Courthouse Gossip
A Commission of Five Judges appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court publicly reprimanded a judicial candidate
The complaint alleged that Respondent twice violated Jud. Cond. R. 4.3(A) when she stated, “either knowing the information to be false or with a reckless disregard of whether or not it was false,” that the Complainant moved to Hamilton County in 2017 (Count I) to accept a judicial appointment that year from then—Governor John Kasich (Count II) in a campaign letter disseminated to 202 would-be voters who had requested Republican Primary absentee ballots…
It is not disputed that Respondent knowingly distributed the letter containing the false statement. It was written by her and her mother and mailed to 202 persons who had requested absentee ballots for the Republican Primary. The issue for the hearing panel was whether she mailed the letter with reckless disregard of whether or not the statement about her opponent was false.
Respondent argues that the Ohio Supreme Court and a number of federal courts have adopted the New York Times v. Sullivan’ standard in determining whether a judicial candidate has acted with “reckless disregard.” The hearing panel rejected this argument, as does the commission. Evidence adduced at the hearing established that the statements made by Respondent in the letter were false and that she opted to believe courthouse gossip regarding Complainant without verifying its truthfulness. The panel found that a cursory search of public records would have revealed to Respondent that the claims she intended to make about Complainant were demonstrably untrue.
Respondent also testified that she relied on her campaign consultants to verify the accuracy of the statements, but one of the consultants claimed that he only made grammatical alterations to the letter and did not contract with Respondent to provide any fact-checking services.
The commision also imposed a $1,000 fine.
The public docket can be accessed here.
Cincinatti.com reported on the court’s action. (Mike Frisch)