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Ohio News |
Article published Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Group suggests link of tort reform,
candidate
BLADE COLUMBUS
BUREAU
Informed Citizens of Ohio, a pro-business group, tries
to tie medical malpractice tort reform to the Ohio Supreme
Court election in its issue ad.
| This
30-second ad, titled "Empty Office," is the first from Informed
Citizens of Ohio, an anonymously financed, pro-business organization
fronted by Akron industrialist and charter school magnate David
Brennan.
Airing in all major markets, it attempts to tie
medical malpractice tort reform to the current Ohio Supreme Court
election and suggests, without coming right out and saying it, that
Justice Evelyn Stratton would be the right vote for those concerned
about that issue.
A nonprofit-issue advocacy organization,
which does not have to identify its backers, cannot expressly
advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate. The ad, run
independently of Justice Stratton’s own campaign, never mentions her
Democratic opponent, Judge Janet Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common
Pleas Court.
PRODUCER: HMS Success,
Columbus.
ON THE SCREEN: A young couple, the wife
obviously pregnant, enters an obstetrician’s office only to find it
deserted. It then superimposes a photo of Republican Justice Evelyn
Stratton as the couple leaves the building. A male narrator suggests
the justice is sympathetic to their plight.
SCRIPT:
"Little by little, doctors are disappearing from the state of Ohio.
Disappearing because frivolous lawsuits are forcing them to leave
their practices. But when it’s your doctor, where do you go? Justice
Evelyn Stratton’s record shows that she understands the need to stop
lawsuit abuse. And now, so do you."
ACCURACY: Medical
malpractice insurance rates have been climbing, prompting
suggestions that some doctors may not be able to afford to stay in
practice. The Supreme Court, usually by votes of 4-3, has overturned
legislative attempts to rein in jury awards in product liability,
medical malpractice, personal injury, and other types of litigation.
Justice Stratton has typically been in the minority. According to
the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Justice Stratton has taken the
pro-business stance in tort cases 67 percent of the time. This ad
suggests she will continue to do so if
re-elected.
SCORECARD: Following a public backlash in
2000 against the infamous gilded Lady Justice ad targeting Justice
Alice Robie Resnick, an Ottawa Hills Democrat, the business
community vowed to keep its message positive this time around. The
Ohio State Bar Association suggested yesterday, however, that ads
that imply how a justice will vote in certain cases can still impugn
the integrity of a candidate and the court, even if the ad is not
overtly negative.
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