O'Neill can't win without funds, Espy says

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A Supreme Court candidate isn't accepting money for his campaign.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Ben Espy, a Democrat running for one of two Ohio Supreme Court seats on the Nov. 7 ballot, says Judge William O'Neill, a Democrat running for the other seat, can't win his race.

Judge O'Neill of South Russell, who serves on the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals, is refusing to accept any campaign contributions.

While Espy, a former state senator from Columbus, complains about campaign contributions playing too much of a factor in judicial races, he says accepting money to run for a Supreme Court seat is needed to have a chance of winning.

"I don't see how you win a race without any money," Espy told The Vindicator today when asked about Judge O'Neill. "The Democratic Party is focused on the governor and the [U.S.] Senate races and we're at the bottom of the ballot. The party won't help him financially. They're barely helping me."

For Judge O'Neill, refusing campaign contributions didn't hurt him in the Democratic primary.

Despite raising no money, Judge O'Neill won the primary in May with 58.54 percent of the vote against Judge A.J. Wagner, a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge and the party's endorsed candidate in the race. Judge Wagner raised almost $140,000 in the primary.

Espy, the party's endorsed candidate in his race, won the primary with 51.28 percent.

Espy also said he hasn't seen Judge O'Neill campaigning outside of northeast Ohio, although the judge says he's been in numerous counties throughout Ohio.

"He's got a good political name, a great political name for Ohio and he's got endorsements," Espy said of Judge O'Neill. "People are intrigued by him, and he's always entertaining."

Judge O'Neill said he is not accepting campaign contributions from anyone to avoid any hint of impropriety or a conflict of interest involving cases in front of him.

The New York Times reported Sunday that justices on the Ohio Supreme Court routinely sit on cases after receiving campaign contributions from the parties involved or from groups that filed supporting briefs.

On average, the justices voted in favor of contributors 70 percent of the time, according to the article. For Justice Terrence O'Donnell, the incumbent being challenged by Judge O'Neill, that percentage is 91, the highest of any justice on the court, the article states. O'Donnell told The Columbus Dispatch that the Times' examination was flawed.

Justice O'Donnell, who's raised more than $3 million since he first ran for a Supreme Court seat in 2000, beat Judge O'Neill in 2004 with 60.5 percent of the vote.

Justices should recuse themselves from cases that involve campaign donors, Judge O'Neill and Espy said.

"Everyone thinks they can be fair on any case, but that's not the public's perception," he said. "We want to have the public's confidence in the courts and this reduces that confidence."

Espy and Judge O'Neill say there needs to be public funding of judicial races to keep politics out of the courts. They also want consistency in party affiliations for judges. Judges run in partisan political party primaries, but there isn't a party affiliation next to their names on general election ballots.

Justice O'Donnell of Rocky River has raised more than $600,000 for his rematch with Judge O'Neill.

Judge Robert Cupp of Lima, a 3rd District Court of Appeals judge who ran unopposed in the Republican primary for a Supreme Court seat, has raised close to $600,000 for his campaign. Espy has raised less than $300,000 for that race.

skolnick@vindy.com

Monday, October 2, 2006