Will the GOP give a Supreme Court seat to the DEMs in 2010?
When U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce announced that she wouldn’t be seeking another term, one name mentioned as a possible successor was former Ohio Attorney General & Auditor of State Jim Petro.
Petro has stated that he may be interested, but that he is also considering keeping his powder dry in ’08 to seek election as Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2010.
A Plain Dealer article then discussed other possibilities for Chief Justice. Including Two Sitting Associate Justices up for re-election in 2008; Evelyn Stratton & Maureen O’Connor. (As well as fellow Associate Justice Paul Pfeifer).
The problem with the ’08 candidates is that if elected Chief Justice they would have to resign from their current seats—opening up an appointment to the all-Republican Court by Liberal Governor Ted Strickland.
While Pfeifer could simply shift to the Chief Justice seat, allowing another Republican to seek the seat he would vacate, O’Connor & Stratton would create a no-win situation for the Republican Party, simply for the prestige of being “the boss”.
Personally, I have issues with Pfeifer’s interpretation of law; I have even greater issues with talk of O’Connor & Stratton handing over their current seats to the DEMs to fill.
I believe that the Ohio Republican party should DEMAND that Justices Stratton and O’Connor commit to stay out of the Chief Justice race in 2010, OR step aside from their re-election bids in 2008—allowing another Republican to be nominated in the primary and elected in November 2008.
Otherwise the GOP could be in a no-win situation in 2010, where the DEMs would win the Chief Justice seat, or the Democrat nominee could count on being appointed by Governor Strickland to the seat that their GOP opponent vacates.
We should not be placed in that situation.
Key paragraphs from the Plain Dealer article are…
Two justices, Maureen O'Connor and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, are up for re-election in 2008 and both have been mentioned as chief candidates in 2010.
"I have heard it and I haven't ruled it out," O'Connor said, adding that, for now, she's focusing on retaining her seat.
Stratton said she had planned to run for chief until a recent family illness caused her to rethink whether she would want to mount another campaign so soon after 2008.
That's because if a sitting member of the bench were elected chief, Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, would get to make the appointment to fill the vacancy.
Read the entire article here
Petro has stated that he may be interested, but that he is also considering keeping his powder dry in ’08 to seek election as Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2010.
A Plain Dealer article then discussed other possibilities for Chief Justice. Including Two Sitting Associate Justices up for re-election in 2008; Evelyn Stratton & Maureen O’Connor. (As well as fellow Associate Justice Paul Pfeifer).
The problem with the ’08 candidates is that if elected Chief Justice they would have to resign from their current seats—opening up an appointment to the all-Republican Court by Liberal Governor Ted Strickland.
While Pfeifer could simply shift to the Chief Justice seat, allowing another Republican to seek the seat he would vacate, O’Connor & Stratton would create a no-win situation for the Republican Party, simply for the prestige of being “the boss”.
Personally, I have issues with Pfeifer’s interpretation of law; I have even greater issues with talk of O’Connor & Stratton handing over their current seats to the DEMs to fill.
I believe that the Ohio Republican party should DEMAND that Justices Stratton and O’Connor commit to stay out of the Chief Justice race in 2010, OR step aside from their re-election bids in 2008—allowing another Republican to be nominated in the primary and elected in November 2008.
Otherwise the GOP could be in a no-win situation in 2010, where the DEMs would win the Chief Justice seat, or the Democrat nominee could count on being appointed by Governor Strickland to the seat that their GOP opponent vacates.
We should not be placed in that situation.
Key paragraphs from the Plain Dealer article are…
Two justices, Maureen O'Connor and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, are up for re-election in 2008 and both have been mentioned as chief candidates in 2010.
"I have heard it and I haven't ruled it out," O'Connor said, adding that, for now, she's focusing on retaining her seat.
Stratton said she had planned to run for chief until a recent family illness caused her to rethink whether she would want to mount another campaign so soon after 2008.
That's because if a sitting member of the bench were elected chief, Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, would get to make the appointment to fill the vacancy.
Read the entire article here
posted by RonL at 3:59 PM
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