Unpublished letter to cleveland.com submitted several weeks ago…
I agree that the state needs to end HB6 coal subsidies and investigate utility influence of PUCO – as proposed in your January 9 editorial. Also needed are criminal investigations against public officials and leaders at FirstEnergy corporation. But also essential is for Ohio Attorney General David Yost to initiate proceedings to revoke FirstEnergy’s corporate charter. This was demanded in a recent letter to Yost by seven groups, based on the corporation’s admitted involvement in the $60 million bribery and money laundering scheme that defrauded taxpayers, bailed out climate-destroying coal plants and threatened representative democracy.
Corporations receive charter from governments, which grants them certain privileges and powers. Corporations that admittedly break the law so stunningly should not simply be fined, but have their charters terminated.
Charter revocation was once common in Ohio in response to companies that acted “beyond their authority.” It was a democratic tool by legislatures and courts to affirm people’s sovereign power over these government creations. The most famous historic example was the effort by Ohio AG David Watson, a Republican, to revoke Standard Oil of Ohio’s charter.
FirstEnergy has forfeited its privilege to exist. Yost, like his Republican predecessor, needs to take immediate action to protect people, the environment and democracy.
Greg Coleridge
Outreach Director, Move to Amend
create real democracy 