General Facts in Regard to the Ohio Supreme
Court
1. General
Facts in Regard to the Ohio Supreme Court:
-Currently, all seven Ohio Supreme Court
justices are Republicans.
-This is the
first time in 38 years that all the justices are
of the same party.
-The Republican justices have out spent their
opponents by millions of dollars over the last
six years.
-A
survey by Opinion Strategy Inc. for the League
of Women Voters and Joyce Foundation found 49%
of voters believe that campaign contributions
influence judges to a “great extent” and another
34% said they influence decisions to “some
extent”. Overall 83% of voters
believe campaign contributions influence the
decisions of the Supreme Court.
-The New York Times in a series of articles
which analyze the decisions of the Ohio Supreme
Court stated that the justices “routinely sat on
cases after receiving campaign contributions
from the parties involved” and that “on
average…voted in favor of contributors 70% of
the time.” The Times stated that
judicial campaigns have been taken over by
“spending by special interests.”
-The campaigns for the Ohio Supreme Court are
the only statewide races.
2. Facts About Justice
Maureen O’Connor
-Justice O’Connor lost her first four races for
Judge.
-Justice O’Connor raised over $1.8 million for
her campaign of which more than $200,000 came
from insurance companies.
-Justice O’Connor was Lt. Governor for Bob Taft
prior to being elected to the Ohio Supreme
Court. After the election she thanked “Governor
Bob Taft for kick starting her career by
choosing her to be Lt. Governor.”
-Governor Taft made phone calls and sent letters
to campaign contributors reminding them that
they had not contributed the maximum amount to
O’Connor.
-An Appeals panel found that Lt. Governor
O’Connor violated the Code of Judicial Conduct
by wearing a judicial robe in her commercials,
the charges were later dismissed.
-Sanctioned by the Ethics Commission for
requesting donations from her office staff while
employing them as County Prosecutor.
-After her election, O’Connor said “I can’t
underestimate the influence of the medical
community…and their efforts will pay off…”
-According to the Associated Press, Justice
O’Connor has sided with insurers while reversing
long standing court positions.
-Justice O’Connor had only two years of judicial
experience before being elected to the Ohio
Supreme Court
-Justice O’Connor wrote the majority opinion
allowing employers to sue employees who lose in
sexual harassment cases.
-Lt. Governor O’Connor had to have a Retired
State Highway Patrolman serve as her driver at a
cost of $35,000.00 per year from the State
treasury as a result of being involved in two
auto accidents in the span of three months in
1999.
3. Facts About Judge Joe
Russo
-Judge Russo is in his 8th year as a
Common Pleas Court Judge.
-Judge Russo has adjudicated over 7,000 civil
and felony criminal matters, including 7 death
penalty cases.
-Judge Russo has a record of being tough on
criminal offenders.
-During his last election, Judge Russo was one
of the few candidates to receive a perfect
rating from the Judicial Candidates Rating
Coalition.
-Judge Russo is an adjunct professor of law at
Case Western Reserve University.
-Judge Russo is committed to implementing a
series of proposals to overhaul current recusal
rules for the Ohio Supreme Court to insure the
highest moral and ethical standards. He
believes these reforms will insure that the Ohio
Supreme Court avoids even the appearance of
impropriety and will insure justice for all.
-Upon being elected, Justice Russo will propose
a new public financing option for future Supreme
Court Elections effectively ending the current
practice of raising and spending in excess of 2
Million Dollars per Supreme Court position.
-Judge Russo possesses the judicial temperament
necessary to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court.
-Judge Russo will insure that statistics on the
racial diversity of Defendants appearing before
the Courts are properly reported.
-Judge Russo will have the active support of
Governor Ted Strickland.
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