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Ohio News |
Article published Saturday, October 19, 2002
4-3 MAJORITY AT STAKE
Ohio top-court hopefuls raise nearly $5
million
| CANDIDATE COFFERS |
Here is the
amount of money raised by each candidate for a
seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, reported as of
Sept. 30.
Evelyn Stratton, Republican, $1.25
million.
Janet Burnside, Democrat,
$925,711.
Maureen O'Connor, Republican,$1.3
million.
Tim Black, Democrat, $1.24
million. | | |
By JIM
PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Here’s a novel idea for an Ohio
Supreme Court election: The majority of campaign spending this year
could actually be by the candidates.
Business, insurance
companies, and doctors are again promoting the Republican contenders
for two seats on the high court - incumbent Evelyn Stratton and
Maureen O’Connor.
Plaintiff lawyers, teachers, and labor are
backing the two Democrats - Janet Burnside and Tim
Black.
Even so, the four candidates have raised almost $5
million to fund their campaigns and could raise a total of $6
million by the Nov. 5 election, more than double the $2.4 million
spent in 2000 by four candidates for the high court.
Total
spending probably will fall short of the estimated $10 million spent
in 2000, a record. That was the year of the infamous gilded Lady
Justice ad in which she peeks from under her blindfold at scales
weighed down by campaign contributions.
"Part of it may be
that it’s a midterm election. Part of it may have to do with all of
the attention paid to advertising in 2000, but, in most states,
things have been calmer," said Barbara Reed of the Washington-based
Constitution Project.
At stake, as in 2000, is the current
court’s 4-3 philosophical majority that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce
has denounced as anti-business and labor has praised as
pro-family.
The first TV ad by outside special interests,
acting independently of the candidates, began airing Tuesday, 11
days behind the pace set in 2000. The incumbent target then was
Justice Alice Robie Resnick, the Ottawa Hills Democrat who is part
of the so-called "activist" majority.
This year the incumbent
target is Republican Justice Stratton, typically in the minority in
cases involving school funding, tort reform, and insurance issues.
She’s locked in a tight battle with Ms. Burnside, a Democratic
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge.
Republican Lt. Gov.
O’Connor is leading in polls over Tim Black, a Democratic Hamilton
County Municipal Court judge. They’re vying for the seat to be
vacated by Justice Andy Douglas, the Toledo Republican who is
usually part of the 4-3 majority.
Republicans must win both
seats if they hope to shift the philosophical majority.
"The
concern has been that interest groups with issue ads had taken over
the dialogue ...," said Dr. John Green, professor and political
analyst with the University of Akron. "It’s a healthy thing if it
turns out the candidates are the principal source of the
money."
As of Sept. 30, Justice Stratton, Ms. O’Connor, and
Judge Black were within striking distance of raising $1.3 million
each. Judge Burnside was just shy of $1 million.
They have
the potential of raising and spending as much as $1.5 million each
by the time Nov. 5 rolls around.
This year, Citizens for an
Independent Court - a political action committee funded by plaintiff
lawyers, teachers unions, and labor - fired the first TV shot with
an attack on the two Republicans, depicting them as pawns of big
business while saying the two Democrats are "on our
side."
"The U.S. Supreme Court has said, under the guise of
free speech, that this is pretty much open season on what is said,"
said Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett. "These sleazy ads
that are being run cannot be prosecuted ... There are no
restraints."
A committee established by the Ohio State Bar
Association to monitor court advertising in the wake of the 2000
election has agreed to review this ad and plans to announce its
findings Monday.
It is also reviewing an ad run by
Competition Ohio, primarily backed by AT&T, to break SBC
Ameritech’s hold on local phone service. The ad, airing in Columbus
and Cleveland, criticizes SBC while praising the two Republican
candidates, both of whom have denounced the ad.
Citizens for
an Independent Court expects to spend as much, if not more than the
$1.5 million it spent in 2000.
"Our message is to make it
clear who is on the side of big business and insurance and who is
representing working Ohioans with families who care about education
and the qualify of life that all Ohioans deserve," Mark Hatch,
spokesman for the organization, said.
In 2000, the Ohio
Chamber’s nonprofit Citizens for a Strong Ohio teamed with the U.S.
Chamber to spend $5.3 million in an unsuccessful bid to defeat
Justice Resnick.
After voter backlash, the group vowed this
year to keep its message positive and to voluntarily reveal its
backers. That appears to have dented its fund-raising ability and,
so far, its message has been relegated to cheaper
radio.
That’s left an opening for the new Informed Citizens
of Ohio, another business-backed effort appealing to former Strong
Ohio supporters eager to keep their involvement out of
print.
"We point out that Citizens for a Strong Ohio is going
to disclose its donors and that Informed Citizens is not," said
Strong Ohio spokesman Chip McConville. "Sometimes that will have a
bearing on where people will give."
Informed Citizens
spokesman David Milenthal said the group will air "issue ads"
focusing on specific economic issues. The first, focusing on tort
reform, will begin Monday.
"We are not going to be loud and
obnoxious," he added.
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