COLUMBUS: Bart
Hacker neglected to put the word ``for'' on a campaign sign in
his effort to run against an incumbent state representative.
Michael Stevens, appointed to an Ohio House seat from Stark
County, sent a letter to contributors asking them to help get
him ``re-elected.''
Citizens for a Strong Ohio, a secret nonprofit
corporation, is spending millions of dollars, raised from
secret sources, to run a television ad that falsely accuses an
Ohio Supreme Court justice of switching her vote and taking a
bribe.
A panel for the Ohio Elections Commission yesterday decided
Hacker's and Stevens' actions were deplorable enough to refer
their cases to the full commission for a hearing, but a
complaint against Citizens for A Strong Ohio was dismissed.
Hacker, of Columbus, has signs indicating he was a state
representative already. Stevens, of Lawrence Township, had
never been elected -- he was appointed.
The justice ads, however, attacking Justice Alice Robie
Resnick don't use words like ``elect,'' or ``vote
against,'' and are therefore considered ``issue advocacy''
commercials that are protected by the First Amendment.
Norton Webster, a member appointed as an independent to the
commission, pushed for further action against Hacker and
Stevens, but said the commission does not have the authority
to pursue the secret group because it is not running ``express
advocacy'' ads in the campaign.
``The ad we've seen here today is a treacherous ad and I
don't like it,'' Webster said, right before making a motion to
dismiss the complaint.
Dale W. Bayer, a Democrat on the commission, said the panel
should refer the issue to the full commission for a hearing.
``The Citizens for A Strong Ohio have overstepped their
boundaries in this ad,'' Bayer said.
Judge Terrence O'Donnell is trying to unseat Resnick in a
race that has drawn national attention.
Big business is upset with Resnick because, among other
things, she wrote a scathing majority opinion in tossing out a
law that placed caps on jury awards in personal injury
lawsuits. Resnick also wrote the majority opinion in the
second school funding lawsuit decided by the high court.
Citizens for A Strong Ohio was formed to raise money to run
negative ads against Resnick and may spend as much as $4
million. Candidates for the Supreme Court are limited to
spending $550,000 for a statewide race.
In the ad, a woman in gold holds the scales of justice in
her hands, her eyes shielded by a band of gold cloth. She
lifts her blindfold long enough to catch a glimpse of a large
contribution from trial lawyers being dropped to tip the
scales while a narrator notes Justice Alice Robie Resnick
switched her vote in a key case.
Common Cause of Ohio filed a seven-count complaint with the
commission after the blind justice ad began running in major
media markets across the state.
Donald McTigue, an attorney representing Common Cause, said
the ad is full of factual errors. It alleges Resnick sold her
vote in return for campaign contributions, switched her vote
after a union boss protested, and ruled 70 percent of the time
in favor of trial lawyers who have funded her campaigns.
McTigue said the nonprofit also failed to file as a
political action committee or report money raised and spent to
defeat a candidate. He said the ruling allows anyone in the
state to run negative ads with false information as long as
the commercials do not ask the viewer to vote for or elect a
candidate.
Resnick, whose campaign was not a party to the complaint,
said yesterday that the ``vicious attack'' makes charges that
are ``irresponsible and completely untrue.''
Attorneys for the nonprofit group did not argue with the
contention that the blind justice ad was misleading and
factually incorrect.
William Todd, a Columbus lawyer for Squire, Sanders &
Dempsey, said he was not there to defend the accuracy.
Todd said if Common Cause or other interested parties
believe the ad is defamatory, they should file a lawsuit in a
common pleas court.
But Todd said the elections commission does not have the
power to infringe upon the Citizens for a Strong Ohio's
freedom of speech rights.
Because it is chartered as a nonprofit educational
organization, corporations can make unlimited secret
contributions. Sources have said that the insurance industry
and manufacturers are among the biggest contributors.
If the organization were a political action committee,
corporations would be prohibited from providing any money.
Individuals would be limited to making $2,500 contributions.
Ray Cadwallader, a Common Cause spokesman, said his group
will ask the full commission to reconsider the panel's ruling.
If that is rejected, Cadwallader said the seven counts will
be appealed to the Franklin County Common Pleas
Court.
Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613
or dwillard@qn.net.
