Saturday, April 22, 2000

By T.C. BROWN

PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

COLUMBUS - Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer’s apparent endorsement of a fellow Republican running for an Ohio Supreme Court seat could trigger a disciplinary complaint.

Justice Alice Robie Resnick, a Toledo Democrat, said yesterday that she is "contemplating" filing a complaint against Moyer, a Columbus Republican, for publicly favoring Resnick’s opponent.

Resnick is in a hotly contested race against Judge Terrence O’Donnell of Cleveland, who sits on the 8th District Ohio Court of Appeals.

The code of judicial conduct, or canons, prohibits judges from publicly endorsing or opposing candidates for another public office.

"It appears to me [Moyer] has violated this canon," Resnick said yesterday. "I haven’t made up my mind about a complaint. I’m contemplating it. I certainly did not expect this, coming from any of my colleagues."

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David J. Leland called Moyer’s comments a "serious violation" of judicial canons and said he, too, is considering such a complaint.

Any complaint found to have merit would wend its way through a series of hearings, eventually ending up before a panel of appellate judges.

Charges can be dismissed during the hearing process. Judges found in violation of the canons can face discipline ranging from a public reprimand to dismissal for the most serious offenses.

Moyer said yesterday that he was not aware he was speaking at a public meeting and he denied "endorsing" O’Donnell. Instead, Moyer said he was "talking favorably about him."

The chief justice said he is unconcerned about a potential complaint.

Before swearing in new members of the Ohio Republican central and executive committees at a meeting April 14, Moyer told the group that he and O’Donnell shared the same philosophy of judicial restraint.

Without mentioning Resnick by name, Moyer criticized rulings by the court majority, which included Resnick, for overturning laws passed by the General Assembly. Those included reforms aimed at curbing the money Ohioans can win in product liability lawsuits.

"When a Supreme Court justice decides that he or she is smarter than the legislature ... what they’re doing, in my view, is overruling the will of the people," Moyer said, according to a report in the Toledo Blade newspaper about the April 14 gathering.

Moyer acknowledged that he could not have given the same speech at other Republican events.

"I guess there were some reporters there. [Republican Party Chairman] Bob Bennett forgot to tell me that," Moyer said. "I wouldn’t have said that if I would have known they were there."

Gary Abernathy, a GOP spokesman, said the full meeting and swearing-in ceremony of the central committee are open to the public.

Resnick dismissed Moyer’s contention that the meeting was not public.

"I think as members of the Supreme Court, we have to conduct ourselves at all times, whether it be public or private, in compliance with the canons," Resnick said. "We set the example. As the chief justice, when he makes a statement, it carries so much more weight than any other person. He is the head of the judiciary."

Elliot Slotnick, a political science professor, and Louis A. Jacobs, a law professor, both at Ohio State University, said judges are very familiar with the restrictions regarding political endorsements. "Judges in Ohio attend ethics instructions and are typically well aware of the limitations," Jacobs said.

"The limitations underscore the need for judges to answer to the law and not a political agenda," Slotnick said.

E-mail: tcbrown@plaind.com

Phone: (216) 999-4213

©2000 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.