In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents swarmed the Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s farm Perry, County Sheriff Sergeant Brandon Forester said. Yet, they left local officials in the dark.
Householder has tremendous power as Ohio GOP Speaker of the House. The US Attorney’s office said that he had been charged in a case concerning “$60 million of bribes that were paid to a state official and associate,” according to The Dayton Daily News.
Forester said:
‘I do not know any details on that. You need to contact the FBI. They wouldn’t release any information to us.’
Household is both a farmer and a businessman in Glenford, Ohio. He has been speaker since January 2019. The legislator was also the speaker from 2001 to 2004, then his term expired, and he left. Householder returned to the ballot in 2018 and won. He was the first Ohio legislator to capture the speakership twice in the last 60 years.
Householder’s influence gives him immense power to influence how Ohio spends its over $140-billion budget. Like the Federal Senate Majority Leader and self-described Grim Reaper Mitch McConnell (R-KY) does so deftly, Householder is able to hold up legislation from going through the legislative process.
The speaker’s earned income derives from these businesses, according to his last Joint Legislative Ethics Committee filing:
‘Householder Farms, Peoples State Bank, Peoples National Bancshares, Perry Warehouse Company Ltd, and Householder & Sons Family.’
The speaker was investigated by the FBIÂ from 2004 to 2006 due to “allegations of political corruption,” according to an earlier Dayton Daily News article. An Ohio House staff member Dwight Crump was loyal to Householder and wrote a 109-page memo laying out the speaker’s campaign plan. It read:
‘A political landscape without Ken Blackwell is a better landscape for Larry Householder.’
Another memo, this one unsigned wrote about, “containing allegations that Household and others were involved in 2002 kickback schemes.”
Householder’s opponent said:
‘Party officials must cease and desist from advancing the sophomoric nonsense that this mess is the result of the galloping testosterone of power hungry young operatives. This scandal is the result of a political culture that is rapidly slouching into total darkness and a Speaker who relishes being known as the prince of darkness.’
Householder’s opponent said:
‘Party officials must cease and desist from advancing the sophomoric nonsense that this mess is the result of the galloping testosterone of power hungry young operatives. This scandal is the result of a political culture that is rapidly slouching into total darkness and a Speaker who relishes being known as the prince of darkness.’Â
‘I learned that in some newspapers, two anonymous sources can make something up and the story can still get printed. I felt secure. I hadn’t done anything improper. At some point, everyone kinda jumped on.’
Householder said the investigation was “uncomfortable:”
‘When you go through a proctology exam and you come out completely healthy, it proves to people your character. And, yes, it was uncomfortable.’
Householder ran for Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s (R) seat when the other man’s term limits were at an end. That meant the sitting speaker could not run again:
‘[The legislative] veterans remember Householder as an ambitious, ruthless campaigner and aggressive fundraiser. The Other Paper, a now-defunct alternative newspaper in Columbus, once ran the headline: “Who’s afraid of Larry Householder? Lots of people.”‘
The FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman and the US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David DeVillers will hold a press briefing on this explosive case Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 pm.
Sheriff Forester indicated that his department offered its support to the FBI.
Twitter world lit up with this FBI raid. Take a look at some of our favorite responses below:
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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