The Dark Money Game: Ohio Confidential – A Surprisingly Solid HB 6 Documentary

BY NICK ROGERS

STATEWIDE - HBO’s documentary The Dark Money Game: Ohio Confidential shines an unapologetically bright light on deeply entrenched political corruption in the Buckeye State. Centered around the House Bill 6 bribery saga, the film – directed by Alex Gibney and based on the book Dark Money by Jane Mayer – methodically unravels the twisted tale of corporate political bedfellows FirstEnergy Corporation and former Speaker of the House Larry Householder, respectively. And while HBO is traditionally a “left-leaning” entity (it is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery), the film, all-in-all, focusses more on broken democracy in its entirety than the left/right paradigm.

The film’s muted trumpet and stand up base score (composed by Peter Nashel) – along with the stylized opening title graphic sequence (clearly mimicking that of the 1997 film L.A. Confidential) gives off a forced film noir vibe to start; that, and with the opening scene revealing the dead body of political lobbyist Neil Clark (a main antagonist of the story), right out of the gate the viewer is left wondering if the documentary will feel more like “murder porn” or an episode of Forensic Files. Thankfully, these artistic liberties give way to substance; namely in the form of solid, compelling interviews.

Any captivating story has good guys and bad. The Dark Money Game has these in spades. The aforementioned Clark represents a fascinating “bad guy” trope; that of a man who unapologetically operates within the confines of an inherently corrupt system, constantly attempting to use that system as an excuse to absolve himself of guilt. 

A man who played the political game for over 40 years, Clark repeatedly falls back on the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling as his “get out of jail free card.” He references the ruling in conversations to undercover FBI agents, and he references the ruling in his four and a half hour interrogation after being put under arrest for managing Generation Now, Householder’s 501(c)(4): aka the “dark money” organization that accepted over $60 million in “political contributions” from FirstEnergy Corporation.

Excerpts from Clark’s memoir are read throughout the film (the book was published by his wife after his death) and, while the snippets are good for some brief shock-humor chuckles here and there, the chosen quotes do more to nauseate the viewer; especially if one takes Clark as a representation of the greater integrity-free quid pro quo culture of political “lobbying.” Some of his words come off as borderline psychopathic. 

Clark says, “If you know me, you know my end. Respect it. And if you see me in eternity with my sword drawn, just run. For those who don’t believe my resolve, suck my dick and see the next page.” The next page of his memoir shows a picture of Clark in a dress shirt, tie, and suspenders. The suspenders are lined with dollar signs and the tie appears to be littered with tiny penises. Clark is giving the middle finger to the camera holding the book Spite, Malice, & Revenge.

On the flip side, when the credits role there is a strange feeling of hope, as there are more examples of “good guys” than “bad” in the documentary; morally sound people within the court system and that of the political realm. 

It could be argued, perhaps, that this is the subtly executed agenda of the film; to reset the viewer’s ire toward all involved in carrying out the HB 6 fiasco and transform that ire into a docile state of complacency; a sort of subliminal messaging that tells the viewer, “Despite all of the disgusting things you’ve seen over the past two hours, take heart! Justice always prevails in the end.” 

And, as we see in the film, Householder gets his dose of justice thanks to an admirably well-executed cross examination by Asst. U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter (Householder’s appeal was recently denied) and a group of sane jurors. However, let us be reminded that FirstEnergy Corporation keeps on chugging while having swept its deferred prosecution agreement under the rug.

The most fascinating person in the film (unequivocally presented as a “good guy”) is Tyler Fehrman, the former John McCain campaign staffer-turned HB 6 repeal effort head. The juiciest part of the film’s drama, in this author’s humble opinion, involve Fehrman (aside from the shocking undercover conversations caught on tape with Clark and Householder that provide much of the evidence for their eventual convictions). 

Former Ohio Republican Chair Matt Borges (also convicted), while working in lock step with the HB 6 conspiracy, attempts to bribe Fehrman into becoming a spy; hoping Fehrman will provide him with inside information on the repeal effort’s numbers, progress, etc. in order to sabotage the effort.

Fehrman – longtime friends with Borges since the McCain campaign – tells Borges he doesn’t feel comfortable with the arrangement. Fearing the worst, Fehrman contacts law enforcement who then request that he re-engage Borges and play the role of a man with a change of heart; a man who just couldn’t turn down $25,000 in the end. While suspicious of the Fehrman’s reversal, Borges takes the bait as Fehrman commendably fibs and fudges his was through text and phone call conversations (logged and recorded, respectively) giving little or utterly false information to Borges in his quest to thwart the repeal effort.

