be collected annually from businesses and families
over half of which is meant to bail out two bankrupt power plants.
Manufacturers in Ohio were very angry.
They felt their bills would go up significantly. That upset them.
Environmentalists were angry too.
I received this direct mail piece.
About securing Ohio's energy future, for our grandchildren.
'I'm becoming a grandmother this year.
I do not consider old and potentially dangerous nuclear power plants
to be a clean energy future for my grandchild.'
It was simply mismanagement.
The government just wanted to bail out a bankrupt company.
Even I was surprised that a man who campaigned as
a rural conservative Republican
was so eager to bail out that company.
Nobody knew why Larry Householder was putting so much on the line for House Bill 6.
The session will now begin.
Will our guests in the gallery please stand and join our members in prayer.
There was a lot of pressure to get it passed.
This bill comes from a committee
that I am ashamed to have been a part of.
The procedure of this committee lacked transparency and accountability.
We didn't even get
- Will you stick to the amendment?
Just the amendment, please.
- But Okay.
People called it a tough vote.
Because it was unpopular.
If you voted for the bill, you might be voting against your constituents.
The future is in our hands
At the same time
ads were running on TV and radio in support
of the proponents and to pressure opponents.
Politicians always say they want to save jobs.
This is the ideal opportunity for them to save our jobs.
Ohio senators, families want you to take action.
Senator Andrew Brenner can save jobs.
Senator Matt Dolan can save our jobs.
Senator Frank Hoagland can save jobs.
Ask your representatives to support House Bill 6.
More jobs, lower bills for Ohio.
There were also negative ads targeting hesitant politicians.
Then Dave Greenspan contacted us.
He was a representative who didn't want to support House Bill 6.
And he was being pressured.
The Speaker called me two weeks ago for his vote.
So I spoke to David Greenspan. He said, 'I can't vote yes.'
And I replied, 'You have to vote yes.'
'Neil, I'm philosophically' I said, 'Don't care. He doesn't care.
Do you really want to voice your opinion about what you believe in?
Nobody cares about that.'
Representative Greenspan called the FBI.
He told them what was going on with House Bill 6 and Mr. Householder.
DAVID, VOTE YES ON HB6, IT MEANS A LOT TO ME. CAN I COUNT ON YOU?
AS DISCUSSED, I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS BILL.
I was at the meeting with Mr. Greenspan.
REMEMBER - WHEN I NEEDED YOU - YOU WEREN'T THERE TWICE
Larry Householder was essentially threatening Dave Greenspan.
Do you think we should do something about Greenspan?
Just say, 'If you screw me, I'm going to screw your kids.'
Honestly, even we were surprised
that someone with so much power and responsibility
would behave like that.
Representative Greenspan later told us he had to delete messages.
He had to obstruct justice. He had to delete those text messages.
If he agreed to that, everything would be forgiven.
That set things in motion.
We could launch an investigation, subpoena files, and build on that.
And quickly too, because we wanted to
We knew there were attempts to destroy evidence
so it was a race to gather the evidence before it was destroyed.
This bill passed very quickly. It was introduced in early April
and the governor signed it as soon as it hit his desk in July 2019.
That is very fast for a major piece of legislation.
I think this was necessary.
And the legislature got it done.
SENATE BILL AMENDMENT CREATES OHIO CLEAN AIR PROGRAM
Following the passage of House Bill 6, our investigation had just begun.
We wanted to know if House Bill 6 was a corrupt deal.
My family and I haven't been running marathons for long.
I find running is great for stress.
Running 20 or 30 km takes a long time.
People ask me if I listen to music. I don't.
I think about my court cases.
And I think about some things that come up.
We heard that Householder had a 501(c)(4).
So we had to figure out which 501(c)(4) that was
what the name was, that it existed, and the connection
to Mr. Householder.
During the investigation, someone gave us information
that Householder claimed he had pumped $500,000
into the race in District 43.
So we wanted to find out what money he was talking about.
I have the candidates for the District 43 race here with me
Dan Foley and Jeffrey Todd Smith.
Dan Foley was a Montgomery County Commissioner, a longtime Democrat in Dayton.
Dan, do you support the idea of redistricting for fair elections?
And would you support this for the 2020 election?
Yes, and I think the biggest problem with congressional districts is
that the ruling party always wants to draw the districts in such a way
that they have a better chance of staying in power.
J. Todd Smith wasn't originally a member of Team Householder
but became one during the election.
Todd, do you think the government should be involved
in women's reproductive decisions?
If you mean people have a right to healthcare, to mammograms
things like that, I'm fine with it. But I'm against abortion.
It's one of the few swing districts, so it's going to be tight.
Foley was campaigning.
He went to a bar
to have a beer and watch sports. It was blistering hot.
Then he was pulled over for a sobriety test and blew negative.
I think he mentioned the beer.
And a dark money group got their hands on the dashcam video of this.
Everyone is equal under the law, but apparently politician Dan Foley
thinks the law doesn't apply to him.
Foley was caught driving under the influence.
He tested positive, but Foley avoided a DUI charge.
He only got a $40 speeding ticket.
Another corrupt politician who thinks he's above the law.
Drunk Dan Foley cannot be trusted.
This ad came from a group called Hardworking Ohioans.
Now we were trying to make connections.
Where did the money for Hardworking Ohioans come from?
With normal campaign financing
there is, depending on the state, transparency
and Ohio has very good access to databases, with the disclosures.
With Hardworking Ohioans, nothing was disclosed.
So we subpoenaed a series of documents
and found the bank records.
I believe they had received about $1.4 million.
Most of that came from the organization Generation Now.
That is a 501(c)(4) entity.
That was an important piece of the puzzle
but we wanted to be able to connect it to Mr. Householder.
He was on no documents.
The registration papers were not in his name.
The only way we could find out was if Neil Clark and others told us.
You write a check to Gen Now
and we hand the check to the Speaker.
