Chastened by defeat and bad publicity, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is out of the dirty campaign business, telling its members not to expect more attacks this year like those that backfired in 2000 against Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick.

In a letter mailed yesterday to business leaders, Ohio Chamber President Andrew E. Doehrel announced that Citizens for a Strong Ohio, a chamber-backed campaign committee, has fired its media consultant and will voluntarily disclose the names of contributors to its 2002 effort.

While saying that the chamber, through Citizens for a Strong Ohio, has a responsibility to be involved in Supreme Court races this year, Doehrel promised that it will be "a campaign that is positive and informative but that avoids the errors that raised questions two years ago.''

Referring to the $4 million, anonymously funded attempt in 2000 to topple Resnick, a Toledo Democrat, Doehrel wrote that "the criticism of the campaign's methods unfortunately overshadowed the campaign's important messages about the negative impact of an excessively activist Supreme Court on Ohio's economy.''

Resnick -- targeted by business groups for her votes in workers' compensation cases and in a case that found limits on lawsuit damage awards unconstitutional -- survived the chamber-backed campaign by defeating Terrence O'Donnell, a Cleveland appeals judge.

Independent political analysts widely agreed that the attacks against Resnick went too far and backfired, particularly an infamous "Lady Justice'' television commercial in which Resnick essentially was accused of trading favorable court decisions for contributions from trial lawyers.

The producer of that ad, Columbus media consultant Rex Elsass, would not be rehired for the 2002 campaign and would be replaced, probably by "a national firm with a strong record of past success,'' Doehrel wrote in his letter.

Charles T. McConville, political director for the Ohio Chamber and also a Citizens for a Strong Ohio board member, said yesterday that a Washington-based firm likely will be hired in a few days.

"We just wanted to change our consultant because we want folks to know that we're turning over a new leaf,'' McConville said.

Doehrel promised a "positive, informative campaign, while reserving the right to respond if other campaigns go negative first.''

The board of Citizens for a Strong Ohio will be expanded, Doehrel said, "allowing significant contributors to have a more direct means of involvement in campaign messaging and oversight of advertising.''

As a nonprofit educational organization promoting "issue advocacy,'' Citizens for a Strong Ohio is not required to disclose its contributors. Issue-advocacy ads are exempt from campaign-disclosure requirements because they do not directly advocate election or defeat of a candidate with pleas such as "vote for'' or "vote against.''

During the course of the campaign against Resnick, it was revealed that Gov. Bob Taft and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, both Republicans, raised money for the group.

Announcing the intent to publicly disclose the sources and amounts of contributions in the 2002 campaign, Doehrel wrote, "While Citizens for a Strong Ohio scrupulously followed the law two years ago (and was vindicated in the courts), the controversy surrounding nondisclosure got in the way of effectively communicating our message.''

Asked whether the chamber-backed group will retroactively name contributors to the 2000 campaign, McConville replied, "We raised money the last time around with our contributors being told their contributions would not be disclosed, so having raised money under those circumstances, we're not going to go retroactive.''

The chamber is expected to endorse candidates for the Supreme Court within two weeks, McConville said. It "is likely,'' he said, that the two Republican candidates, incumbent Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor will get the endorsements. Stratton is challenged by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet R. Burnside and O'Connor is running against Hamilton County Municipal Judge Tim Black.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Denny White reacted with skepticism to Doehrel's letter.

"I don't believe it,'' White said. "Their past track record is that they've always gone negative, especially in tough campaigns. They're the first in the gutter.''

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