COLUMBUS, Ohio—Sam Randazzo has resigned as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, just days after the FBI searched his Columbus home as part of an investigation into the House Bill 6 bribery scandal, according to Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.
Randazzo’s resignation comes a day after FirstEnergy Corp. revealed that it fired CEO Chuck Jones and two other senior executives last month over a questionable $4 million payment the company made in early 2019 to an entity associated with an unnamed person who subsequently was hired by the state to regulate utilities.
In a resignation letter, Randazzo said the impression left by the FBI raid and FirstEnergy’s filing, along with the accompanying publicity, “will, right or wrong, fuel suspicions about and controversy over decisions I may render in my current capacity.
“In present times, when you, good sir, are valiantly battling to save Ohioans from the surging attack of COVID-19, there is no room or time for me to be a distraction,” Randazzo wrote to DeWine.
‘I regret that I must step away but it is the right and necessary thing to do,” he concluded.
PUCO Vice Chair M. Beth Trombold will serve the acting PUCO chair until DeWine selects a new chair.
DeWine, speaking with reporters Friday morning, thanked Randazzo for his service on the PUCO. “He has done very, very good work as chair,” the governor said.
The governor said Tuesday, after the FBI searched Randazzo’s home, that there was “no indication” Randazzo is the target of an investigation.
Randazzo, a longtime utility lawyer and consultant, was appointed by DeWine in 2019.
Randazzo did work for FirstEnergy Solutions, then a FirstEnergy subsidiary. FirstEnergy Solutions, now a separate company called Energy Harbor, is the owner of two Northern Ohio nuclear power plants set to receive a $1 billion-plus ratepayer bailout starting in January, thanks to HB6.
In July, then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four allies were arrested and charged with running a $60 million bribery scheme using FirstEnergy money to secure the passage of HB6 and fend off a potential referendum to overturn it.
Two of Householder’s allies -- political aide Jeff Longstreth and ex-FirstEnergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes -- have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scandal, though Householder and the other two remaining defendants have maintained their innocence.
Neither Randazzo, nor any FirstEnergy or Energy Harbor officials, have been charged with any wrongdoing so far.
Read Randazzo’s full resignation letter here: