Most Ohio Supreme Court candidates sign clean campaign pledge
February 6, 2012
Ohio: Last week, six of the seven judicial candidates running for the Ohio Supreme Court in this year's election signed the Ohio State Bar Association's (OSBA) clean campaign agreement. The OSBA created the Judicial Election Campaign Advertising Monitoring Committee in 2002, during a time when the state's judicial elections were the subject of much criticism. The committee is responsible for administrating the pledge, which asks candidates to:
- take personal responsibility for content of campaign advertisements;
- publicly disavow ads from other sources that undermine the judicial system or candidate for the high court;
- publicly reject ads that lead the public to believe that another judicial candidate will rule in a predetermined manner on an issue facing the court.[1]
This last factor could be the most important this year, as advertisements from interest groups and Super PACs contribute largely to establishing the public perception of a candidate.
One candidate, William O'Neill, chose not to sign the pledge, alleging that it does not go far enough. He said, "I believe all judicial candidates should not only refrain from personal attacks; but I believe they owe it to the judiciary to refrain from accepting any campaign contributions from lawyers and parties who will appear before the Court. I would encourage all judicial candidates to sign a pledge assuring the public that they will automatically recuse themselves from any matter brought by an attorney or party who made a contribution to their campaign."[1]
In signing the agreement, all other candidates made statements championing the ideas of judicial impartiality and integrity.
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