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Is Tim Ryan's FirstEnergy money a broken fossil fuel promise? - Mahoning Matters

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Among the Mahoning Valley’s congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, has received the most campaign support from FirstEnergy Corp.’s political action committee, despite being the only one to sign a national pledge against taking funds from fossil fuel companies.

Federal Election Commission filings show Ryan and his America 2.0 PAC accepted a combined $17,500 from FirstEnergy PAC this election cycle alone, not including $9,500 in personal contributions to Ryan's leadership PAC and presidential campaign from current and former FirstEnergy-related executives.

However, Ryan was one of thousands of state and federal elected officials to sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, created by the 501(c)(4) nonprofit Oil Change U.S. in 2017.

An investigation by climate journalist Emily Atkin, published last week in her newsletter HEATED.world, first revealed the connection.

Through that pledge, lawmakers promise not to accept campaign contributions of more than $200 from “oil, gas, and coal industry executives, lobbyists, and PACs,” reads the pledge. That's from the point politicians sign the pledge onward, and it doesn't apply to previous contributions. Ryan appears to have signed the pledge on June 12, 2019, during his failed presidential campaign, as evidenced by his Twitter account:

 

But organizers said the pledge doesn't just apply to his White House bid. As a result, two $5,000 contributions disbursed by FirstEnergy PAC the following September and December to Ryan's congressional campaign committee, Tim Ryan for Congress, are violations of the pledge, they maintain.

“Tim Ryan really needs to rethink what he’s doing here,” RL Miller, a member of the Democratic National Committee and pledge coalition, told Atkin for her Thursday follow-up article. “This looks to be the most corrupt, appalling utility I’ve ever seen.

“The moment that story first blew up, every single Democrat who says they care about climate action needed to return that money. And they haven’t.”

FirstEnergy, which is included in Oil Change’s list of fossil fuel companies, is tied to a $61 million racketeering scheme involving ousted Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, according to a criminal complaint presented last month by federal prosecutors. FirstEnergy is not directly identified in the 82-page affidavit targeting Householder and others — rather, presumed to be referenced as “Company A” — and has not been formally charged.

"This is a great example of a utility and a utility company that is currently enmeshed in a nationwide scandal," Collin Rees, senior campaigner for Oil Change U.S., told Mahoning Matters on Sunday. "I think this is as clear-cut as it gets in terms of a bad company. We fully expect Congressman Ryan to return the FirstEnergy money and refuse any contributions in the future."

Rees said he's reached out to Ryan's campaign about the issue but hasn't heard back. Ryan will have one week to return the $10,000 before he's removed from the pledge roster, Rees said. That's happened before — notably, to Ryan's 2020 Democratic presidential primary opponent Beto O'Rourke, though O'Rourke later refunded those contributions and re-signed the pledge, Rees added.

In a statement emailed Sunday night to Mahoning Matters, Ryan said the pledge applied only to his presidential campaign.

“I was asked to sign a pledge along with all the other Democratic presidential candidates to live by the same rules and not take money from the fossil fuel industry for my presidential campaign. I did not break that pledge, plain and simple,” he said.

“My lifetime score from the nationally recognized League of Conservation Voters is 90 percent approval for my voting record in Congress," he continued. "I have been and will be a vigorous champion for alternative energy sources from wind and solar and nuclear power, but I am also going to stand up for the jobs that exist right now for the hard working people in my district that are putting food on their tables and roofs over their heads. I have always put workers and working families first."

On the list of signatories found on the pledge website, Ryan's name is listed twice, both as a presidential and congressional candidate.

According to pledge rules, signing is considered a lifetime commitment, despite the candidate's office, unless the No Fossil Fuel Money Campaign is notified otherwise.

Rees said Ryan's congressional campaign may clarify that he signed the pledge only for his presidential campaign and then could have Ryan's pledge listing clarified. Rees called that an "unusual situation" — one he's not sure the pledge organizers have encountered before.