What is Gen Now?
- Generation Now, the Speaker's c4.
That recording with Neil Clark and the undercover agents was crucial.
That was important for the connection to Householder.
There were also
40 clues in the bank records about money flows to various entities.
So we subpoena those entities. After 30 days you get those files.
Then you see another 40 clues and you go figure those out again.
The money trail was very long.
The money came from Generation Now.
After Generation Now, it went to another entity.
In this case, Growth and Opportunity PAC.
That could be Coalition for Growth and Opportunity. Or Hardworking Ohioans.
From there, help went to Team Householder candidates
primarily through negative ads about their opponents.
I have to laugh at the names of those c4s.
Like 'Ohioans for Pretty Puppies.'
Those weird names. You know right away something's fishy.
When Emily explained everything to me, I was thrilled.
They had pulled it off.
We had mapped everything out and it looked like some weird kind of octopus.
It went every which way.
Hardworking Ohioans was able to run negative ads
at the last minute, in districts that were important to the election.
J. Todd Smith, District 43.
Dan Foley lost by 127 votes.
Every vote counted in Larry Householder's quest for the speakership.
Let us pray together.
He spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on candidates he wants to support.
That is a huge amount of money for these kinds of elections.
And that money translated directly into power for Householder.
SPEAKERSHIP
The Speaker of the House is the boss.
I quickly learned that the Speaker of either chamber usually gets what he wants.
He or she decides who is rewarded
and who is punished, and therefore how they vote.
OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 133RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
A Speaker determines the legislative agenda based on
how helpful a particular contributor or donor organization is.
They don't want to upset their big donors.
In addition, they did everything possible
to also get the approval of their voter base.
For Republicans, that is the right to life.
Householder's deal worked as follows.
With dark money, he ensured anti-abortion activists were elected.
In return, they voted for House Bill 6.
And as a reward for their loyalty
Householder gave a special thank you in the form of a bill.
What is the human rights bill?
That is the Heartbeat Bill.
It is the ban on abortion in Ohio if a woman is more than six weeks pregnant.
Larry Householder launched this in the House in 2019.
It was one of the most draconian anti-abortion laws
you can imagine.
Not the church. Not the state. Patients decide their own fate.
Not the church. Not the state. Patients decide for themselves.
Quiet, please.
It is not the position of the majority of voters
yet this extreme position is being forced upon them.
Quite a few opponents claim that I
and the legislators are bringing our personal faith into this bill.
That is not true.
Jeremiah, chapter one, verse five. God says in the Old Testament
'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
Before you were born, I set you apart.
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'
My question is: 'Why would God
appoint a clump of cells as a prophet before he was born?'
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
- Does the bill pass?
The House will now vote.
Shame.
- The bill has passed.
Shame.
Shame.
This is a huge challenge.
Enough pens for everyone.
I don't know if they expected that law to just be accepted.
But there was a tragic event right away.
A ten-year-old girl who was raped could not get an abortion in Ohio.
She had to leave the state and cross the border
to Indiana to get the medical care she needed.
Because of that extreme law.
There is a ten-year-old victim of rape
who cannot get care in Ohio. How does that make you feel?
It's very difficult. How much longer are we going to keep going?
And how close to death do we have to get for patients who need abortions?
The reaction of all elected officials in Ohio was disgusting.
Denial.
This is a misunderstanding. There is no evidence that it happened.
We have no idea who the doctor in Ohio was, if they even exist.
MAN GUILTY OF RAPING 10-YEAR-OLD WHO SOUGHT ABORTION
That girl should never have had to go through all that misery.
The family shouldn't have had to go through that.
Our system failed, that child was completely left to her fate.
Without the gerrymandered districts, the Heartbeat Bill would never have existed.
The prevailing attitude of too many officeholders
is: 'We have a majority, so we can do whatever we want.'
Following the Heartbeat Bill, Householder used his grip on the legislature
to get HB6 passed at record speed.
We were in the middle of our investigation and still had to piece the puzzle together.
Everyone on the team felt the pressure
to bring justice here
and to do so as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
We knew Generation Now.
We knew about the many millions of dollars
that ended up in that 501(c)(4) while House Bill 6 was pending.
But a 501(c)(4) allows anyone involved, closely or remotely
to hide their participation.
Federal investigators wanted to find out who was funding Generation Now.
Fortunately, their agents were dining with the man who raised the money.
A figure that gets noticed is 15, 20, $25,000.
That gets noticed.
Where does that go?
- To a c4.
The Speaker has me handle that.
So it's like talking to him. Okay?
To him, our money is like a peppermint to a whale.
Yeah, but still Everything counts.
- You can't compete with people who
We're talking about multi-billion dollar corporations here.
Right.
You can't compete with that.
A big utility company, someone who has a lot of money, that cannot be broken.
Like First Whatever. - Yes. FirstEnergy.
And what is FirstEnergy?
Exactly. Who is FirstEnergy? I'm naive.
- A nuclear power plant.
We had conversations and a lot of circumstantial evidence
that linked Householder to FirstEnergy.
But how can we prove
that what Mr. Clark says to the undercover agents on the recordings is actually happening?
What witnesses do I need to prove the details of those recordings?
After House Bill 6 was signed by the governor of Ohio
an attempt was made to have the law repealed
by a coalition of stakeholders.
OHIO'S WORKERS WANT SAFE JOBS
We shouldn't bail out bankrupt nuclear power plants.
Consumer advocacy groups
environmental groups, oil and gas
joined forces and wanted to organize a referendum.
They wanted to collect a huge number of signatures in 90 days.
Hundreds of thousands of signatures
to later vote statewide. Then voters would say:
'Yes, we approve of this law' or 'No, we disapprove.'
My best friend, whom I've known for years, called me and said:
'Those against the law need someone to help in Ohio.
Are you interested?'
I'm one of those weird Republicans who cares about the environment.
So I really liked the idea of helping with a citizen-led initiative.
