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Ohio News |
Article published Thursday, October 24, 2002
OHIO SUPREME COURT
Candidates clash over political ads, malpractice
rates
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE
COLUMBUS BUREAU
CLEVELAND - Two candidates for a seat on the
Ohio Supreme Court yesterday clashed in a rare public debate,
accusing each other of failing to do enough to halt the
proliferation of special interest commercials predicting how they
would rule.
Incumbent Republican Justice Evelyn Stratton and
her Democratic challenger, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet
Burnside, politely took jabs at each other during an hour-long
debate at the City Club of Cleveland.
"The justice system and
the Ohio Supreme Court are under attack in this state in this race,"
said Judge Burnside.
She challenged Justice Stratton to
disavow a current television commercial by an anonymously funded,
business-backed organization, Informed Citizens of Ohio, that
suggests the justice "understands" concerns over rising medical
malpractice insurance premiums, presumably because of frivolous
lawsuits.
Justice Stratton fell just short of disavowing the
ad, noting that it refers only to her past record.
"If anyone
would interpret it as to how I would vote on tort reform, that would
be wrong," she said. "I have never stated publicly how I would vote
on tort reform ... Certainly, it does not attack her. It is not a
negative ad. She didn’t mention anything about this ad that just
came out that trashes me to pieces. She conveniently stayed away
from that."
Justice Stratton was referring to an ad that
features criticism of her from David Norgard, a former Brush Wellman
employee suffering from fatal chronic beryllium disease. The ad is
funded by trial lawyers, teachers, and labor unions - Judge
Burnside’s base of support.
Justice Stratton was among the
dissenters of a 4-3 decision in May that ultimately kept Mr.
Norgard’s suit against Brush alive by determining the statute of
limitations had not expired. Mr. Norgard praised Judge Burnside,
even though she played no role in the case.
Judge Burnside
later said she hadn’t seen the ad but stood by her position that all
negative ads should be pulled from the air.
"I said in my
first television advertisement that big corporations and special
interests are trying to control the court," she said. "That’s
exactly what I meant because that’s exactly what I see. No one
should control the Ohio Supreme Court."
Back to the issue of
medical malpractice, Justice Stratton said she disagreed with an
audience member who suggested that arguments that doctors were
leaving their practices in Ohio because of escalating malpractice
premiums are mere campaign scare tactics.
"Every time I go
into a different county, I have a different group of doctors who
tell me they’re leaving the state, they’re quitting OB-GYN practice.
Cincinnati has dropped from 31 neurosurgeons to 13," she
said.
"I wish it were a scare tactic, but I’m afraid it’s
not," she said. "It’s not a simple answer though."
But she
added that it’s up to society and the legislature to deal with the
issue.
Judge Burnside, however, argued that the Informed
Citizens ad makes it appear that the election of Justice Stratton is
the solution.
"This problem is complex," she said. "It’s not
going to be substantiated by anecdotal evidence."
Justice
Stratton is seeking a second six-year term on what she considers to
be a 4-3 "activist" court. Although she resisted being labeled
pro-business or pro-tort reform during the debate, she welcomed the
label of "judicial restraint," the description given to the justices
who say they leave policy decisions to the legislature.
The
candidates for a second court seat, Republican Lt. Gov. Maureen
O’Connor and Democratic Hamilton County Municipal Judge Tim Black,
will appear with Justice Stratton and Judge Burnside on Tuesday in a
live television forum sponsored by the League of Women
Voters.
Ms. O’Connor and Judge Black are running for the seat
to be vacated by Toledo Republican Justice Andy Douglas, 70, who is
barred from seeking another term because of his age.
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