Chief Justice O’Connor acts to reform Youngstown court

It’s fortunate there’s a high- ranking politician in the state of Ohio who does not see everything through a political prism. Otherwise, wasteful spending in the Youngstown Municipal Court would continue unabated.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, has struck a blow for responsible government by publicly asking Republican Gov. John Kasich not to appoint a successor to retiring Youngstown Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. The chief justice has statutory authority over all the state courts. The governor has statutory authority over judicial appointments.

As for the politics, judicial candidates in Ohio run in Republican and Democratic primaries, but once nominated they drop their party identifications in the general election.

By stepping forward and urging a delay in filling the vacancy on the municipal bench that will occur Aug. 1, O’Connor has opened the door to legislation that would reduce the number of Youngstown judges from three to two.

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, plans to introduce a bill this week that would eliminate the seat being vacated by Judge Douglas.

It’s a move this newspaper has long advocated as a first step toward reforming the court system below the common pleas level in Mahoning County.

Indeed, our argument that the current system is archaic and unjustifiably expensive is bolstered by the fact that the number of cases being handled by the seven minor courts has been declining for the past decade. In addition to the three full-time judges in Youngstown, there are two part-time municipal judges in Campbell and Struthers, four part-time county court judges and several mayors courts.

In Youngstown, 12-year data compiled by the Ohio Supreme Court shows a decline in filings of misdemeanor and felony cases. Municipal courts in Ohio hear misdemeanor cases and hold preliminary hearings for felonies, which ultimately end up in the common pleas court.

Opposition

The special interests — those with jobs in the courts and politicians looking to bolster their pensions — have been vehemently opposed to any change. They have fought what we have been advocating for more than three decades, namely, the creation of a metropolitan court system to replace all the courts below the common pleas level.

But now, with Chief Justice O’Connor not only weighing in on the Youngstown vacancy, but saying that the “time is ripe” for Mahoning County officials to move forward on the restructuring of the system, the Republican controlled General Assembly should move quickly in passing Hagan’s bill. We have no doubt that the governor, who is a strong advocate of smaller government, will sign the measure into law.

The chief justice’s comments vindicate county Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, who adopted this newspaper’s call for court consolidation when he took over the party. It is noteworthy that his legal mentor, the late Don L. Hanni Jr., a long-time Democratic Party chairman, was a strong proponent of the metropolitan court system.

Betras, along with Reps. Hagan and Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, wrote letters to the governor urging him not to fill the Douglas vacancy.

It would be politically significant if the Republicans in control of state government accomplish what Democrats in their political heyday failed to do: Bring the judicial system in Mahoning County into the 21st century.