I said I was interested, but that I needed to talk to a few people first.
I got into politics at a very young age.
Always on the Republican side?
- Yes, always.
I grew up in Knox County, Ohio. It's very rural and conservative.
And my family is conservative.
But I usually tried to find common ground
between people with different ideologies.
How did you meet Matt Borges?
Jeez. In 2008
I was the youngest campaign worker for McCain in the US.
During that period I met Matt Borges.
He was really involved in politics.
We have a few freshman members to whom I want to say straight out
'welcome to the party.'
He knew John McCain. Personally, I mean.
You just looked up to guys like that as a young, hungry, political guy.
Over the next few years we talked regularly.
On Sunday afternoons we would text each other about the New England Patriots.
I saw him as a mentor.
Matt was for House Bill 6
so I called him.
He said, 'That's how politics works. Sometimes we're on opposite sides.
Take that job. It's a great opportunity.'
So I did.
Not long after, things went wrong.
It is very important
very important that they don't succeed
because once the legislature has decided, it has to remain the law.
You've only just become Speaker.
This is a bad precedent for the next six years.
We need to show them that you mean business.
Then it will be clear to everyone that, no matter what or who it's about
if you attack the caucus or a member, we will rip your dick off.
If someone had to rip dicks off for Householder
Neil Clark was right in the front row.
In preparation for the referendum, we conducted a poll.
It showed that if they gathered enough signatures
for a referendum, we would lose.
The only solution was to ensure that the opposition
did not get enough signatures.
REPEAL HB6 #LET THE PEOPLE SPEAK
I want to tell you about the repeal of House Bill 6
and why it is so important.
REPEAL HB6 NOW - NO EXCUSES
Shortly after I started on the anti-HB6 side, Matt invited me for coffee.
We met at a Starbucks in Columbus.
It started very innocently. He asked me how I was doing.
It was a normal conversation, just like old times.
But it took a turn.
Matt said he wanted to get information from inside the campaign.
He said if I gave him information about
how many signatures we had, the locations of my canvassers
and other details he needed, he would be a 'hero' on his side.
And he said I would be taken care of.
He knew about the troubles I was having.
He knew I had concerns regarding my daughter's custody.
I wanted to spend more time with her.
He asked me how much the lawyer would cost.
He said I could name my salary
choose a car, whatever you want, we'll take care of you.
It was a strange situation.
This man I know and trust, who knows very personal things
about my life, was using those things
to persuade me to betray my team and become a spy
in the organization I worked for, for something I truly believed in.
I was angry, but also terrified.
Because he violated our friendship like that, I started thinking the worst.
What if I say no? What will he do?
I left Starbucks.
I said I would think about it.
I was still full of anger and sent Matt a text message.
I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT. I'VE MADE UP MY MIND.
I said, 'If I do what you ask
I wouldn't be the person you invested so much in.
I wouldn't be that person. So my answer is no.'
I got a message.
'Never tell anyone anything about this conversation.'
THANK YOU.
I called my best friend and he said: 'You need to report this to the police.'
'I have a contact at the FBI.'
We had an appointment the next day.
'Shall we meet at Graeter's?' they said, and I thought
does the FBI want to meet in an ice cream parlor?
Don't they meet in a parking lot in a dark car
in secret? Sure, I'll see you at Graeter's.
Fantastic ice cream, you can't beat it.
Tyler came to us after Matt Borges approached him. He had said no.
Then he went to the FBI. The FBI said, 'You know what? Just say yes.'
We asked if he was willing
to voluntarily wear a wire
and to contact Matt Borges again and play along.
TYLER'S PHONE - MATT BORGES
Hello.
Hello, do you have a minute?
- Yes, I'm just backing out of the garage. What's up?
I have a question. When we had that conversation recently
my reaction that evening was maybe a little
It must be me. I was a little surprised.
Okay.
- But
I saw my lawyer this week
and I have to deal with more legal matters regarding Nora than I thought.
So I was wondering if we could revisit our conversation.
Of course.
- Because I need to get all kinds of things in order.
Of course. I definitely want to help you. You know you can trust me.
As for that idea that you
have to spy on someone or sell your soul or something.
That wasn't how I looked at it.
I just want to know what's going on.
- Yeah, I
These are things friends discuss with each other.
Right, honestly I think during our conversation I thought:
damn, this is much bigger than I realized. I knew there was a lot going on
Yeah.
- But
But how does this work then?
What do you need from me and what You know? What do I get?
It's a weird question, but what can we agree on?
I don't know, let's discuss it again.
He said, 'You're scaring me a little.' I had to sell it.
Two, three days ago or so
you said in a text that your integrity wasn't for sale.
That's right.
You're not trying to set me up, are you?
No, here's the thing. I have business I need to take care of.
The more I think about our conversation, the more
I don't think info on canvasser locations will hurt the project.
And you were always good to me, so it's not
Good.
Because you'd better not.
It would be bad for both of us if something like that comes out, but worse for you.
Yeah, I get that. You have to understand that I
On the back shelf of my car
is my New England Patriots Super Bowl hat from Matt Borges, so
I get it.
Yeah. Sorry, I was startled by your phone call the other day.
I'm going to think about this for a minute. I'll call you back.
I doubt much persuasion was needed.
I think Matt Borges was desperate
to prove his worth to his supporters.
So greed took over.
I was invited to a conference call on Sunday.
The agenda included a poll
legal issues regarding HB6, and strategies to defeat the referendum.
There was a lot of nervousness. And Matt Borges suddenly started speaking in code.
Later I understood why.
Borges had hired a spy.
During that period it sometimes felt like I was acting in a movie.
I remember the FBI calling me before I was going to talk to Matt.
They said, 'You're wearing an Under Armour hat, right?'
'Yeah, I'm bald, so I'm trying to keep my head out of the sun,' I said.
'Okay, fine,' they said. That was all.