Despite Fehrman’s misderection, the HB 6 lobby goes on an utterly insane offensive which includes ludicrous ads linking the repeal efforts with Communist China and sending out droves of representatives with fake petitions (and also successfully bribing legitimate petitioners to quit petitioning). Sadly, in the end, the repeal effort falls woefully short, but the viewer is left feeling empowered by Fehrman’s, a man who describes himself as someone with a focus on “finding common ground between people of different ideologies.” 

Coincidentally with the timing of this film review, Ohio lawmakers recently passed House Bill 15 which ostensibly stands to end the ongoing subsidies for the two failing nuclear plants (the main crux of House Bill 6). As reported in The Ohio Register, there is far more to consider with this bill than just the power plant subsidy’s termination.

Ohio Republicans may bristle a bit at the film’s handling of the gerrymandering topic (an ongoing hot-button issue in the state). The director/narrator clearly states, for example, that a majority of Ohioans support legalizing abortion while well-funded gerrymandering operations put a Republican supermajority in place to get the “Heartbeat Bill” passed anyway.

There is, here and there, a bit of an implied link between “extreme” ideology and Republicans in this documentary but, overall, the director does a surprisingly good job of staying on track and focusing on the big problem; that of powerful corporate interests with shady agendas making sure they get the politicians they need elected to further their shadiness. In this case, those politicians happened to be Republican.

House Bill 6 – a bill that was rushed through in rapid fashion – was scrutinized from the beginning. 

Fehrman said, “Even I was surprised that a guy who billed himself as a conservative republican from rural Ohio was so big on a corporate bailout. No one knew why Larry Householder was staking so much on House Bill 6.”

In a press conference featured in the film, Laura A. Bischoff, Statehouse Reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, addressed the elephant in the room saying to Householder, “There’s a lot of campaign money that comes into Ohio political coffers from FirstEnergy and from FirstEnergy Solutions and their allies. This bill would make those plants eligible for half of the $300 million.” Sitting right next to Householder, Bischoff asks, “Is there a connection?”

Householder simply replies, “No.” 

Keeping with HBO’s “gritty” reputation, The Dark Money Game is chock full of profane-yet-illuminating statements from more than just Clark; eye-opening, gratuitous tidbits this author never came across in his fair amount of HB 6 research to date. 

For instance, when discussing state representative Dave Greenspan and his problematic declaration of opposition to House Bill 6, Householder is unknowingly recorded saying to a confidant, “Do you think we should go ahead and make some kind of movement on Greenspan? Just to sit there and say, ‘If you’re going to fuck with me, I’m going to fuck with your kids.’” 

And when Householder first took the House Speaker position from the elderly Jo Ann Davidson, he was secretly recorded saying, “I beat her ass three times…She’s ninety-fucking-two-years old. I am gonna take the biggest shit on her grave when she’s gone.”

Attorney James Bopp – the man who proudly takes credit for bringing Citizens United to the Supreme Court and winning – is interviewed towards the beginning of the film and towards the end. He serves as a cringeworthy cinematic bookend to this tale of perverted democracy…or rather thriving corporatocracy. 

At the start, he is seen standing at a microphone outside the courthouse in 2010 declaring, “There is not a shred of evidence that the participation of corporations and labor unions have had any corrupting effect on our democracy.”  

15 years later, the director asks Bopp if he’s familiar with House Bill 6, pointing out that law enforcement only found out about the bribes by sheer luck; implying that 501(c)(4)s likely hide innumerable similar crimes by design.

Bopp replies, “You have to be in six figures to buy – really buy – somebody. So you don’t destroy America and our democratic system and our self-government over a very, extremely rare example. Extremely rare.” 

Parenthetically, Gibney made a similarly themed documentary called Casino Jack and the United States of Money about disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff (released the same year as the Citizens United ruling). While visiting Abramoff in prison, Abramoff told him, “Alex, I can buy a congressman with a stereo.” Apparently “six figures” is not required.  

The Dark Money Game is a worthwhile watch both for those in the state of Ohio and those outside its borders; an engaging, well-paced viewing experience for those who feel they’re up to date on the HB 6 scandal and for those who’ve hardly followed the headlines alike.

The main point conveyed in the film is a valuable one we all should take to heart: since the Citizens United ruling (and likely long before), this instance of corporate/political incest (and ensuing rape of our democracy) is not an anomaly. It goes on all the time, every single day, and the FBI just happened to get lucky in this case by stumbling upon a smoking gun via an unrelated, much smaller, corruption investigation. In many other instances, the FBI is likely involved in covering up these types of crimes. The corruption runs to the depths of our political system and far beyond into the deepest of deep states.

Predictably well-shot yet unpredictably not overproduced, The Dark Money Game relies on the substantive, fascinating content provided by those interviewed rather than flashy reenactments and/or added dramatic flare/fluff; definitely worth the $9.99 one-month subscription to HBO/Max, especially if you binge watch the entire Batman catalogue before cancelling the subscription.