Statewide races get little attention

By David Skolnick

Two Ohio Supreme Court justices are seeking re-election.

The Ohio attorney general’s office took a major blow to its credibility during a scandal earlier this year that resulted in the forced resignation of Marc Dann, said the three candidates running to fill the remaining two years-plus of Dann’s unexpired term.

Each of the three — Democrat Richard Cordray, Republican Mike Crites and Robert Owens, an independent — says he is the candidate to restore that credibility.

Also on the ballot are two Ohio Supreme Court justice races pitting two incumbents — Evelyn Stratton and Maureen O’Connor — against two Cuyahoga County judges, Peter Sikora and Joseph Russo.

The winner of the attorney general’s race will replace Dann, a Democrat from Liberty, who’s admitted he was ill-prepared for the job and having an affair with his scheduler.

A sexual-harassment investigation of a longtime friend of Dann’s led to the firing or forced resignation of three of his top advisers, all of whom were close friends. An internal office report criticized Dann for running an unprofessional office.

The three attorney general candidates praised Nancy Hardin Rogers, selected by Gov. Ted Strickland as interim AG until the Nov. 4 special election results are certified.

“The office doesn’t need wholesale changes,” Cordray said. “No one needs to come in and redecorate the attorney general’s office. All they need is the framework to do their job well.”

Cordray, the state’s treasurer, says he has the experience to lead the attorney general’s office. Besides being treasurer, Cordray is a former Franklin County treasurer, a state legislator and was Ohio’s first solicitor general when he worked at the AG’s office.

Crites calls Cordray a career politician who is using the attorney general’s race as another “stepping stone” on his path to higher office. Crites, a former U.S. attorney who is the managing partner in a Columbus-area law firm, said the only elected position that interests him is attorney general.

Cordray said “ambition” isn’t a bad trait and he is committed to running for re-election in 2010 if he wins the attorney general’s race next month.

A Republican, Crites criticized even his party for past political misdeeds.

“There is no political party that has a monopoly on public corruption,” he said.

If elected, Crites plans to create a public corruption commission to ensure that the scandal that occurred under Dann won’t happen again.

Owens agrees with Crites that political scandals have hit both Democrats and Republicans, and that’s why voters should look to an independent to lead the attorney general’s office.

“Transparency is something that’s sorely lacking in this office,” he said. “We don’t have connections so we don’t have political favors we have to pay back.”

Owens acknowledges he has an uphill battle to get elected attorney general.

“But the further voters go down the ticket, the more likely they’re willing to vote for an independent candidate,” he said. “People are sick and tired of the nonsense in this office and the two-party system.”

With the presidential race at the top of the ticket, the attorney general candidates acknowledge that there isn’t much attention on that race.

There’s even less attention being given to the two Supreme Court justice races, the candidates for those seats say.

“It’s not the sexiest race on the ballot,” said Judge Sikora of Cuyahoga County Juvenile Division, who’s unsuccessfully run for Supreme Court justice in 1996 and 2006.

He’s challenging Justice Stratton, who was first elected to the Supreme Court in 1996.

Though there is a party designation during Supreme Court primaries, the justices don’t have it during the general election.

Judge Sikora, a Democrat, wants to restore some balance to the seven-member court. All of its members are Republicans.

“It makes a difference as to who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican,” he said. “It’s a difference of philosophy. It dictates how we look at things.”

Justice Stratton said she and Judge Sikora agree on many issues.

“We only disagree on an all-Republican bench and tort reform,” she said. “... I don’t blame him for saying there should be a Democrat on the bench. But when I put that robe on, I’m nonpartisan.”

Regarding tort reform, Judge Sikora says there should be no restriction on the amount of damage a person can collect for damages in a lawsuit. Justice Stratton supports the court’s decision to set limits.

The other race between Justice O’Connor, who ran in the primary as a Republican, and Judge Russo of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court who ran as a Democrat, isn’t as cordial.

Judge Russo agrees with Judge Sikora that it’s important to have political balance on the court.

Though hesitant to criticize Justice O’Connor, Judge Russo points out that he received better ratings than the incumbent from the four major bar associations in Cuyahoga County.

He also points to an article in The New York Times that said the current justices side with their campaign contributors in 70 percent of their cases.

Justice O’Connor strongly criticized the article, saying it was “skewed” because it failed to include cases the court refused to hear, and only included cases involving campaign donations from political action committees and not individuals.

If those cases were included, Justice O’Connor said the percentage would be less. But when asked about that percentage, she couldn’t say what it would be.

The two said they are more qualified than the other to serve as a justice.

Judges Russo and Sikora have raised significantly less money than the incumbents in this race.

skolnick@vindy.com