I get in the car and they say, 'Put this on.'
It was the same hat I wear every day.
But hidden under
the sweatband in the hat was a tiny microphone.
They said, 'When you go to Starbucks, you go inside and order your drink.
You sit in the same spot as last time, on the patio.
I asked, 'What if someone is sitting there?' -They said, 'Someone will be sitting there.
He'll be wearing this and reading a book.
Don't look at him. Don't talk to him. Go inside, order, and then your spot will be free.'
What was unique about this case
is that Matt Borges had private investigators following Tyler Fehrman.
And we were observing the private investigators following Fehrman
and Fehrman's conversation with Matt Borges.
That made for
a crowded parking lot.
How's it going?
I'm checking my fantasy sports scores.
Man.
How are you doing?
I'm exhausted, campaigning is hard.
In our first conversation
- Yeah.
I would like to arrange it as follows.
We will pay
$15,000 now and $10,000 at the end.
Okay. So $25,000 in total?
Good.
One thing they want to know is how many signatures you already have.
Yeah.
- They'd like to know that.
Good.
It's a financial decision.
Will you make it? How many signatures do you already have?
Yeah.
If they think you will, they attack, they put people to work.
If they think you won't, they wait and see.
Right.
- Okay.
We met several times.
Usually we try to keep it simple and say, 'Let the other person talk.'
We want to hear their true intentions.
Neil sits in meetings and says
'I have the Speaker's proxy and everything you say'
You'd think Neil was talking nonsense again, but he's not.
We talked a lot about Neil Clark and Larry Householder
and the clique that was working on this and meeting all the time
to do everything in their power to stop our campaign.
They would literally do anything, he said.
I knew there was more to it. I could feel it.
If you doubt the importance of money, I'd like to hear how you think about it.
Because unfortunately money can solve most problems.
The opponents struck first with a modest TV ad.
We did a poll.
Support for HB6 had dropped 20 percent.
Fortunately, that poll showed that 88 percent of Ohio residents
were against investments in the energy grid by countries like China.
Householder and I wrote the TV scripts for the coming months.
They took our manufacturing jobs.
Now they want our energy jobs.
The Chinese government is infiltrating the American power grid.
Are you being asked at home or on the street to sign a petition
for fewer American jobs and energy?
Say no. Paid for by Generation Now Inc.
Suddenly the name Generation Now pops up.
They had another ad: 'Criminals are coming to your door.'
Special interest groups opposing House Bill 6
are failing to get signatures for their petition.
They would do and say anything to win.
And now they are bringing in shady political operatives from out of state.
If they ask for personal information, say no. Refuse to sign.
PAID FOR BY
They are coming to your home. Criminals.
Ding-dong.
- Don't answer.
Don't sign. Don't open the door.
They clearly didn't realize we were wiretapping them.
And they didn't know we had obtained bank statements
and other records that shed light on the plot.
CHRISTOPHER F. GILL, CGI INVESTIGATIVE AGENCY
We saw that they were hiring private investigators
to follow canvassers working for the opposition.
SHOULD WE FOLLOW CANVASSERS OR TYLER AND DAVID
WE CAN DO BOTH, BUT THAT'S HARD
KEEP FOLLOWING TYLER AND DAVID
They were intimidating them.
There were people showing up at canvassers'
and yelling at people signing the petitions.
They had been hired.
My team called me and said they were being surrounded.
We had never experienced anything like that.
I had handled referendums before. This was unprecedented.
They suddenly showed up
with clipboards and a fake petition that looked very much like the real petition.
Our energy is clean, carbon-free, emission-free and we want to protect that.
Our energy supply stays in Ohio.
But that company went bankrupt.
Yeah, the company went bankrupt
I don't know much about the bankruptcy, but we don't want China helping us.
What does China have to do with it?
I don't even have flyers left, they've all been handed out
Collecting signatures is tough.
We offered them something else.
If you have a moment, I'd like to make you an offer.
Good.
I'll be honest.
I work for
My client is on the opposing side of that petition of yours.
Yeah.
What I want to offer you
if you want it, is the sum of $2,500
to work for us and a plane ticket home.
What do I have to do for you if I go home?
Going home is the service you provide our client.
Paying people to leave
is probably not how the Founders envisioned citizen democracy.
But money can change the rules.
With Gen Now's millions of dollars
Clark and Team Householder started paying all the canvassing companies
they found not to work on the petition.
You must be thinking: surely that can't be legal?
In our system, money has the final say
even if it's used to silence others.
What is not allowed is quid pro quo.
A handshake to vote for a law in exchange for a bag of money
a very big bag, sometimes.
I've spent almost 20 million in the last eight weeks.
Damn.
- Twenty million.
How much is in there?
- Unlimited.
It was a tough period.
We had to collect over 200,000 valid signatures.
We worked seven days a week.
From 7:00 or 8:00 AM to 9:00 or 10:00 PM. Exhausting.
Meanwhile Matt was constantly texting and calling me.
He asked for inside information so he could blast people
I was in the trenches with every day.
How's it going?
- I'm exhausted, I'm hungry.
Every day is the same.
By the way, I saw the picture of your kitchen, looks nice.
Yeah, a few things still need to be finished
but it's 99 percent done.
What is it?
Then he texted me
and asked how many signatures we had
or information about the campaign.
We heard you're using out-of-state people. Is that true?
We have a team from the countryside
that it will work the small, rural districts.
When he called me, I had to call him back
on the wiretapped line and make up an excuse.
Hello, Tyler.
- Hey, sorry about earlier.
It sucked today. Crazy.
Part of my role was making up information
that seemed legitimate and made him feel
like he had what he wanted, or finding an excuse.
Do you have a number?
Our conference call was canceled today
by our director, who is in Portland for dental work.
How's the new dog?
- Good, he's doing great.
Sometimes I would make up a number
that he would probably believe, but it was getting harder and harder.
