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Ohio Capital Journal investigation reveals JobsOhio chairman lobbied for Intel despite 2023 pledge

On August 7, 2026, Ohio Capital Journal reported that Josh Rubin, chairman of the JobsOhio board and principal of lobbying firm The CJR Group, continued lobbying Gov. Mike DeWine's office and other executive agencies on behalf of Intel after joining the board in September 2023, despite pledging to the governor's office that he and his firm would cease work for clients with matters before JobsOhio. JobsOhio, the quasi-private Ohio economic-development agency Rubin chairs, disbursed more than $2 million to Intel in fiscal years 2023-2024 as part of a $150 million incentive package for the company's delayed Ohio chip plant. Ohio Ethics Commission Executive Director Paul Nick said Rubin's continued lobbying registrations and active work for Intel appeared to violate his 2023 pledge.

Jurisdiction
Ohio
Location
Columbus, Ohio

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Josh Rubin (Chairman, JobsOhio board)

On August 7, 2026, Ohio Capital Journal reported that Josh Rubin, chairman of the board of JobsOhio — the state's privatized economic-development agency — continued to lobby Gov. Mike DeWine's office and other executive agencies on behalf of Intel after DeWine appointed him to the board in September 2023, despite assurances Rubin gave DeWine's office that he and his lobbying firm, The CJR Group, would cease work for any clients with matters before JobsOhio. Rubin had actively lobbied JobsOhio directly on Intel's behalf as recently as a year before his appointment, and Ohio's official lobbyist registry, the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee's Ohio Lobbying Activity Center, currently lists Intel Corporation among the CJR Group's active client engagements.

JobsOhio disbursed a $25 million workforce-development grant to Intel shortly before Rubin joined the board and gave the company more than $2 million during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, part of a $150 million incentive package tied to Intel's now-delayed $20 billion New Albany chip plant. As chairman, Rubin holds a position of authority over the JobsOhio staff who administer those grants and could have a say in any decision to claw back incentives if Intel misses its 2028 production deadline.

Ohio Ethics Commission Executive Director Paul Nick said that Rubin and his firm's partners renewing their registrations to lobby JobsOhio on Intel's behalf after Rubin joined the board — and Rubin's continued active lobbying of DeWine on the Intel project as recently as April 2026 — appeared to contradict the pledge Rubin made to the governor's office in 2023. DeWine press secretary Dan Tierney disputed that characterization, saying lobbying the governor's office is legally and ethically distinct from lobbying JobsOhio itself. Because JobsOhio is structured as a private nonprofit corporation, it is exempt from Ohio's ethics law, so Nick said none of Rubin's conduct could constitute a legal violation even though the same conduct would be illegal for a state employee.

Why we recorded this

Public office is held in trust for the public, not operated as a personal revenue stream. Rubin chairs the state economic-development board that channeled more than $150 million in incentives to Intel while he and his lobbying firm were paid to represent Intel before the governor's office — work he had pledged to stop as a condition of his board appointment. The state's own ethics enforcer said Rubin's continued activity appeared to violate that pledge. Allowing a sitting decision-maker to profit from a company his own board is subsidizing undermines the public's ability to judge whether JobsOhio's incentive decisions serve Ohio taxpayers or Rubin's paying clients.

Sources

  1. JobsOhio chairman lobbies for Intel, a company that got millions from JobsOhio — Ohio Capital Journal investigative accessed August 8, 2026
  2. OLAC Reports - Employers for Josh Rubin — Ohio Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (Ohio Lobbying Activity Center) primary accessed August 8, 2026

See also