Judge ODonnell trying to bring balance back to Ohios Supreme Court

By: Kyle Cassidy

The Supreme Court seats in Ohio are currently being held by one democrat and six republicans. Out of
the seven seats, only five have been elected into their position and the one democrat is one of those
elected five.
The other two seats were appointed by former Republican Governors Bob Taft and John Kasich. This is
where Judge
John P. ODonnell
is trying to bring balance and new perspective to the court, but wont
be campaigning as a party-standard bearer he mentions in an interview with
Ideastream
.
Judith French
was appointed by John Kasich in December 2013 to serve a vacant spot on the Ohio
Supreme Court. French is who ODonnell is attempting to replace on Nov 4 elections. ODonnell
frequently emphasizes that he does not feel French is unqualified, but that he feels he is more
qualified.
ODonnell is longtime democrat, with a variety of solid experience behind him. This could possibly
lead to the dethroning of current seat holder French. Four
local bar associations
who run a judge
rating website called
http://www.judge4yourself.com
also agree.
According to the website, it rates candidates based on the criteria of integrity, judicial temperament,
diligence, professional competence, and community understanding. Following these strict guidelines
ODonnell scored a perfect 4 out of a possible 4, compared to French who still scored a solid 3.75. Out
of the four categories, ODonnell scored the highest possible rating of excellent in them all. French
lacked the same endorsement by the Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association in one of the
categories which led to her lower rating.
ODonnell was also openly endorsed by the
Editorial Board of the Northeast Ohio Media Group
and
The Plain Dealer
according to judge4yourself, unlike his opponent French. The Athens News also says,

O'Donnell, of Lakewood, is a highly qualified lawyer and judge who will bring some desperately
needed ideological balance to the GOP-dominated state Supreme Court, and While both candidates
received "highly recommended" ratings from the Ohio State Bar Association, we prefer O'Donnell.
There reasoning, similar to many others is the imbalance of six republicans to one democrat in the
current Ohio Supreme Court system. The Athens News goes on to say, Currently, the party divide on
the Ohio Supreme Court includes six Republicans and one Democrat, William M. O'Neill. This
overwhelming GOP advantage has held true for many years on Ohio's highest court, and we believe
that it's long past the time when the court more closely reflects the relative even party and ideological
balance in this state.
Among the endorsers for a more balanced Supreme Court, is a local Toledo, Ohio Newspaper,
The
Blade.
They say, Two of the seven seats on the Ohio Supreme Court are up for election on next
months ballot. The Blade recommends the election of Democrat John ODonnell.

ODonnell was born in Euclid and is current resident of Lakewood. He obtained his bachelors degree
from Miami of Ohio in 1987 and a law degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law at Cleveland
State University in 1993. ODonnell has been a judge on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
since 2002. He was elected to another six year term in 2012, which would end in 2019, but announced
last year that he was running for Ohio Supreme Court November 2014.
I had the opportunity to speak to some campaign staff at the C
uyahoga County Democratic
headquarters
in downtown Cleveland.The first gentleman, Kyle Earley, when asked about candidate
ODonnell stressed one particular portion of his accreditation, which was his commercial docket. At
first I was unsure what this was, but upon looking into it, I found that commercial dockets are used to
resolve business to business disputes quicker and to provide consistency to the process by judges
developing expertise in this area according to the
Ohio State Bar Association
.
ODonnell was one of eight chosen statewide to handle these dockets and according to a report the
Task Force on Commercial Dockets issued in 2012, the benefits of the program included accelerating
decisions, creating expertise among judges, and achieving consistency in court decision around the
state. This alone is an accomplishment that many Judges aspire to obtain.
The other gentleman was Kenn Johnson (picture on right of Kenn
and I at Cuyahoga County Democratic headquarters). Kenn was in
charge of organizing and implementing local phone banks for the
democratic candidates.
We corresponded via email after our meeting and I found that
phone banking according to
Joe Garecht
, who is a renowned
professional fundraiser, has five main benefits when
campaigning. Garecht says, Phone banking is a follow-up for the
campaigns direct mail; for identifying which voters are
committed to which candidate; getting out the vote; fundraising
calls; and to get out your rapid response to the opponents
attacks. Along with the five reasons above, Kenn says that
phone banking is a great way to get in touch with the community.
It is a close race for Ohio Supreme Court, and ODonnell is giving French a run for her money. He has
proved that he is qualified for the position and according to his peers, might be more qualified than
French. Aside from this, the imbalance of political parties in the current Ohio Supreme Court is
enough for many to vote ODonnell.
Some of the Republicans on the Supreme Court joining the majority opinion on too many occasions.
says ODonnell at a
Democratic dinner
May 22, 2014. He continues, We currently have a Supreme
Court (in Ohio) with one Democrat and six Republicans. Even people who are heavily partisan should
recognize that a court that is that far out of balance is not good in the overall scheme of things.