Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, left, and deceased former Ohio utility regulator Sam Randazzo, who died by suicide after pleading not guilty in Ohio’s House Bill 6 political bribery scandal. (Photos and graphic by WEWS.)

Ohio Republican U.S. Senator Jon Husted met with the alleged mastermind of Ohio’s largest public corruption scheme two days before scandal-ridden bribery legislation was introduced, according to his official calendar.

As former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and VP Mike Dowling are on trial for bribery, their close ties to major political players continue to be revealed.

“I think all the significant actors have yet to be discovered,” said state Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid.

But one name kept coming up in the Summit County courtroom.

“He had access to Jon Husted, the lieutenant governor of the state of Ohio,” Steven Grimes, the attorney for Dowling, said during the opening statements.

Jones and Dowling maintain their innocence, while Randazzo took his own life in 2024 after pleading not guilty.

Husted has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“He’s always been an advocate for First Energy, and First Energy was perhaps the most poorly run company in the state of Ohio,” Smith said about Husted.

Husted frequently communicated with FirstEnergy execs before, during, and after his campaign.

Text messages from our 2024 public records request show the executives spent at least $3.5 million through dark money groups to help fund Gov. Mike DeWine and Husted’s 2018 campaign.

Not only did we discover texts linking DeWine and Husted to FirstEnergy, but the administration had been wrapped up with Randazzo.

DeWine defended his top advisor, Laurel Dawson, after a criminal indictment alleged she knew about millions going to Randazzo from FirstEnergy right before he was appointed to power by the governor in 2019.

She helped vet the former chair of the Public Utilities Commission, the supposed watchdog of utilities, after her family had already received a $10,000 loan from him.

The governor’s team insists she didn’t know the millions were a bribe payment.

FirstEnergy gave Randazzo $4.3 million to do their bidding, help the company out, and also create Ohio House Bill 6, according to the prosecution.

FirstEnergy spent $61 million to get legislation giving it a billion-dollar bailout for its struggling company.

The then-lieutenant governor was also in communication with them about H.B. 6. Husted has always denied he knew this was a bribe.

Dowling emailed Jones before H.B. 6 passed in 2019, saying the governor “left the details of H.B. 6 to others — John [sic] Husted and Danny.”

Dan McCarthy was DeWine’s legislative director after having been a lobbyist for FirstEnergy.

A brand new records request shows Husted’s calendar from 2019.

Two days before H.B. 6 was introduced, Husted had a scheduled meeting with Randazzo, the bill drafter.

Combined with our records recieved in 2024, the calendar lines up dates and times, giving more legitimacy to texts between FirstEnergy officials that Husted was talking to them as frequently as they said.

Call logs showed dozens of conversations between Husted, Randazzo, and leaders within FirstEnergy.

Throughout the hearing process, Husted had reported a dozen meetings related to energy policy, H.B. 6, more than any specific bill on his calendar.

Starting in April 2019, he met with energy lobbyists or officials mentioned in the H.B. 6 records, including lobbyist Matt Evans and strategist Rex Elssas.

He had meetings about nuclear energy both in his office and with DeWine and at the governor’s residence. He also went up to Akron to see Jones.

When the Senate was holding up H.B. 6’s passage, Jones texted Householder.

“Husted called me two nights ago and was supposed to get it in the Senate version,” Jones said.

“He’s not a legislator,” Householder responded.

“I know, but he said Senate leaders would listen,” Jones replied. “He didn’t deliver.”

“Jon Husted seems to have been First Energy’s selected official of choice in Columbus,” Smith said.

After the bill was signed into law, advocates tried to get it repealed.

The same day the attorney general was set to certify that effort, Husted met with former House Speaker Larry Householder, who landed in prison for his role in the scheme.

Husted also met with FirstEnergy executives and lobbyists who were actively trying to prevent the petition during the fall of 2019.

Former GOP leader Matt Borges just finished his prison sentence for his role in trying to block the repeal.

We reached out to Husted’s team on Monday morning and asked them half a dozen questions, including why he was so involved in this legislation.

By Tuesday evening, his team still hadn’t responded to comment.

Husted advocated publicly for the saving of nuclear power plants, he said in 2024.

“There is every reason to believe that they were gonna go out — if they had, we’d be in an energy deficit today, so it’s important that they were saved,” Husted continued. “That was a very public position I’d taken and I stand by that position.”

He was asked about the executives’ texts and bribery scheme.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “We weren’t involved. Texts to other people — texts to other people shared amongst themselves — have nothing to do with me. And I wasn’t involved in that conversation,” he replied.

Back in the Summit County courtroom in 2026, the defense said meetings with Husted were professional.

“This is a very typical thing that politicians do at the end of a campaign,” Jones’ attorney Carole Rendon said. “They meet with their supporters and thank them for their support.”

Husted is listed as a witness for the defense and could testify in the next few weeks.

“Jon’s always been a really good friend of FirstEnergy,” Smith said. “With friends like that, I don’t know if you need enemies.”

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.