The Ohio Republican Party was sued Thursday over unpaid bills by a company linked to a political strategist who pleaded guilty to involvement in the state’s largest public corruption scheme.
The lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, accuses the party of failing to pay Columbus-based Constant Content nearly $600,000 for campaign materials it commissioned during the 2020 election cycle. The company is run by Jeff Longstreth, who served as an adviser to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder until his arrest in 2020.
Householder was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for orchestrating a $60 million pay-to-play scheme funded by FirstEnergy that helped him win control of the Ohio House of Representatives in 2019. Longstreth accepted a plea deal in the case and testified against Householder during his trial last year.
The longtime Ohio political activist helped finance the campaigns of Householder-backed candidates, controlled a dark money group tied to the former speaker and wrote messages for a $1.3 billion bailout of FirstEnergy’s nuclear plants.
“While we do not typically comment on ongoing litigation, we feel compelled to point out that Jeff Longstreth and his company are still involved in a number of state and federal corruption charges and investigations,” said Cameron Sagester, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party. “In our view, these allegations are without merit and we look forward to proving that to the court in due course.”
An attorney for Longstreth’s company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What does the complaint say?
Constant Content began designing flyers for Republican candidates in late 2019 and mailed them to voters across the state in 2020, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says the mailers were approved by the Ohio Republican Party, the candidates and Householder, who was then speaker. Invoices show several lawmakers had campaign materials made in their names, including current House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill.
Ohio Republicans wrote a check for $357,000 for the flyers but asked Constant Content not to cash it until the party received funds from the Republican candidates and campaign team in the House of Representatives, the lawsuit says. The company honored their request “based on their prior business relationship” and created additional election materials that cost nearly $236,000.
Longstreth’s company claimed Ohio Republicans never paid the bills, totaling about $593,000, and said the original check had still not been cashed.
“Plaintiff has never considered any of these goods and services to be in-kind,” the lawsuit states.
State campaign finance records do not show any payments to Constant Content as part of the party’s expenses.
USA TODAY Network Ohio reporter Jessie Balmert contributed.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the Ohio Bureau of the USA TODAY Network, which covers the Columbus Dispatch, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
