COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the Ohio Statehouse in the background, John Cranley said Thursday it's time to clean house.
“This place is corrupt,” he said.
Cranley, a Democrat from Cincinnati, is challenging Republican Governor Mike DeWine in next year’s election. He says the people who sit on the state's public utilities commission must go.
“When I'm elected, we are going to fire them all and bring in people who will put consumers first,” he said.
Why is Cranley going after the PUCO? Many reasons.
Gov. DeWine appointed the members, and Cranley believes because the PUCO didn't stop House Bill 6 from becoming law, its members are just as responsible as the lawmakers who made the bill law.
When asked about Cranley's comments, Gov. DeWine said he was not going to fire the current members.
“I guess it's political season,” the governor said.
DeWine appointed the former head of the PUCO Sam Randazzo who helped write HB6. Randazzo, who is now under criminal investigation, has admitted no wrongdoing and has not been charged.
Democratic candidate Nan Whaley says she’s open to firing members of the PUCO if elected but says more needs to be done to stop what she calls a "widespread culture of corruption in our state."
10TV has reached out to Republican candidates Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone for comment. We received the following statement from Renacci:
"We need to examine every cabinet position in this administration, not just the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Every cabinet member should be an expert in the area they oversee and have the integrity to act in the best interests of Ohioans. Anything else is pay-for-play and allows dark money to control Ohio. Mike Dewine has hampered Ohio's growth by allowing unqualified and unscrupulous appointees to steal from the Ohioans who trusted him with their vote. The FirstEnergy bribery case is just one example of the dirty politics that have allowed DeWine to hold office in Ohio for so long. Dewine has continued the pay-for-play politics that have been holding Ohio back for years, through both Republican and Democrat administrations. I will end the pay-for-play appointments and put a team in place that will make Ohio a powerhouse to compete with other states. We need to make Ohio Great Again."
While removing members of the PUCO is rare, it has been done before.
Former Ohio Gov. Dick Celeste asked for the resignations of PUCO board members after learning in 1981 the board granted 82% of all rate hike requests for utilities in the state.