'I don't think any of them knew,' Edwards says of House members, aides on Householder scandal

After months of primarily fielding reporter questions through text messages, state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) sat down with both The Athens NEWS and The Athens Messenger for a rare in-person interview Wednesday where he provided the most extensive public account to date of his thoughts on what’s been dubbed by federal investigators as the largest public corruption scandal in state history.

Edwards, who previously said in a statement that the July arrest of his former boss and personal friend former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) came as a “complete surprise,” said Wednesday that he first got word of the former speaker’s arrest through a 6 a.m. phone call from Jonathon L. McGee, the House’s chief of staff and majority legal counsel, who instructed Edwards to put on a suit and get to Columbus the morning the FBI shared its partial findings of an ongoing investigation into Householder’s central involvement in what’s been described as a $60 million racketeering scheme.

Edwards, who served as House majority whip on Householder’s leadership team (he’s still majority whip, but under different leadership), said he, McGee and those close to them were learning of the allegations levied against Householder by the federal government as the media reported them. Beyond that, he said, they were in the dark.

News of Householder’s arrest, along with his four accomplices, including lobbyists and mainstays in state politics such as former state GOP leader Matt Borges and Neil Clark, and the many developments that followed roiled the chamber, dominated the state’s public affairs news cycle and prompted Gov. Mike DeWine and experts to say it tarnished public confidence in House Bill 6, the legislation at the center of the scheme, and state government at large.

Read more: https://www.athensnews.com/news/election/i-don-t-think-any-of-them-knew-edwards-says-of-house-members-aides-on/article_4039ce55-f4a3-58ba-8cea-3bef62ea6b96.html