Soft Money in Ohio Court Race
C O L U M B U S, Ohio, Nov. 3 -- For many in Ohio, the biggest concern this election season isn’t the national competition for the presidency or the House and the Senate.
It’s the supercharged race for an Ohio State Supreme Court seat, where an incumbent justice for the first time is battling not just her opponent, but also a corporate advertising blitz paid for with millions of dollars in unregulated, anonymous donations, also known as “soft money.”
The race is a textbook example of how current campaign finance laws allow certain groups to bypass limits on advertising spending, to avoid identifying contributors, and to skirt regulations on fair and accurate advertising — yet still have an impact on the election.
It also illustrates the growing presence of soft money in state politics, and in races for state judicial office, which some argue should be about principles and qualifications, not political interests and big money.
Supporters of the incumbent, Democratic Justice Alice Robie Resnick, by credible accounts, are being outspent at least 7-1 by Resnick’s critics.
Those critics include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and an organization not subject to state campaign finance laws called Citizens for a Strong Ohio.
Ohio rules limit Supreme Court spending to $550,000 per candidate. Citizens for a Strong Ohio has spent well over $3 million on advertising criticizing Resnick.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, separately, is running its own unregulated “issue” ads criticizing Resnick’s record. They won’t say how much they’ve spent.
A Constitutional Question
In controversial television advertising bought by pro-business Citizens for a Strong Ohio, Resnick has been accused of having an anti-business bias on the Supreme Court bench, encouraged by the donations of trial lawyers.
One 30-second advertisement widely broadcast on Ohio television depicts Resnick in black robes switching a vote after someone dumped bags of money on her desk.
Another shows a blindfolded lady justice peeking at a pile of money on her scales, before she and the scales fall over and break.
The political watchdog group Common Cause last month protested the ads to the Ohio Election Commission, charging they contained false statements and that Citizens for Strong Ohio should have registered itself as a political action committee, or PAC, making it subject to laws.
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