I tried to follow the numbers and see where we stand
but because we brought in all these other companies
Okay.
- It's almost impossible to follow.
Right.
He kept asking for information.
NICE. ANY IDEA HOW MANY THERE ARE NOW?
HOW MANY REGIONS? THX
HOW MANY SIGNATURES DO YOU HAVE IN TOTAL?
ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE IT?
It was a lot and it was constant.
Hello.
It's a madhouse out there.
Do you have the number?
- For Columbus, yes.
How many?
- Just under ten.
He said, 'I'll give you $15,000.'
And as he talks, he slides a check across the table.
I pick it up, take a look, and put it in my pocket.
PAY TO THE ORDER OF: TYLER FEHRMAN - $15,000
During the conversations, Borges mentioned that this wasn't just from him.
That he had money from other sources, that was true
that turned out to be the case from the bank statements.
Matt talked about how much money was being spent. He said:
'These guys are getting filthy rich off this. Why shouldn't we?'
It's freaking Monopoly money.
It's not real, so who cares?
- Yeah.
Often these investigations are purely historical.
That's why this investigation moved at a fast pace.
Because everything was happening in real time.
After a while I got a call at my office
from Brian Bennett. They really wanted to have dinner with the Speaker.
Would we go to dinner with the Speaker?
- Can you?
Would we do that?
If you want to, fine. I talk to him two, three times a day.
I'm texting him right now.
- They're friends.
I said I could arrange it.
Maybe in a private place. Is there a private place in Columbus?
Yes, absolutely. Of course.
There's a cop here. Watch out. By that light.
In trouble before we even start.
- Yeah, man.
This should be it.
You have reached your destination.
U.C. 7760 and U.C. 3129.
Recorded conversation with Neil Clark, ourselves, and Larry Householder.
How's it going?
How are you?
- Good.
Larry Householder.
- Nice to meet you.
Brian Bennett. How are you?
- Nice to meet you. How's it going?
Jay Edwards.
- Thank you.
Jay Edwards. Nice to meet you.
Back then, FirstEnergy or whoever
would have dinner with the governor or the candidate and give him $100,000.
That was legal. Cash for their campaign.
I thought: isn't it better if you know exactly who is giving you money?
If someone gives you $100,000, the press is allowed to ask questions.
'Why are you giving 100,000?'
Now they do it behind the scenes.
Now they use C4s and you never find out anything.
That's why they have the wrong attitude here today.
The courts have decided it's none of your damn business.
Hang on. Do you want a vodka tonic? Or a vodka cranberry?
Yes.
Everyone knows who is funding House Bill 6.
It's an Ohio company
- Yes.
And we are Ohio workers just trying to keep our jobs.
I tell him that every day. Thanks for letting me be involved.
Nice to meet you guys.
Thank you.
- Nice to meet you.
Thank you for your time and effort.
- Thank you.
What is that?
- Here's what you need to do.
Call them and say
'It was a great dinner. Thank you for your time.
Is there anything I can do to help you with Generation Now?
We want to help.'
Everything seemed to fit with the story we were investigating.
The only one on my side is that company.
Right.
- You know?
Right.
- The whole world is on your side.
Do you mean FirstEnergy?
- Yes.
That unholy alliance between Larry and FirstEnergy.
He's helping with the problem our biggest client cares deeply about.
Okay.
How were you eventually able to prove that all that money
came from FirstEnergy?
- They call it 'The Bank'.'
We call FirstEnergy 'The Bank'.
They can fund this for another 20 years if they want to.
They have too much money and too much power.
We had intercepted phone calls, recordings from undercover agents
electronic evidence, bank statements, corporate records, phone records.
It was very complex. We realized it was deliberately designed that way
so no one would find out, but we did.
The story we deduced from it
was that Mr. Householder met with FirstEnergy's management
and made a proposal.
- They were looking for funding
for Larry Householder to become Speaker and become the boss.
They were looking for a sugar daddy.
Someone who wanted a favor in return, and that was FirstEnergy.
FirstEnergy wanted a solution, a 1.3 billion bailout.
After the bailout, a certain executive would sell the nuclear plants
and personally make $100 million off of it.
It became clear that the company already had draft texts of that law
before Speaker Householder was elected.
Speaker Householder wanted power.
He said, 'Get me that position and I'll craft a law in your favor.'
The money went from FirstEnergy to Generation Now.
It provided a guaranteed revenue stream
leading up to the election.
It consisted of three parts.
There was a conspiracy to make Householder Speaker of the House.
Part two is getting House Bill 6 passed.
And part three is keeping it that way.
The ads, the mailings, paying canvassers
and private investigator costs. Everything was funded by FirstEnergy.
There was also personal enrichment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Householder had repairs done to a home he owns in Florida.
INSULATION - WALLS, 4,500
ROOF INCLUDING GUTTERS 61,500
He paid off credit cards with it.
But the vast majority of the money was to help him gain power
to help him become Speaker.
- We had uncovered well over 60 million dollars.
This was clearly a conspiracy
on a very large scale.
I hated the silence during that waiting period.
You don't know if there's going to be an arrest, if there's going to be a result
or if all your work has been for nothing.
Another important news report from yesterday.
For the nuclear bailout by Ohioans Against Corporate
a referendum had been proposed, but they didn't make it.
The campaign ended on October 21, 2019. I will never forget that day.
We were way below our target.
We felt the pressure mounting because the damage was already done by then.
Taxpayers started paying for the subsidy.
We are reaching the point where our covert operation isn't yielding much more.
We are done wiretapping. Now we need to start knocking on doors.
That was an important day for many reasons.
We arrested the Speaker of Ohio, the Speaker of the General Assembly.
When we arrived at Larry Householder's house
I told him he was under arrest
and that he was charged with extortion and bribery.
He did not ask for clarification on the charges.
It was a very casual conversation and it almost seemed like he
was resigned to it.
Something like: 'You got me.'
