When you vote, don’t forget the judges.
We’ve reminded you several times of the importance of electing Democrats Melody Stewart, Michael Donnelly and Lisa Forbes to the Ohio Supreme Court. Sadly, the current Republican majority on the supreme court is prone to making up its own reality and facts to arrive at the conclusion it wants. Most of us have heard that it recently found against a man injured when there was a bone in his boneless chicken, concluding it was reasonable to EXPECT bones in boneless chicken. So it would not be surprising if they concluded that last year’s constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom didn’t really mean that, or that this year’s Issue 1, which undoes gerrymandering, actually doesn’t do that because voters voted for the lies secretary of state Frank LaRose put on the ballot.
In addition to the Supreme Court justices, Cuyahoga County voters will find a long list of county Common Pleas judges. Most are unopposed as usual — the Cuyahoga County GOP can never field enough candidates for every race.
In the case of the contested races, we’ve told you in the past that a good place to start assessing them is at the Judge4Yourself website, a project of several county bar associations. Unfortunately this year that’s difficult. All the county Democrats in contested races refused to participate, citing what they feel are biases in the process. That automatically earned them a “not recommended” rating — yet some are fine judges. In three of the six contested races, neither candidate participated. This leaves voters at sea.
We’re reluctant to advise voters to just vote the sample ballot the parties put out that many voters take into the booth with them. Two years ago, this resulted in one of the county common pleas court’s finest judges, Joan Synenberg, losing to an unqualified candidate solely because she runs against the Democratic party’s endorsed candidate. (She was then appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to a vacant seat on the court which she’s running to retain.) Some have said she runs under the Republican Party’s banner because she’s not affiliated with Democrats and the county GOP is always desperate for candidates. But on the bench, Synenberg has never engaged in partisan politics which, frankly, shouldn’t factor into cases at this level, where the law and the facts of the case should be the only considerations in dealing with the types of offenders who come before the court.
Synenberg has been a proponent of what’s called “restorative justice” — searching for the best way to make the victim, offender and community whole. Restorative justice looks at the impact of the crime and, while holding the perpetrator responsible, tries to mitigate that impact. Tough “law and order” types love to advocate for “throwing the book” at offenders; it apparently makes them feel macho. But most offenders get out of prison at some point and an angry, unreformed ex-felon is no gift to the community.
Synenberg is running against Daryl Dennie who, like all the other Democrats running for county seats, didn’t participate in the Judge4Yourself ratings. So it’s hard to assess his qualifications. Synenberg was rated excellent by all but one of the bar associations who participated. (One rated her “satisfactory.”)
In the case of the Supreme Court justices, all three Democrats participated and were mostly rated “excellent,” while all three Republicans did not participate. All the Republicans are weaker than their opponents but we’d especially advise you to avoid Joseph Deters, running against Melody Stewart. With no previous judicial experience, he was appointed to the seat by Governor Mike DeWine in a clear case of cronyism. He shouldn’t remain on the court.