🚨NEW: Amy Acton Releases Her “ActOn the Cost of Corruption” Plan

For too long, corruption in state government has come at a real cost to Ohioans.

Over the past two decades, corruption has cost Ohioans billions of dollars. The FirstEnergy scandal alone cost Ohio ratepayers more than $2 billion.

That’s why Amy has released a new anti-corruption agenda to take on the cost of corruption, restore ethics to state government and make sure Ohio is working for Ohioans, not corporations and special interests.

“When I am governor, hard-working Ohioans will stop footing the bill for the cost of corruption in our state. It is time to put the needs of working families over the wants of billionaires, corporations and special interests,” Amy said.

“As Governor, I will crack down on the corruption that raises our costs — requiring transparency, fighting to end pay-to-play schemes, and shining a light on bidding, contracting, and appointment processes to ensure decisions are made on behalf of our taxpayers. Ohioans deserve a governor who will put them first, not corporations and special interests.”

Enough is enough. It’s time to end the cost of corruption in Ohio and put working families first.

On day one as governor, Amy will issue anti-corruption executive orders to restore ethics to Ohio’s government and tackle the cost of corruption in our state.

Amy will create an Anti-Corruption Task Force to take public input, conduct audits, interview stakeholders and make recommendations within her first 100 days in office.

The task force will focus on tackling corruption, fraud and abuse, strengthening oversight, lowering costs and making sure state government is working for Ohioans.

Ohio’s appointment process is broken and has been at the root of many of the state’s corruption scandals. We need stronger guardrails to prevent the cost of corruption before it happens.

Amy will:

• Prohibit lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who have represented, worked for or received compensation from an organization regulated by an Ohio regulatory entity within the past three years from then serving on that same regulatory entity. Anyone pursuing a role will also be required to disclose relevant relationships and payments.

• Require state regulators appointed by the governor to sign an ethics pledge establishing a mandatory three-year “cooling off” period that prohibits former regulatory commissioners from going to work for an organization they regulated.

• Require strict conflict-of-interest rules, including mandatory public recusal requirements, for political appointees serving on decision-making bodies.

Dark money in Ohio politics has taken our state backwards and raised prices for hardworking Ohioans. Ohioans deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and who is influencing the decisions made by their government.

Amy will:

• Shine a light on dark money by requiring state contractors and advocacy organizations that spend on political campaigns to publicly disclose their donors.

• Require companies bidding on state contracts worth more than $50,000 to disclose beneficial ownership, shareholders with 10% or greater equity and political contributions, including donations to PACs and advocacy organizations.

• Create a public procurement database listing state contracts, the winning bidder, the bid window and the award amount to make the state contracting process as transparent as possible.

These directives will apply to activity within the constitutional and statutory authority of the governor, and Amy will encourage other constitutional officeholders to adopt the same standards.

Ohioans have paid the cost of corruption for long enough. As governor, Amy will work to make state government more transparent, more accountable and focused on the people it is supposed to serve.