The latest news on the biggest bribery case in Ohio history.
Larry Householder, the Speaker, has been arrested for extortion.
Several prominent lobbyists are also charged. Neil Clark
What do you think of the charges?
And Matt Borges.
- Comments?
They allegedly accepted money from a company, presumably
FirstEnergy Corporation, in exchange for a public money bailout
worth over a billion dollars.
The FBI arrested the Speaker of the House
and the former leader of the Republican Party. Those are big names.
When the press release came out saying it was $61 million in bribes, I thought
there's a comma missing. Maybe 6.1?
But $61 million, that was insane.
I had a dentist appointment the next morning.
I was in the dentist chair and I felt my phone ringing constantly.
We are here today to announce the arrest of Larry Householder
the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four other defendants
for extortion in connection with what may be the largest bribery
and money laundering operation ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.
This blew up over a bill in the news
that was very controversial.
That referendum and the anti-campaign and all the money that was pumped into it.
FirstEnergy was involved, a company in Akron, Ohio.
It was pure insanity.
What makes me angry is
we have limited resources.
In Franklin County and throughout southern Ohio
we have a major overdose epidemic, people dying from fentanyl
people piled up like firewood outside our morgue.
Violent crime is rising dramatically.
We have to pull our resources away from those cases with real victims
and investigate and prosecute a few politicians
who aren't doing their damn jobs. That really makes me angry.
HOUSEHOLDER REMOVED AS SPEAKER
LARRY HOUSEHOLDER, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
Do you think these are your final days in the House?
Who knows? I have no idea if these are my final days.
But I can tell you I will always keep fighting for the people of Ohio.
2018 PERRY COUNTY FAIR
After a scandal of this magnitude, I expected Householder
to pay a heavy price at the ballot box.
But I was wrong.
Yes, he was re-elected. That fall.
He was re-elected, even though most Ohioans found his behavior appalling.
Resign.
But the legislative districts were drawn so one-sidedly
that it was impossible for moderate voters to make their voices heard.
Republicans even won three extra seats after the scandal.
They scored even better after the corruption scandal.
That is the problem with the lack of democracy
and checks and balances in Ohio. Many citizens are furious.
Fair districts.
- Now.
Fair districts.
- Now.
What do we want?
- Fair maps.
We held a referendum on legitimate elections
in fairly drawn districts.
Draw fair maps. Obey the law.
It passed overwhelmingly.
It is essentially a constitutional amendment in the state.
But the legislature gives it the finger.
Instead, lawmakers draw
one unfair plan after another.
The Supreme Court said no to those maps.
They tried again. The court said no again.
They said repeatedly: 'You're doing it wrong. It violates Ohio's constitution.'
REDISTRICTING HEARING
Your Honor, there is no allegation and no evidence
of a violation of anti-gerrymandering regulations.
My point is that a supermajority
is imposing an unconstitutional limit on voter representation.
It's no surprise that I would judge a map unconstitutional
if it is.
I don't care who drew it. So I sided with the Democrats.
The Republican Party was so upset that they had the nerve to do that
that they threatened to Some lawmakers wanted to impeach her.
They threatened to impeach me because of my vote
which was completely ridiculous.
The Ohio Republican Party has an impressive headquarters.
Gorgeous. They took my picture off the wall.
I remind my fellow commissioners that we are
required by court order to adopt constitutional maps
by 9:00 AM tomorrow.
Ultimately, they are getting very close to the election date.
But they're still not following the law, so the federal court says
'There's an election coming up, so we'll just have to make do with unfair districts.'
It is clear
GOVERNOR MIKE DEWINE (R)
That there is no way we can hold a primary on August 2
with any map other than map three.
- Absolutely.
I think this is relevant, Mr. Speaker.
Voters don't count.
- Shame.
Contempt.
- Shame.
Contempt of court.
- Silence. Order, please.
Liar.
- Shame.
They were stalling. That was their goal, stalling.
That's how the districts were drawn according to the unconstitutional map.
We still have those.
With a map that wouldn't punish Team Householder at the ballot box
citizens sought help from federal prosecutors.
The federal system typically imposes heavy sentences
and is known for substantially rewarding cooperation.
All defendants had to make the same decision.
Do they want to plead not guilty
and go to trial before a jury?
Or do they make a different choice?
After the indictments were announced, two corporate executives approached us
through their lawyers. They wanted to talk to us.
It's carrot and stick
but you tell their lawyer: 'Here is what we are going to do to your client.'
You put on a show. You say:
'Your guy can go to the slammer or he can cooperate with us
for a sentence reduction or probation or something. And that's how we handle it.'
ATTACHMENT A: STATEMENT OF FACTS CONSPIRACY
There was a massive stack of evidence.
And they pleaded guilty very quickly,
admitted their involvement in the conspiracy
and criminal behavior.
The debriefings they did with us helped our investigation immensely.
We had a lot of circumstantial evidence, a bunch of documents
and they brought them to life.
That wasn't how it went with Neil Clark.
INTERVIEW ROOM 1
The meeting with the FBI took place on July 28, 2020.
I emphasized that I never had access to who donated
to Householder's organizations.
Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue
an agent slams an 82-page document down in front of me.
He quickly flips to a specific page
and says: 'Didn't you say you can write a check for as much as $25,000
for Householder?'
A figure that gets noticed is 15, 20, $25,000.
Where does that go?
- To a C4.
You guys write a check to Gen Now
and we hand it over in person, during a dinner in Columbus.
Because you guys should dress nicely now.
Remember? He gets checks from 'The Bank'.
Like I said, 'The Bank' does one and a half, two million dollars.
Yeah.
- But it's also about respect.
We had more evidence against Neil Clark
simply because we had recordings of Neil
of his phone calls and
he gave us a tremendous amount of evidence in his statements to the undercover agents.
The conversations lasted four and a half hours.
They told me I had a lot of knowledge
that my 40 years were very valuable, but to go further
I had to plead guilty.
