$500 million+
Paid by Ohio ratepayers in OVEC coal subsidies between 2020 and August 2025.
Common Cause Ohio · Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel
Gary Click paid to defend Ohio's largest public-corruption scandal — and kept defending it for six more years.
Gary Click wasn't in the legislature when HB 6 passed. He was a first-time candidate — and he chose to spend his campaign money defending it anyway.
Receipt #1 — September 2019
The Ad
In September 2019, Gary Click's campaign paid to defend House Bill 6 (HB 6) on Facebook. It became part of what prosecutors called the largest bribery case in Ohio history.
He wrote:
"I'm glad that Ohio's leaders thought this through, keeping our best interest at heart! #YestoHB6"
He tagged then-House Speaker Larry Householder, Governor Mike DeWine, and then-Senate President Larry Obhof.
Householder is now serving 20 years in federal prison for the bribery scheme that passed it.
The ad ran during the repeal petition drive.
DeWine had signed HB 6 two months earlier. Under the Ohio Constitution, opponents had 90 days to gather 265,774 signatures and force a referendum to repeal it. Click's ad ran during that petition drive.
A dark-money group called Ohioans for Energy Security spent $16.56 million during the same window, including TV and radio ads falsely claiming Chinese interests were behind the repeal effort. The petition drive fell short by about 44,000 signatures. The law took effect.
Click was a first-time candidate. He used campaign money to defend the law while Ohioans were trying to repeal it.
Six years later, his campaign website still defended HB 6.
What HB 6 Cost Ohio
HB 6 sent money from Ohio households and businesses to utility companies. Federal prosecutors said a $60 million bribery scheme helped pass it.
$1.30–$1.50/month
Charged to every Ohio household electric bill under the HB 6 rider. Businesses paid too.
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
$200 million/year
Estimated ratepayer savings Ohio gave up when HB 6 killed the state's energy efficiency standards.
RMI
20 years
Federal prison sentence handed to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder for racketeering, March 2023. The bribery scheme he ran passed HB 6.
U.S. Department of Justice
Every dollar was paid by Ohio households and businesses while Gary Click was publicly defending the law that made them pay. The coal subsidies didn't end until August 2025, six years after Click's first ad ran.
On March 31, 2026, a Summit County jury deadlocked in the trial of former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and senior vice president Michael Dowling, charged with paying a $4.3 million bribe to the future chair of the state's utility commission to help draft HB 6. The state will retry them.
Receipt #2 — May 2026
Still Defending It
In May 2026, the Issues page at garyclick.com read:
"House Bill 6 was a necessary investment, providing stability by preserving nuclear energy in Ohio. Wind turbines, on the other hand, tend to drain our resources, add nothing to the stability of the grid and disrupt our rural neighborhoods."
The line was still on his Issues page in May 2026. By then:
- Larry Householder was three years into a 20-year federal sentence.
- Matt Borges, the former Ohio Republican Party chair, had been convicted alongside him.
- Ohio ratepayers had paid more than $500 million in coal-plant subsidies.
- The nuclear subsidies HB 6 was sold to protect had been repealed five years earlier.
- Federal prosecutors had charged FirstEnergy's former CEO and senior vice president with bribery tied directly to the law.
In May 2026, in his re-election year, the site still called all of it "a necessary investment."
A full archive is at Wayback Machine (May 5, 2026).
Then the Page Came Down
After six years, through Householder's arrest, his 20-year sentence, and the federal indictment of FirstEnergy executives, Click removed his HB 6 endorsement from garyclick.com.
No statement. No apology. He did not return the 2019 ad money or acknowledge the households and businesses who paid the bill.
He removed it from his website without explaining why.
A candidate who changes his mind usually says so publicly and explains what changed. Gary Click did not.
The archived page is still public at Wayback Machine (May 5, 2026).
Sources
- The 2019 ad — Meta Ad Library, Library ID 2249892798635668. Paid for by The Committee to Elect Gary Click, treasurer Jerri Miller. Ran September 20–22, 2019.
- The May 2026 Issues page — Archived from garyclick.com/issues. Wayback Machine (May 5, 2026)
- Original reporting on Click's 2019 ad, TiffinOhio.net, "Before he was elected, Gary Click paid to defend the bailout at the heart of Ohio's bribery scandal," April 19, 2026.
- HB 6 corruption timeline and ratepayer figures — Common Cause Ohio, "A Cycle of Corruption: A Timeline of the Householder/HB 6 Scandal."
- OVEC subsidy costs and rider amounts
- Ohio Capital Journal — "In Ohio, another attempt to repeal HB 6 coal subsidies," March 4, 2025.
- Ohio Capital Journal — "Ohio coal plant subsidies still a bad deal for ratepayers despite growing generation demand," August 23, 2024.
- Canary Media — "In Ohio, another attempt to repeal HB 6 coal subsidies," February 28, 2025.
- Ohio Manufacturers' Association — "OVEC House Bill 6 Subsidies to Cost Ohioans Over $80 Million in 2025," December 20, 2024.
- Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel.
- Energy efficiency cost analysis — RMI, "HB 6 Is a Terrible Deal for Ohio."
- Householder racketeering conviction
- U.S. Department of Justice press release on Householder's June 29, 2023 sentencing.
- DOJ press release on jury verdict, March 9, 2023.
- Jones-Dowling trial (March 2026 hung jury)
- Associated Press — "Jury can't reach verdict in corruption trial of 2 ex-FirstEnergy executives in $60M bribery scandal," March 31, 2026.
- Akron Beacon Journal — "FirstEnergy bribery trial ends in hung jury. What jurors didn't know."
- WKYC — "Deadlocked: Jury announces they 'cannot come to a consensus' in bribery trial of ex-FirstEnergy leaders tied to House Bill 6 scandal," March 31, 2026.
- FOX 8 Cleveland — "Verdict reached in corruption trial of ex-FirstEnergy executives accused of $4.3 million bribe," March 31, 2026.
- HB 15 repeal of OVEC coal subsidies (August 2025) — Common Cause Ohio (linked above); Ohio General Assembly bill page.