“It’s greased.”

That’s how Mike Dowling, the former senior vice president of external affairs of FirstEnergy, described in a text message to the CEO a complex amendment to pending legislation worth tens of millions per year to the company. 

Not long after, lawmakers rolled the “decoupling” amendment into House Bill 6, which also included a $1.3 billion bailout for nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, and sent it to Gov. Mike DeWine who signed it into law in July 2019. 

Since then, ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who championed HB6, has been sent to prison. Three others have pleaded guilty or been convicted of racketeering. And Dowling and the company’s CEO were accused of bribery, for which they’re now on trial in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas in Akron. 

So what did Dowling, the company’s senior vice president of external affairs, mean when he told the CEO the amendment was “greased,” an attorney asked him in a 2023 deposition shown to jurors Friday? Is that “greased,” like to grease someone’s palm in a bribe?

“That may be one of the definitions. I’m not certain,” Dowling said.  

What was really happening, Dowling said, is that lawmakers removed decoupling from the bill with every intention of reinstating it. That enabled Sen. Sandra Williams, a Cleveland Democrat picked by Democratic leadership, to restore the amendment. This would signal to other Democrats that they should vote for the bill because Republicans, who control the chamber, heeded the changes, Dowling said. In other words, it was performative politics. 

“So that’s what my reference is. Not the definition you provided,” Dowling said. 

Dowling and Jones were both implicated in the bribery scheme as far back as July 2020, when the FBI arrested Householder. Since then, Jones and Dowling were fired; FirstEnergy, as a corporate entity, blamed the scandal on the two of them; and they’ve both been charged with state and federal crimes. 

The 2023 deposition, whose contents were kept confidential until excerpts spanning about three hours were shown to jurors Thursday and Friday, amounted to Dowling’s first substantive comments on the scandal beyond simple pleas of innocence. 

Catching up? Signal Ohio has been covering the FirstEnergy bribery trial comprehensively since late January. This piece on opening statements might help form a road map to the case. Or hear straight from the witnesses, including the consultant who said he got fleeced, the executive who witnessed a suspicious meeting between a regulator and CEO, one lawyer who literally called bulls— to the company about the money, the lawyer who said she advised the CEO against paying the money prosecutors say was a bribe, and others. 

A handwritten note, dinner with DeWine

In the deposition, Dowling walked lawyers through a critical day: Dec. 18, 2018. Dowling confirmed that he sat down for dinner early that evening at The Athletic Club in Columbus with DeWine, Lt. Gov. Elect Jon Husted, and Josh Rubin, a lobbyist and FirstEnergy consultant. 

It had been a busy and tight campaign for DeWine to win, with millions in backing from FirstEnergy, in 2018. The dinner didn’t have any “formalized agenda” but was more of a “friendly get-together,” Dowling said. 

Dowling claims they didn’t discuss the next PUCO chair, let alone get assurances of who it would be. 

“I don’t recall specifically what we discussed,” Dowling said. “It either was a general discussion about the election and the success of the election and the closeness of the election … [and] certainly a discussion about the [PUCO], the importance of it to the utility industry and the economic development; the aspects that the [PUCO] could bring to Ohio.”

But Rubin, a lobbyist who’s close to DeWine, spoke beforehand with Dowling to hash out a plan. Dowling said he took handwritten notes of their call. He figures he probably discussed it with Jones on the two-hour drive from Akron. 

In the video deposition shown to jurors, Dowling walked lawyers through his own handwritten notes, which seemed to clash with his description of the dinner. 

  • “Explain things like he [DeWine] doesn’t know anything about it – and be surprised when he does. Sometimes he knows what you’re talking about, sometimes he doesn’t, sometimes he does and pretends he doesn’t.”
  • “No paper, no sharing”
  • “Do not mention that we are meeting with Sam Randazzo after (advisor)”
  • And others referring to a “two-person PUCO deal” given that “Jon [Husted] is getting some negative feedback.”

Through the deposition, Dowling emphasized that FirstEnergy supported Jason Rafeld over Sam Randazzo for the spot as chairperson. But at the dinner, “no names came up.”

Straight to Randazzo’s from dinner 

From The Athletic Club, the two FirstEnergy men, without Rubin, drove to Randazzo’s home, just ten minutes or so away, for a meeting they’d planned weeks ago. He didn’t recall if they discussed their dinner with DeWine, but Dowling said Randazzo probably knew about it. 

That night, Dowling said Randazzo told the company men about his plans to retire to Florida.

But the lawyers needled Dowling about texts exchanged between Jones, Dowling and Randazzo at 9:53 p.m. that night, where they discussed a $4.3 million transaction. Prosecutors now consider the money a bribe to Randazzo in exchange for regulatory favors. 

Dowling said Randazzo asked that Jones “consider accelerating” the payments, which were owed to his clients through 2024, due to his originally planned retirement. Dowling characterized the payments as going toward Randazzo’s clients, not Randazzo personally, which is a key plank of his defense. 

At 9:53 p.m., after the dinner, Randazzo texted the two men. 

2019 1,633,333

2020 600,000

2021 600,000

2022 600,000

2023 600,000

2024 300,000

Total 4,333,333

Thanks for the visit. Good to see both of you.

From there, the three texted about administrative details of how invoices had been handled. The next morning, Jones responded that they would get this “handled this year, paid in full, no discount.” Randazzo responded.

“I think I said this last night but just in case – if asked by the administration to go for the Chair spot, I would say yes,” he said. 

Jones then told him that at the dinner, he offered DeWine several attributes he should look for in a PUCO chair, and “you fit all of those.”

At the deposition, Dowling emphasized that the money was for Randazzo’s clients, not Randazzo. Despite being a self-described non-”financial guy,” Dowling said at the deposition FirstEnergy wanted to make the payments early because FirstEnergy had a good year financially in 2018. 

Notably, Dowling’s testimony never addressed previous claims from two witnesses that FirstEnergy’s own legal department advised Jones against paying Randazzo the $4.3 million. Dowling, the witnesses said, advised Jones should pay. 

But nowhere in the text messages, an attorney questioning Dowling asked, does it say anything about Randazzo’s clients as the beneficiary. 

“No, but I am sure that’s what he’s referencing, and I am certain Mr. Randazzo understands that as well,” Dowling said. 

A hazy memory 

Throughout the deposition, Dowling downplays his own text messages and emails that seem to indicate secrecy (“Nothing is certain until Sam’s meeting. Period. Four people in DeWine world, you, Sam and I know about this.”)

He walked the lawyers through Randazzo’s turbulent appointment process, and the behind-the-scenes lobbying for different pieces of legislation FirstEnergy lobbied for at the time, sometimes with Randazzo’s help. 

But throughout the three hours of deposition shown to jurors Thursday and Friday, the clearest motif was Dowling’s hazy memory. On more than two dozen occasions, Dowling said “I don’t recall” to questions surrounding sometimes key events in the scandal. 

The state is still presenting its case to jurors, which has continued since late January. After the prosecution rests, the defense will have a chance to make its case, which could include calling on Dowling to testify directly to jurors.