'That will fucking never happen,' I said.
Then I pointed out the flaws in their case.
It almost seemed like a dissertation. Neil Clark told us
that because of Citizens United and because 501(c)(4)s
were legitimate organizations, designed by the IRS
what he did was not illegal and that we were wrong.
This part of Neil Clark's story fascinated me.
He truly believed in his innocence.
Because he thought Citizens United gave him a free pass.
He said that over and over again on the wiretaps
when he thought no one was listening.
In theory, you can donate unlimited dark money for political purposes
as long as you don't give it directly to a candidate.
Instead, you give it to a so-called independent group
like Generation Now.
But you can make secret agreements on the phone or during a table conversation.
Like Larry Householder's chatter
with the people who wrote checks for him.
I decided to test Neil's theory on a man who brought Citizens United
to the Supreme Court, Jim Bopp.
BOPP LAW FIRM
ABA JOURNAL - THE GREAT BOPPER
Did Bopp really believe that if corporations had the ability
to anonymously fund campaigns indefinitely
that it wouldn't lead to corruption?
I am not in favor of setting up shell companies and
having the candidate get the money.
- How do you find out about that? I mean
Are you aware of the HB6 scandal in Ohio?
The only reason they discovered that crime
is because they found wiretaps used in another case.
You know what? I've been practicing law for 50 years
and I've discovered there is no perfect law
that solves every potential problem in a given situation.
You've pointed out a very exceptional case where
a specific interest exploited the situation.
Independent expenditures, so someone other than a candidate
a group or an individual communicates something that
advocates the election or defeat of a candidate.
But they do so independently.
The Supreme Court said: 'Even though donating to a candidate
is a corruption problem
because large contributions may make candidates feel an obligation'
This is independent.
Do you think there is a valid concern in that regard?
That depends.
For a large contribution
you're looking at a figure with six zeros before you can bribe someone.
You're not destroying America
nor our democratic system and self-governance
with such an extremely rare example.
Extremely rare.
Was it rare?
It was rarely heard that politicians boasted on wiretaps
about $60 million in bribes.
But what if the players made their deals without words?
It surprised me that Jim wasn't concerned about widespread corruption
along with his calculation of a minimum bribery price.
I once made a film about disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
ABRAMOFF PLEADS GUILTY
When I visited him in prison, he said something I've never forgotten.
'Alex, I can bribe a congressman with a stereo,' he said.
The question for the jury in Ohio was: what did FirstEnergy buy for 60 million?
POTTER STEWART U.S. COURTHOUSE
Feeling good about it?
I'm confident. I really am. Hopefully, justice will prevail.
In any public corruption case involving elected officials
appointed officials in high government positions
those people are often considered pillars of society.
They have a lot of charisma.
And they often have very good lawyers to defend them.
When all the facts are known
the jury will decide quite quickly that the charges against me were wrong.
Matt Borges started a PR campaign for himself
by accusing me in the media.
You paid Fehrman, or you offered him $15,000, for inside information.
Is that correct?
- No, that is completely untrue.
He made a website. A sort of legal defense fund.
THE LYING LIARS
I think it's important that the other side of the story
that the true story comes out. I'm the only one who can tell that.
It's important in corruption cases
to show the side of the defendant that you saw
in the investigation and which may differ from what the jury sees.
Because if you can't substantiate the allegations in a trial like that
it likely opens the door to even more corruption.
The biggest corruption case in Ohio's history begins today.
Householder and Borges are charged with extortion, and they maintain their innocence.
Both men face up to 20 years in prison.
Right before the trial started, I thought
I want it to be over, for it to be finished.
It was a surreal experience.
I walked into the courtroom and saw those two men, Matt Borges and Larry Householder
for the first time in a long time
whom I was so afraid of
and I wasn't looking forward to testifying against them.
When Matt's lawyers cross-examined me
it immediately became clear that they wanted to ruin my reputation.
He asked me if I was betraying all my friends.
If I was reporting all my friends to the FBI.
A few people I trust gave me tips, like
'They're going to look at you, don't look away.
Look them in the eye, because you are sitting there with good reason.'
It was an absolute war of attrition.
At that moment, you don't know if they got what they wanted.
Good morning, Mr. Householder.
- Good morning.
Will testifying before the jury help your case?
I certainly hope so. After two and a half years, I get to speak now.
I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a good day.
Larry Householder chose to testify in his own defense.
That was a bold move.
He answered all questions from his own lawyer.
He was very charming. I think the jurors were curious
about this man they had been hearing about for a few weeks.
Emily Glatfelter did an outstanding job on cross-examination.
She showed his true colors and exposed his lies.
She knew almost all 900 pieces of evidence by heart
and effortlessly dismantled all his claims.
When he said he was at the World Series game
she asked: 'Were you there to speak with the CEO of FirstEnergy?'
He answered: 'No.'
-'Why were you in the FirstEnergy suite?'
She didn't take any nonsense.
In the end, the jury only needed nine hours spread over two days
to find him guilty.
The jury found Larry Householder and Matt Borges guilty.
The jury has spoken.
We are now going to look at what our options are and go from there.
What will you do if you win on appeal? Back into politics?
I don't know yet. No idea.
I was surprised by the verdict, so I haven't thought about that yet.
Why were you surprised?
- Because I am not guilty.
Mr. Borges was sentenced to five years.
Householder got 20 years in prison. So he got the maximum sentence.
Larry Householder had posed as a simple country boy for years.
Meanwhile, however, he was walking around Columbus
with more money and power than anyone else.
I am no longer a registered Republican and I now live in Minnesota.
I needed change and wanted to get away from Ohio.
I wanted out of there. I don't want to be the 'House Bill 6' guy.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, I'm not the 'House Bill 6' guy.
I'm the bald guy with a red beard, the tee-ball coach for a bunch of kids.
I can't imagine I would have said yes to Matt Borges
and then ever looked my daughter or son in the eye
and talked about integrity and honesty.
I would never forgive myself.
But the entire political world runs on dark money
and they get away with this kind of stuff.
A year after Householder and Borges were convicted
more people were charged.
Among them, the head of the Public Utilities Commission
and two FirstEnergy executives.
Following the passage of HB6, they had sent a series of text messages
in which their faces were photoshopped onto Mount Rushmore.
'Drop dead everyone. Long live us.'
Could FirstEnergy have done what they did without a 501(c)(4)?
Impossible.
- Why?
I worked for years on the Sinaloa Cartel
and everything they do to launder a few hundred thousand dollars
takes an enormous amount of effort. This was effortless.
That's typical of 501(c)(4)s and dark money.
It's a low-risk, high-reward operation.
There are rarely charges related to dark money because mostly
nobody knows where it is and how much it is.
We got lucky, remember?
- Right.
We discovered it by accident.
We never would have found it by following the money.
I do like libertarian thought.
I get the idea of anonymous speech.
I understand the idea of anonymous donations from individuals, from people.
But why did we think it was wise to create a secret lobbying
tax-free mechanism for unions and corporations?
What could go wrong, right?
A number of recent Supreme Court decisions
make it increasingly difficult to find and prosecute corrupt politicians.
They narrow the definition of bribery
to the cartoonish trading of a bag of cash for political favors.
Larry Householder and FirstEnergy had a heavy dose of hubris
and the bad luck of getting caught.
But the line between their criminal behavior and business as usual is razor-thin.
Through campaign donations and sympathetic courts
powerful interests have legalized bribery
by calling it free speech.
But it's a special kind of free speech that is expensive
influential, and anonymous.
They can call it dirty politics if they want
but it simply undermines democracy.
The foundation of our democracy and a well-functioning democracy
is transparency, accountability, so there must be a balance.
History teaches us that it is disastrous
when you have elected politicians
dealing with very wealthy business interests.
Unfortunately, greed, corruption, and bribery then take over.
I fear this case is not an anomaly.
It is not a unique example.
During the 2024 campaign
4.5 billion flowed into super PACs and 501(c)(4)s.
Those were not independent expenditures.
In exchange for meetings and ads, the donors wanted something.
Democrat Reid Hoffman donated seven million dollars for Kamala Harris.
Then he asked her to fire Lina Khan, FTC Chair.
Take over, Elon. Yes, take
Then there was the MAGA Republican, Elon Musk.
As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA.
His super PAC spent 250 million dollars to elect Donald Trump.
Trump gave him a position in the administration.
That, government contracts, higher stock prices, and changes in government regulations
would yield Musk's companies more than 100 billion dollars.
How can these campaign deals not be quid pro quo?
EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW
After Citizens United, what is the difference
between a campaign contribution and a bribe?
STOP 'CITIZENS UNITED'
There is no political will to change on either side because politicians
both Democrats and Republicans, benefit greatly from dark money.
The legal version of what happened in Ohio goes on every day.
The Supreme Court calls that free speech.
But while this is rewarding in the back rooms
ordinary people pay a heavy price.
They have to live with policies that take from the poor
and give to the rich.
We are all cynical about political corruption.
And nobody likes bribery.
Despite the chatter on the wiretaps
about Citizens United being some sort of free pass
might the individuals involved still have known
that what they were doing was wrong?
Shortly after the indictment, Sam Randazzo, head of the Public Utilities Commission
committed suicide by hanging himself in a storage unit.
That brought me back to the mystery of suicide.
We cannot know why it happens
but I suspect it has something to do
with human contradictions that cannot be resolved.
The difference between how others judge us and how we judge ourselves.
The difference in who we think we are
and who we are.
That brings us back to Neil Clark.
He believed he was a good man, even though he was in a bad system.
That is the big question.
When crimes are committed, are those acts of rotten apples
or signs of a rotten barrel?
When they found his body, he was wearing a Mike DeWine t-shirt.
What does that mean?
I don't comment on ongoing investigations
but yes, he was wearing that t-shirt.
He claims that Governor DeWine agreed
to a five million dollar donation by FirstEnergy.
I cannot comment on that.
- Okay.
I think he referred multiple times in his book
to the governor and his involvement
in bribery and House Bill 6. I believe in his book he even
states how many millions of dollars he claims left FirstEnergy
and affiliates to dark money groups connected to the governor.
For some reason, due to life circumstances, due to
his personality, he committed suicide
which is a complex issue.
If a defendant passes away, we file a motion
to have the charges against him dismissed.
So at that point, the case against him ended.
Did you ever run into Neil Clark during your years in the House of Representatives?
Oh yes, I spoke to him regularly.
Neil had been writing his memoirs as a lobbyist for a long time.
They were published after he died. His wife published them.
It's typically Neil Clark.
It is full of juicy gossip, funny anecdotes.
Yes typically Neil. He wears suspenders with dollar bills.
From the first day I walked into the House of Representatives
it was already a corrupt, bribed state.
And in the last forty years, I haven't seen any saints.
They all put power, self-interest, and greed before the interests of the people.
This book doesn't just tell the story of my life, it is my defense.
If you know me, you know my end.
Respect it.
And if you see me in eternity, sword drawn, run away.
For those who don't believe my intent, kiss my ass and see next page.
SPITE, MALICE, AND RETRIBUTION
Larry Householder is appealing his conviction by arguing
that his actions were protected by the constitution
because of Citizens United and other recent Supreme Court rulings.
In 2023, Ohio voters voted to enshrine reproductive rights
in the state constitution and overturned the 'Heartbeat Bill'.
Tens of millions of dollars in ads, paid for by dark money organizations
for both parties, flooded Ohio in the lead-up to the election.
Office of Gov. Mike DeWine: Donations from FirstEnergy did not influence
his decisions and fell within the boundaries of campaign law
and Citizens United.
by: ibrahim