(Cleveland) -City Council has taken the rare move of issuing a subpoena, demanding documents showing who funded a campaign to discredit the city-owned Cleveland Public Power. Council wants to know if FirstEnergy secretly funded that campaign.
A few years ago, an advocacy group called Consumers Against Deceptive Fees distributed flyers in Cleveland disparaging Cleveland Public Power.
During the federal investigation into the bribery case regarding House Bill 6, it was discovered that FirstEnergy gave money to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees through so-called "dark money." HB 6 was the bill that calls for financial bailouts for Ohio's nuclear power plants through additional fees paid by utility customers. Five people, including former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder are facing federal bribery charges for their roles in getting HB 6 passed.
City Council President Kevin kelley told The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com that this could lead to hearings by Council. This is the first subpoena issued by Cleveland City Council in 20 years.
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