Vukovich, Waite have earned re-election to appeals court

To appreciate just how far the 7th District Court of Appeals has come since Joseph J. Vukovich and Cheryl Waite were sworn in as judges in January 1997, consider the following two numbers: 810 and 471.
The first number refers to the backlog of cases that were pending five years and nine months ago; the second is the backlog as of June of this year. The 42 percent reduction clearly shows that progress is being made to rid the court docket of old cases. Why would we consider a 42 percent decline progress? Because while judges Vukovich and Waite, along with their two colleagues, Gene Donofrio and Mary DeGenaro, were tackling the backlog, they also had to deal with the 2,877 new cases that were filed from 1997 to this year.
We focus on the court's docket because that is one of the main issues Vukovich is being challenged on in his bid for re-election next month. The challenge is coming from Ashley Pike, a Columbiana County Common Pleas Court judge. Pike began his six-year term in January 2001, but says that he is running for the appeals court because he believes it lacks an effective case management system.
As for why he chose to run against Vukovich and not Waite, who is unopposed in next month's election, Pike seemed to blame Vukovich for what he perceives to be the problems plaguing the 7th District court.
"Joe had the most political skills to get solutions to the problems," the common pleas judge told Vindicator writers during his editorial board interview. "He has been there a long time."
Pike also acknowledged that he is not particularly fond of Vukovich as a person and would rather serve with Waite.
Independent judges
But the Republican challenger -- both incumbents are Democrats -- is wrong if he believes that one judge can dominate the court. There are four judges, each elected independently, and while DeGenaro is the lone Republican, there is no reason to conclude that the opinion of one would hold sway.
Indeed, Vukovich, a former state senator and state representative, pointed out during his interview with the newspaper that length of time a case is pending depends on how long it takes the judge assigned to write the majority opinion to complete the task. He noted that his individual docket had no cases pending on June 30.
Vukovich is proud of the fact that during one year, he issued 142 opinions, a record for the court, and that he has averaged writing one opinion on the merits of a case every three or so working days.
Six years ago, Vukovich and Waite talked about the court needing to decrease the number of pending cases, to become more accessible to the public by sitting in all eight counties, and to adopt a docketing system. Those goals are being met.
What is also significant is that the number of cases from the 7th District court that has attracted the attention of the state bar association jumped significantly. In other words, the opinions coming out of the court are being read by judges and lawyers throughout Ohio.
We have no doubt that Pike is sincere in wanting to implement the changes he believes are necessary, but do not share his view that the 7th District Court of Appeals is dysfunctional or intellectually deficient.
We believe that Vukovich and Waite, who was not invited for an interview because she is unopposed, have earned re-election.