ProgressOhio

The Akron Beacon Journal tell is like it is in yesterday's comprehensive report regarding the Energy legislation being considered in the Ohio House.

They place the blame for the current mess squarely upon House Speaker Jon Husted.

Well worth reading.

House leader, governor face off over energy bill

Husted withdraws controversial legislation, vows to try again

Husted Ticks Off Governor

Husted finds himself in a unique and most uncomfortable position.

For the first time, there is open tension between the two leaders over the critically important and highly controversial electric re-regulation bill.

The friction between Strickland and Husted has strained the speaker's relationship with Republicans in the Ohio Senate and weakened his position in his own House GOP caucus.

There is a lot at stake — profits, political careers, scary electric outages, scarier yet voter outrage, even business revolt — in attempting to craft legislation to regulate the $14 billion electric utility industry in Ohio.

Agreements, called rate stabilization plans, that have frozen rates for electric utilities in Ohio will begin to expire at the end of this year. When those contracts are gone, the state could experience the skyrocketing increase in electric bills felt in other states, where utilities were free to operate as if a competitive market existed when one did not.

Husted Backs Big Energy Companies 

Everything changed within 24 hours, beginning April 10.

Husted unveiled an outline of the House's plan that, in essence, weakened the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's authority to regulate electric utilities while giving the companies the long-sought autonomy to act with few restraints and sell their power on the open market.

The next day, Strickland made two moves that turned the tables on Husted.

Strickland promised to veto the bill as written. He also pledged to immediately sign stand-alone legislation on the alternative and renewable energy issues, a step that focused all the ensuing attention on electric bills and utility profits.

And unfortunately for the hugely talented Husted, he was in the position of defending utility profits.

The speaker responded to the veto promise by stating he would send a bill to the governor's desk and Strickland could do as he wished with the measure.

In the past, this strategy would have worked, but Strickland is not Taft and the Republicans are not as confident as they once were.

Jon Husted "The Tom Delay of The Ohio House"

Husted didn't help his cause when the House Public Utilities Committee, chaired by Stark County's John Hagan, R-Alliance, once again demonstrated a complete disregard for the public's feelings and held a Monday hearing on the bill that lasted until after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Around that time, Republicans introduced an omnibus amendment that only a few members had reviewed.

Anyone with a decent sense of democracy is sickened whenever lawmakers pull out an omnibus amendment of unknown origin that, in essence, rewrites entire sections of law without debate or surface deliberation.

Husted Loses Backing of Worried Republicans

There was another political consideration prompted by the veto.

Republican lawmakers were not prepared to waste a vote on the re-regulation bill that could come back to haunt them in future elections, should electric rates soar, and then two or three weeks later be asked again to support a bipartisan compromise.

Not when the vote was considered pro-utility and anti-consumer.

So Husted pulled the plug Wednesday and vowed to come back this week to try again.

He should use a little bit of that electricity everyone is worried about to shed some light on the process for the sake of consumers, companies, utilities, his own members and Democrats.

And considering he was in no hurry from October to April, a few weeks of open discussion can only help build bipartisan support for an energy bill.