Last week, we made a passing reference to the website Judge 4 Yourself, which combines the ratings of six state and county bar associations for candidates running for contested judicial seats in Cuyahoga County, as well as races for state supreme court justices. (It doesn’t rate candidates who have no challenger.)
We pointed out the high quality and strong ratings for the Democratic candidates for the Supreme Court — Jennifer Brunner running for chief justice against Sharon Kennedy, and Marilyn Zayas taking on incumbent Pat DeWine and Terri Jamison challenging incumbent Pat Fischer. (The chief justice seat is open due to the retirement of Maureen O’Connor; both Brunner and Kennedy are currently on the court.) It’s critical to defeat Kennedy, DeWine and Fisher due to their contempt for the voters and the state constitution in upholding radically gerrymandered congressional and legislative districts; nothing else really matters.
But what about the county judges? These races aren’t glamorous or high profile, despite the immediate impact they have on people’s lives, and sadly, they’re often ignored by voters who are overwhelmed by the sea of unfamiliar names. Here’s where Judge 4 Yourself can really help.
Due to the increasing radicalism of the Republican Party and the Ohio Republican Party’s role in helping to break elections and eliminate democracy in our state, it’s tempting to grab a Democratic sample ballot and vote the party line. At a time when a majority of Republican voters apparently (according to polls) believe without evidence the 2020 presidential election was stolen, it almost makes sense. And in most cases, according to Judge 4 Yourself, this will yield a pretty good judge, even if the Republican candidate is rated a bit higher.
There are a few exceptions, however. Two candidates running for the Court of Common Pleas — General Division as Democrats (advantage 1) with Irish names (advantage 2) don’t deserve the jobs against higher-quality incumbent judges who have disadvantage of running as Republicans (although there are no party affiliations on the local judicial races — the legislature added them to the supreme court races thinking this would give Republicans a boast).
Judge Joan Synenberg, a longtime incumbent, has won the respect of virtually everyone including the raters from the bar associations. She’s ranked “excellent” by five and “good” by one. She’s running against west side Cleveland councilman Brian Mooney whose ratings across the board feature the two big red flags: “Not Recommended” and “Refused to Participate.” This one isn’t close; it would be shameful to oust Synenberg for Mooney.
Wanda Jones was appointed to her current position by Governor DeWine after losing an election in 2020 to retain her previous appointed judgeship. She too runs as a Republican, but she’s no election-denying Trumpster.
And she’s running against Kevin Kelley — yes, the same Kevin Kelley who stepped down from the presidency of Cleveland city council to run for mayor against Justin Bibb. (He was shellacked by 25 points.) Kelley, who famously stonewalled and derailed citizens who asked that city council allocate the same amount for the needs of the community as he was handing Cavs billionaire owner Dan Gilbert, snagged “not recommended” ratings from the Norman S. Minor Bar association (the Black bar association) and the Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association, earning a tepid “satisfactory” from three others and a “good” from the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. Jones is rated “good” by most of the groups, “satisfactory” by one, and “excellent” by another. This race also isn’t a close call; Jones deserves to retain her job even with the dreaded “R” tucked into her resume.