Ohio’s utility regulatory agency, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), made headlines this week following their advocacy to remove a breakout session at a national conference that was set to be focused on corruption within an agency.

The National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys had planned to hold a breakout session during its annual meeting titled Lessons from Ohio: What should a staff attorney do if you think the chairman may be a crook?, alluding to former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo, who had been awaiting federal and state trials on a variety of corruption-related charges.

After receiving pressure from the general counsel of the PUCO to cancel the session, the panel discussion went ahead under a different title focusing on character and ethics. 5/25/2025