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While the presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns grab most of the attention, money is pouring into two races for the Ohio Ohio Supreme Court, according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday.
Democrat John O’Donnell, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge, is running against Republican Pat Fischer, who is a 1st District Court of Appeals judge. O’Donnell raised $49,050, spent $31,794 and has $225,531 on hand. Fischer raised $91,200, spent $458,636 and has nearly $85,000 on hand.
Democrat Cynthia Rice, an 11th District Court of Appeals judge, is facing off against Republican Pat DeWine, a 1st District Court of Appeals judge and son of current Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Rice raised $112,610, spent $203,583 and has $123,615 on hand. DeWine raised $153,880, spent $255,510 and has $883,227 on hand.
The Ohio Democratic Party argued that Pat DeWine would have to recuse himself on every case before the supreme court involving the attorney general’s office. Attorney Jonathan Coughlan, who served the Supreme Court as the chief lawyer over attorney and judge discipline cases, wrote an opinion for the Democratic Party that concluded that Pat DeWine would have the duty to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in such cases.
Pat DeWine, however, has maintained that he would only have to recuse himself if is father was personally arguing a case before the Ohio Supreme Court.“You will not have an ethical conflict and will not have to disqualify yourself in a case where someone other than Mike DeWine at the Attorney General’s office is directly representing a party in a case before you,” Michael Close, an attorney with decades of experience representing lawyers in ethics cases, told Pat DeWine in his own opinion letter Tuesday.
Information from the Associated Press is included in this report.
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