Editor’s note: Andrew is out this week somewhere warmer. It’s just Jake writing in today.

The Statehouse versus the White House

An intra-Republican schism has erupted in the primary to run as the Ohio Republicans’ candidate for state treasurer.

The race is between two Republican state lawmakers who rose to public office during the Trump 1.0 era – Rep. Jay Edwards and Sen. Kristina Roegner.

Edwards is a skilled fundraiser from Athens County who won broad backing from labor when he rose to power as a lieutenant of ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and eventually became House finance chair. Roegner is a Christian conservative from Hudson who is known for her sponsorship of Ohio’s since-overturned, near-total ban on abortion from 2019.

The power struggle will come to a head as the Ohio Republican Party mulls who to endorse later this month.

On Feb. 7, Roegner sent a letter to the party’s subcommittee on endorsements asking for its support. Signatories include Vivek Ramaswamy, the likely GOP gubernatorial candidate, plus well-known figures around the Statehouse like his running mate, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, and dozens of Republican lawmakers.

Edwards, for his part, is touting backing from the other People’s House. JD Vance, the vice president of the U.S., said he and Edwards are both “sons of Appalachia” in an endorsement. And U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio’s senior senator who has emerged as a key White House ally, has backed Edwards as well.

Speaking of the Statehouse

Lawmakers are back in Columbus for a run of legislating until mid-April. Behind the scenes, they’re working on a capital budget bill, allowing members an opportunity to bring home brick and mortar projects to their districts, like new parks and buildings. Such legislation traditionally passes in the summer of even-numbered years.

Until that’s ready, here are a few bills worth watching.

• A Senate Republican introduced legislation that would require schools to provide “instruction on fetal development” in any class that “addresses human growth, human development, or human sexuality.” The Ohio House previously passed a similar “Baby Olivia” bill.
• The Senate energy committee held a third hearing on Senate Bill 294, which a lobbyist representing solar developers in Ohio called an attack on the industry.
• The Senate Health Committee heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would allow the prescription-less dispensing of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that came to fame when anti-vaccine advocates embraced it as a COVID-19 cure. The committee will also hear legislation on a bill that would require doctors to inform pregnant women they can hold drug manufacturers liable if they’re harmed by abortion-inducing drugs like mifepristone.

Ohio cities, state mull an ICE response

With the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s masked, aggressive sweeps dominating the news, Ohio and its governments are ready to dive in.

At the Statehouse, Rep. Josh Williams, a Republican running in a competitive primary against a former ICE official, introduced a set of bills to crack down on cities that resist ICE and make immigrants’ unlawful presence in the country a state crime. Democrats have gone in the opposite direction, pushing policies like making ICE officers show their faces.

Meanwhile, cities are stepping into the ring. Doug Brown of Signal Akron reports the city council there passed a resolution asking Statehouse Republicans to back off.

“We think each of these four bills [from Williams] is an overreach,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, who introduced the resolution along with Ward 1 Council Member Fran Wilson. “So we want to send that message with one voice, from the administration and council to Columbus — both to the Statehouse, state Senate, and to Governor DeWine, and advocate for these not to become law.”

The Columbus Dispatch, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that judges here are under pressure to stop ICE from detaining suspects who make court appearances. And Springfield, Ohio, per local media, has passed a resolution asking ICE officers to not wear face masks, should they show up.

Cars, scooters, a three-wheeler and a boat

State prosecutors haven’t gotten too specific yet about what Sam Randazzo’s motive may have been for taking what they’ve described as a $4.3 million bribe before he became Ohio’s top cop for utility companies in 2019.

But 2016 emails from Randazzo to his financial adviser, who testified Tuesday, offer a clue.

In the period where prosecutors say Randazzo was skimming millions of dollars from FirstEnergy directed to his legal clients, Randazzo accumulated a colorful spread of assets.

There were his five homes in Columbus, Akron and Naples, Florida (the latter valued at $2.5 million). Two of the homes were to be given to his adult children. There were another 19 vehicles if you count the 11 cars plus the scooters, motorcycle, boat and three-wheeler (it’s worth Googling for the unfamiliar).

I wrote a story earlier this week about the energy consultant who testified that Randazzo stole from him and Randazzo’s other legal clients. And look for another in the near future about the company insiders who raised different kinds of questions inside FirstEnergy Corp. about Randazzo and the money FirstEnergy paid him, not long before Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Randazzo to the top job regulating power companies.

If you haven’t been following closely, this story detailing opening statements from both sides might help.

Stay tuned.

Rest in peace

Steven Steinglass, a lawyer who wrote the book on Ohio’s Constitution and spent his later years defending it against what he saw as a political attack, died last week. He was 83, according to an obituary.

His book was an authority on Ohio’s 1912 convention and the constitution it produced. He taught the subject at Cleveland State University and was always willing to talk out an issue or share a free chapter with reporters and lawmakers. Ben Flowers, Ohio’s former solicitor general, said Steinglass would arrange conferences where lawyers and judges of all stripes could bicker about its words. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost shared a tribute on X as well.

Dedicated Statehouse observers may recall Steinglass’ service on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission Committee, or his vociferous opposition to Issue 1 in 2023, which would have drastically weakened Ohio citizens’ abilities to propose and pass constitutional amendments.

“Sadly, in their zeal to undercut the reproductive rights amendment and to thwart the adoption of an independent redistricting commission, the proponents of Issue 1 have demonstrated a short-sighted willingness to weaken the role of the General Assembly and to limit its ability to use one of the most important tools in the state government toolbox,” he wrote in an op-ed at the time.

In the news

Data centers: A Columbus suburb wants to thwart Amazon’s plan to build a six-acre plot of 228 natural gas-fed “fuel cell” units. Each will use an electrochemical reaction to fuel the staggering power demands of the company’s already-built, 142-acre data center operation.

Ethics complaint nixed: A legislative ethics committee has apparently declined to adopt a citizens’ complaint against a state senator that accused him of failing to disclose ownership of his oil and gas companies that may have benefited from his official actions

Federal auditors questioned spending on T-shirts and events before pulling funding for an Ohio manufacturing program. Read the story from Andrew Tobias.

FirstEnergy trial: In the years before Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Sam Randazzo to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Randazzo skimmed millions of FirstEnergy’s money from his legal clients, one consultant testified in Akron on Monday. Read more from Jake Zuckerman.

ICE cooperation and opposition: Akron’s mayor and City Council opposed four proposed state laws that would require agencies such as the Akron Police Department — and other entities like hospitals and schools — to cooperate with the enforcement of federal civil immigration laws. Read more from Doug Brown.

Don’t miss this

We want to make sure you saw this story from the Dayton Daily News:

TPS and Springfield: The federal government wants a district court judge in Washington, D.C. to let the termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status proceed while a lawsuit challenging the cancellation of that designation goes through the appeals process. Read more from the Dayton Daily News.