Money in politics creates Goliaths - we need you to fill our sling!

Do you remember the story of David and Goliath? You know the one - David has a sling and has to fight a giant in the other army.

Sometimes, I envy David’s odds.

In Ohio politics, money builds giants. Our Statehouse has seen two Speakers ousted from the position amidst FBI investigations into their relationships with money, corporations, and lobbyists.

Most recently, Larry Householder has been indicted over $60 million worth of ‘dark money’ that he controlled to leverage and build power for himself. The money came from Company A (assumed to be First Energy) to pass a bailout for First Energy’s nuclear power plants.

In 2018, Rosenberger was investigated for public corruption for billing to the state and attending trips with lobbyists from the payday lending industry. The national group that paid for Rosenberger to travel to London didn’t break any laws and they will continue to pay for legislators to attend ‘conferences’ with lobbyists from specific industries.

In both cases, large financial interests were able to buy access and get their way.

Money Talks. Money helps candidates get elected. The Speaker of the House is often elected by their fellow members based on who was one of the top fundraisers for other candidates. People who spend a lot of time around Capitol Square in Columbus are well aware of the money and relationships between different donors and legislators. It really isn’t a secret. Generation Now - the dark money group that Householder allegedly controlled - was reported on last year when HB 6 first passed.

First Energy, at this point, hasn’t been charged, because investing $60 million into a dark money group isn’t actually illegal! First Energy is a Goliath in Ohio politics, and they haven’t even been charged for their involvement.

Then you have the rest of us. Citizen lobbyists, non-profit organizations that represent the hungry and marginalized are fighting to get our issues listed as priorities. Seven years ago, I watched citizens show up to talk about the impact of fracking on their communities. They didn’t even want to shut it down, but to have the corporations pay their fair share in taxes to offset the negative impact on the communities.

But a few lobbyists for wet gas, dry gas, and oil called legislators out of the room and shut down the reasonable, middle-of-the road, bi-partisan proposal for a slight increase in the Ohio severance tax and investing that money into impacted communities to fix roads, address affordable housing crisis, and other issues.

Simply put, Money Talks.

When Householder and other top lobbyists were arrested, people were shocked. But as the FBI laid out the scheme, many of us weren’t actually surprised at the details. The money that Householder spent during the primaries to help favorable Republicans win their races to give him the power to beat Smith was known. Householder grabbing at power was well known. Generation Now’s unethical behavior around HB 6 was known. What the indictment indicates is that they were all connected.

David was lucky fighting Goliath, he at least had a sling.

So often, those of us at the Statehouse advocating for the hungry, the marginalized, and the vulnerable feel like we are fighting Goliath without a sling. But as people of faith, we know that we are prioritizing the voices that God wants prioritized. We might not have a lot of cash, or $60 million dark money organizations, but in the end, we have YOU. We have the people of God who are also passionate about justice for the hungry and marginalized. The reality is that it isn’t that people are against our ideas to improve opportunities for hungry Ohioans, the problem is that the giant money piles push our voices down further and further.

That is why we must remain persistent, and consistent in our advocacy efforts!

Without you, we have no stone and we have no sling. When you call, write or email you bring a sling. When you meet with your legislator, you provide a rock, and when you organize others to act for justice, you are launching that stone right at our modern day Goliaths!

In the end David wins. We will too if we do it together!