Judge has no plans to apologize for ads

Commissioners said the radio ad crosses the line.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court said county commissioners won't get an apology from her for comments made about them in one of her re-election campaign commercials.
"I have nothing to apologize for," Judge Dellick said. "I will defend public safety and children and families, and I will not blindly follow [commissioners'] dictates."
But commissioners said that the commercial's comments were out of line and that the judge should apologize to them and to the public.
"She's gone too far," said Commissioner Ed Reese. "I would expect an apology from her to this office and our staff."
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said she thinks the radio ad is "arrogant" and "over the top."
At issue is a commercial that ran on local radio stations in which a narrator says Judge Dellick warned commissioners that the juvenile detention center wasn't safe because it was overcrowded and understaffed.
The ad says "some juvenile offenders may have been sexually attacked" while in custody, and "one youth even escaped and allegedly committed a murder."
When Judge Dellick asked commissioners for help, they cut the justice center's budget, the commercial says.
Commercial causes anger
Commissioners were infuriated by the inference that their budgeting process somehow contributed to the possible sexual assaults and murder that are referred to in the commercial.
The murder case involves a juvenile who escaped from Forum Health Northside Medical Center, where he had been taken by a juvenile detention officer to be treated for a leg injury. As he was approaching the hospital, the boy threw down his crutches and ran.
Sherlock said the boy was in the court's custody at the time. Blaming commissioners for the escape is outrageous and irresponsible, Sherlock said.
"All we did was ask her to please hold the line in a difficult situation. Instead, she sued us," Sherlock said.
Budget woes
Commissioners budgeted the juvenile court $4.6 million in 2003, which was down from the $5.35 million it had spent in 2002. Judge Dellick had requested $6.9 million last year. She sued commissioners in the Ohio Supreme Court, which ordered them to come up with the additional $2.3 million.
Since the decision came late in the year, Judge Dellick accepted $925,000 instead of the entire $2.3 million.
Commissioners said much of that money went to raises for the court's administrative staff.
"If you have the kind of money to hand out hefty raises to your cronies, then you should have the money to make sure your facility is secure," Sherlock said.
Commissioner David Ludt said commissioners are responsible only for budgeting, and that each elected official is responsible for operating his or her own department.
"Each person has to take responsibility for their own office," Ludt said. "Don't blame someone else when something goes wrong."
Wanted ad pulled
Commissioners demanded that the ad be pulled off the air, but Judge Dellick said it stopped running about two weeks ago.
"What does that tell you about why they're doing this now?" she said, noting that commissioners went to the press instead of contacting her with their concerns.
Judge Dellick, a Republican, said commissioners' criticism of her is politically motivated to help her Democratic opponent in next week's election, Atty. Wade Smith Jr., which commissioners denied. All three commissioners are Democrats.
Judge Dellick said it was Smith who raised the security issue in one of his campaign commercials, and that her commercial was simply a response.
bjackson@vindy.com