Ryan announced his presidential bid in April 2019, and ended it the following October.

FirstEnergy PAC did not contribute to Ryan’s presidential campaign committee, though that committee did receive $2,000 on June 4, 2019, from John C. Blickle, board member of Energy Harbor, the post-bankruptcy reformation of FirstEnergy Solutions, FEC filings show.

Blickle, along with First Energy VP Joel Bailey and Anthony J. Alexander — whom Atkin reports to be the former CEO of FirstEnergy — each contributed $2,500 to Ryan’s leadership PAC, America 2.0, in early April 2019, about the same time Ryan announced his presidential candidacy.

FirstEnergy PAC also contributed $5,000 to Ryan’s America 2.0 PAC in May 2019 and $2,500 in March 2020, according to the FEC.

Though the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge in its current iteration doesn't apply to leadership PACs — which are not allowed to contribute directly to the politician's own campaign — Rees said his group is considering closing that "quasi-loophole" when it next amends the pledge rules, which usually happens between election cycles.

"We do hope signers take the spirit of the pledge to heart and hope that other bodies related to them are not taking fossil fuel money," Rees said.

Oil Change U.S. is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, which does not have to disclose political contributions or disbursements to the Federal Election Commission — unlike PACs and Super PACs — and are instead overseen by the IRS.

Generation Now, an entity also named in the criminal complaint against Householder and others, is also a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Though those types of organizations are designated for social welfare groups, federal prosecutors allege Householder used Generation Now as a "dark money" group, funneling $61 million in hidden FirstEnergy funds to politicians in his camp and to ensure the passage of House Bill 6 in 2019, a controversial, more than $1 billion nuclear and coal bailout for the Akron-based utility company.

When asked about Oil Change U.S.'s donors, Rees said the group "relies heavily on small donations from individuals, with a few small institutional donors." None of those donors have given Oil Change U.S. more than $50,000 in a single year, he said. He was unable to offer more specific information about those donors Sunday.

Mahoning Matters’ recent look at FEC filings show FirstEnergy has also contributed to many sitting state lawmakers over the years.

Here’s a breakdown of campaign contributions this election cycle from FirstEnergy PAC — or individuals related to the company — to federal legislators representing the Valley, as reported to the Federal Election Commission:

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th
$10,000 total

  • $2,500 from FirstEnergy PAC on March 29, 2019
  • $2,500 from FirstEnergy PAC on Aug. 12, 2019
  • $2,500 from FirstEnergy PAC on Feb. 25, 2020
  • $1,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Feb. 25, 2020
  • $1,500 from FirstEnergy PAC on May 30, 2020

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th
$12,000 to campaign committees; $15,000 to leadership PAC

Tim Ryan for America

  • $2,000 from former FirstEnergy Solutions board member John C. Blickle on June 4, 2019

Tim Ryan for Congress

  • $5,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Sept. 27, 2019
  • $5,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Dec. 18, 2019

America 2.0 PAC

  • $2,500 from FirstEnergy VP Joel Bailey on April 3, 2019
  • $2,500 from former FirstEnergy Solutions board member John Blickle on April 3, 2019
  • $2,500 from Anthony J. Alexander, whom HEATED.world reports is a former FirstEnergy CEO, on April 5, 2019
  • $5,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on May 10, 2019
  • $2,500 from FirstEnergy PAC on March 6, 2020

U.S. Rep. David Joyce of Cleveland, R-14th
$8,000 total

  • $5,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on March 19, 2019
  • $1,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Feb. 25, 2020
  • $2,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on May 30, 2020

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, D-OH
$5,000 total

  • $5,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Sept. 5, 2019

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Cincinnati, R-OH
$6,000 total

  • $2,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on June 21, 2018
  • $1,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on July 22, 2019
  • $2,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on July 25, 2019
  • $1,000 from FirstEnergy PAC on Feb. 6, 2020

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