COLUMBUS, Ohio — The owners of the Cleveland Browns, the Haslam family, had given more than $100,000 to the top legislative leaders at the Ohio Statehouse in the months before they requested $600 million for their new football stadium. The House's proposed budget gave it to them.
At the intersection of policymaking and money — House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) defends the integrity of the Ohio Statehouse.
"There is no donor or group that is so important in terms of what they do or how much money they give that it can really affect the outcome of legislation," Huffman told me.
But some Democrats argue the exact opposite may be true when it comes to the Cleveland Browns.
The House version of the state budget gives the Browns exactly what they came to Columbus looking for — a pledge of $600 million from the sale of bonds to help finance their new stadium project.
"This is a nice little handout for the Haslam family," House Minority Leader Allison Russo said.
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The Browns' owners, Jimmy and Dee Haslam, are known as frequent donors to state politics.
So I looked into the data to see how involved they were — and how recently.
Since 2020, the Haslams and their family have given at least $1,145,000 to candidates and ballot issues in Ohio, with the majority coming in election years. Of the total, 94% of their spending goes to Republicans and their causes.
Campaign finance reports show that Huffman has received significantly more than any other Ohio politician, with almost $110,000 since 2020. In 2024, he received $61,000, more than any other candidate had received from the Haslams since 2020, in an election year where Huffman ran unopposed.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), the other key Statehouse decision maker, had the second most amount of money from the Haslams — just short of $59,000. Most of that came in last year — when McColley was not up for reelection.
Another Statehouse leader, among others, Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) received $15,000 in 2024, despite not having a primary or competitive general election.
On the proposed $600 million for the Browns, the president has not said what he plans to do with the House's budget.
"These budget bills are caucus decisions at the end of the day," he said broadly about the House's proposal. "It's not one person's decision as to what these are going to look like."
Browns Attorney Ted Tywang said it will bring in more revenue than it will cost.
"There's going to be a return for the state on this investment," Tywang said while presenting at the Statehouse in early March.
And Case Western Reserve elections law professor Atiba Ellis explained that no campaign finance laws have been violated.
"It's not unusual at all," Ellis said. "The campaign finance system, and frankly, the system of governance is designed to allow people to petition their lawmakers, to lobby for causes."
Donating money only becomes illegal once there is an expectation that the donations will be used to get what they want — which there is no evidence of. But Ellis did want to consider the optics.
"When the donations are this large and the governing has such huge consequences on the budget and on how money is spent throughout Ohio, this gray area of 'Is this, if not illegal influence, but maybe inappropriate influence,' — that question I think is fair to ask," he said.
But Huffman also argued that he has shown he wouldn't let anything convince his vote.
"Opponents of the bonds for the Browns have argued that the Haslam family are big donors. They donate both to Republicans and Democrats but mainly Republicans," I said to Huffman. "What would you say about the ethics of that? Do you think that there is merit to that or do you think that that's just how politics is?"
"Well, I think, probably, if you look across the spectrum of this budget and every other piece of legislation... There is no donor or group that is so important," he responded.
He referenced the energy bill the House passed the prior week.
"Last week we passed a bill that none of the utilities, in fact — they were parachuting in guys from all over last Tuesday night to keep us from passing that bill," he told me. "I don't know that anybody's gonna write an article saying 'Despite the utility's power, the General Assembly said no,' or maybe you will — we'll see, who knows?"
But Russo wondered why the Statehouse leaders aren't prioritizing education, property taxes or hunger relief. She herself received $2,500 from the Haslams in 2024.
"Even talking about or even it's in the realm of consideration that we're going to give a $600 million giveaway to billionaires is absolutely absurd," Russo said.
RELATED: Ohio House GOP budget proposal slashes public school funding
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