Voters should take note of Supreme Court races

Voters don't tend to get excited about Supreme Court races in Ohio, which is a shame because the court as an institution has the ability to affect their lives every bit as much as a governor, attorney general, secretary of state or any other elected executive or member of the Legislature.
This primary has produced a rare occurrence: Two strong Democratic candidates are vying for their party's nomination for the one seat on the Ohio Supreme Court that is held by a Democrat, Alice Robie Resnick. She is not seeking re-election.
Peter Sikora, 54, a Cuyahoga County juvenile court judge, and Ben Espy, 63, a private practice attorney in Columbus and former minority leader of the state Senate, are running aggressive campaigns in which both claim strong qualifications for the job. And both are correct. Choosing between them will not be easy, but a choice must be made.
Natural candidates
Both candidates are articulate, seasoned, well-rounded and neither flinched during our editorial board interview, regardless of the questions thrown at them. And both can rightly claim to bring a measure of diversity to the court -- beyond the fact that in recent years just being a Democrat on the seven-member court counts as bringing diversity to the bench. Espy would be the first black candidate elected to the court (two other black justices have been appointed). Sikora, who has used a wheelchair since being injured as a teenager, notes that he would be the court's only high-functioning quadriplegic.
Both candidates expressed concern over the court's inability and unwillingness to enforce its own ruling that Ohio's method of funding education in the state is unconstitutional. Both expressed concern over the court's recent ruling that found an executive privilege for the governor regarding open records, when no gubernatorial exemption can be found in Ohio's statutes. Both are strong advocates for open government.
Sikora notes that he has invaluable experiences as a trial court judge. Espy counters that he has 10 years of experience in the legislature and a stronger portfolio as a private attorney.
This is a case where the Democratic party may have been better served if such strong candidates had chosen not to face off in the primary. There is a second race in November, against incumbent Justice Terrence O'Donnell. But Sikora and Espy chose to run in the primary for Resnick's seat and the winner will face Republican Robert R. Cupp of Lima, a judge on the 3rd District Court of Appeals, in November.
A close call
The Vindicator's endorsement goes to Espy. Each candidate sat through a one-hour interview with Vindicator editors, and in the end, Espy made a stronger case for his ability to run a successful campaign in the fall. (And not just because Espy will be able to tell the voters that when he ran for Columbus City Council years ago he became the first and only Democrat ever endorsed by his OSU football coach, Woody Hayes -- though it's a great political story.)
The honor that neither Espy nor Sikora wanted, that of challenging Justice O'Donnell in November, will go to either William M. O'Neill, 58, of Chagrin Falls, a judge on the 11th District Court of Appeals, or A.J. Wagner, 54, of Dayton, a Montgomery County Common Pleas judge.
Interestingly, they are the only two of the six candidates from both parties that declined to sign the Ohio State Bar Association's "clean campaign pledge." We shall not hold that against them; indeed, we applaud their sense of independence. Candidates should run tough, honest campaigns, which they can do without signing on to someone else's concept of what might be clean or unclean.
Novel approach
O'Neill is running a novel campaign in which he has said he will take no campaign contributions. He has bought his own used printing press and is producing reams of fact sheets for hand distribution and mailing. It is not a strategy designed to endear him to television stations or newspapers -- and it probably isn't a practical method of winning state office -- but he earns points for authenticity and sincerity.
O'Neill, who has been a judge since 1997, lost in a race against O'Donnell in 2004 for the unexpired portion of a term on the bench.
Wagner has been on the common pleas bench since 2000 and served as Montgomery County auditor for nine years before that. He says he believes it will take a campaign fund of about $2 million to beat O'Donnell.
Both are interesting candidates with strongly held views of the law, and both are obviously high energy people. In addition to his duties as a judge, O'Neill, who holds a nursing degree, continues to work shifts at a hospital emergency room. Wagner is active in a variety of community organizations and writes children's books.
We have supported O'Neill in some of his past races and give him The Vindicator's endorsement in the primary.
Whether the party's nominee is O'Neill or Wagner, the Democratic candidate is going to have to run not only against O'Donnell, but against what has become the status quo of judicial politics in Ohio.
O'Neill's approach may be Quixotic, but it might be just what is needed to help break the lopsided control by Republicans that does not seem to be serving the best interests of Ohioans.
We endorse Espy and O'Neill in the Democratic primary for Ohio Supreme Court justice.