Report details Ohio Supreme Court contributions:
Three out of four justices
receive "A" disclosure grades
For release: October 25, 2000
For more information:
Laura Yeomans (330) 343-9588
A new report (full text) revealed today that current candidates for justice of the Ohio
Supreme Court received $2.5 million in campaign contributions from a variety
of businesses including lawyers, insurance companies, real estate
developers, manufacturers, labor unions and other contributors from 1999
through September, 2000.
"It is important to consider all sources of funding when evaluating funding
for candidates for justice of the Ohio Supreme Court," said Laura R.
Yeomans, research director for Ohio Citizen Action.
"Despite the attention in this year's race to contributions from trial
lawyers, contributions from the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers and its
members totalled 16 percent of the total contributed to the candidates,"
said Yeomans. "The rest of the contributions came from a variety of business
and individual interests. Disclosure allows voters to see the flow of money
in Ohio politics, to know before voting the economic interests supporting a
candidate."
The top ten organizational contributors to the justices included the
following:
- Cincinnati Financial Corporation, $59,660
- Ohio Republican Party, $50,150
- Summit County Republican Party Judicial Fund, $50,000
- Nurenberg, Plevin,
Heller and McCarthy, $46,000
- Murray and Murray, $44,750
(These totals include political action committee,
employee and other contributions by organization.)
The Center examined the candidates' record of compliance with the employer
identification requirements in the law. The Center examined the campaign
finance reports submitted by each candidate from 1999 through the September
monthly filing October 3, 2000. Candidates Black, Cook and Resnick received
an excellent grade, "A," for disclosure. Candidate Terrence O'Donnell
received a "D" grade for identifying 67 percent of contributors who gave
more than $100.
"Judicial candidates should follow disclosure laws and identify their
largest contributors," said Yeomans. "Voters deserve to know the economic
affiliation of contributors, as required by law. It doesn't make sense for a
Supreme Court candidate to fail to provide the employer identification for
well-known people such as James Dicke of Crown Equipment and Richard Farmer
of Cintas."
The report, funded by the Joyce Foundation and the George Gund Foundation,
was conducted by the Citizens Policy Center, the non-profit research
affiliate of Ohio Citizen Action.
Ohio Citizen Action campaigns on issues from public health
and the environment to utility and insurance rates.
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