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Ohio News |
Article published Saturday, October 26, 2002
State bar condemns anti-Stratton ad as maligning
judiciary
BLADE COLUMBUS
BUREAU
COLUMBUS - A political commercial in which a
former Brush Wellman employee suffering from chronic beryllium
disease criticizes a sitting Ohio Supreme Court justice was
condemned yesterday by the Ohio State Bar Association.
The ad
- produced by a political action committee funded by plaintiff
lawyers, teachers, and labor - impugns the integrity of candidates
for two seats on the court by suggesting they are biased, according
to the bar’s 11-member advertising watchdog committee.
It
marks the second ad by Citizens for an Independent Court that has
been condemned in the last week. The group supports the election of
two Democrats, Hamilton County Municipal Judge Tim Black and
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet Burnside.
In the
hard-hitting ad, David Norgard, a former employee at Brush’s Elmore
plant, suggests Republican candidate Evelyn Stratton is pro-business
and against Ohio families.
Justice Stratton dissented in a
4-3 decision by the court earlier this year that kept Mr. Norgard’s
lawsuit against Brush alive. The justice joined two other
Republicans in the minority saying they believed the statute of
limitations in Mr. Norgard’s case had expired before the suit was
filed.
"This ad serves to erode public confidence in the
independence and impartiality of the judiciary by attempting to
convince or have voters believe that candidates will decide cases in
a predetermined manner," said David Crago, chairman of the committee
and dean of Ohio Northern Law School.
All of the candidates
have condemned negative ads, but that hasn’t stopped Independent
Court from airing them.
Justice Stratton is seeking a second
six-year term against Judge Burnside. The ad doesn’t mention Lt.
Gov. Maureen O’Connor, a Republican running against Judge Black for
the seat to be vacated by Toledo Justice Andy Douglas.
OSBA
spokesman Bill Weisenberg said the committee also looked at other
materials, but determined to publicly condemn only the Independent
Court ad.
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