AKRON, Ohio – A criminal complaint released Tuesday accusing FirstEnergy Corp. of bribing Ohio Rep Larry Householder, Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four others to secure a bailout of the utility’s nuclear plants , refers to high-level company employees. but not by name
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Even FirstEnergy is discreetly known as “Company A”, although the complaint clearly refers to Akron-based profit.
The company acknowledged receiving citations related to the investigation of House Bill 6, the nuclear rescue bill Householder helped guide through the legislature in 2019.
The details in the criminal complaint also clearly indicate the identity of the two company officials mentioned.
The complaint states that from February 2017 to July 2019, Householder had 84 telephone contacts with the CEO of FirstEnergy, 14 telephone contacts with the Vice President of External Affairs for FirstEnergy Service Co. and 188 contacts with the Ohio Director of State Affairs for FirstEnergy.
The CEO is clearly Chuck Jones, who has been with FirstEnergy and subsidiary companies since 1978, according to the FirstEnergy website. He was promoted to President and CEO in 2015.
In a conference call on Friday to update investors on the company’s earnings and research on Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, Jones said: “I think the CEO referred to in some of the sworn statements was not me. I don’t know who it was, but it wasn’t me, and I have never made a payment directly to a lobbyist in my life, nor have I asked any lobbyist to make a payment on behalf of our company in my life. “
FirstEnergy Chief Executive Charles Jones publicly commented for the first time Thursday on the federal case connecting the company to a $ 60 million bribery conspiracy to secure a $ 1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants in Ohio.
The complaint also says that Company A actively sought a “legislative solution” for its two nuclear power plants in Ohio, as evidenced by a quote from “President and CEO of Company A Corp.” from a fourth-quarter 2016 earnings call. That quote can be attributed to FirstEnergy President and CEO Charles Jones, according to a report by POWER magazine.
The information in the complaint also points to one of the other company officials such as Michael Dowling, senior vice president of external affairs.
The complaint makes several references to the Head of Household who has calls with “Mr. Vice President of External Affairs for Company A Service Co.” The FirstEnergy website lists Michael J. Dowling as the “Senior Vice President for External Affairs, FirstEnergy Service Company “.
Michael J. Dowling, Senior Vice President, External Affairs, FirstEnergy.
Dowling became the senior vice president for external affairs in 2011 after being promoted multiple times to functions that oversaw FirstEnergy’s government involvement at the federal, state and local levels.
As for the reference to the director of state affairs for FirstEnergy in Ohio, the connection is not so clear.
The job title does not appear to match exactly any search for FirstEnergy employees. A LinkedIn profile shows the job title of a FirstEnergy employee in 2018, at the time of headline phone calls, such as “Director, State Regulatory Affairs – Ohio.”
This employee’s name is also registered with the State of Ohio as a lobbyist for FirstEnergy. When asked if this person had this job in 2018, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman said she was unable to disclose information about employees.
