Why Progressives Aren't Lining Up for Ohio Supreme Court Races

Brian Rothenberg, who blogs over at Progress Ohio, has an entry up where he laments the seeming failure of Ohio's progressive movement to recruit candidates for next year's Ohio Supreme Court races. At the present time, there are no Democrats on the Ohio Supreme Court, and, with the possible exception of Justice Paul Pfeifer, no liberals. Rothenberg rightly notes that most of the campaign funds for the Republicans members of the Ohio Supreme Court are coming from big business.

The problem is that, unlike in other election cycles, groups that would normally back challengers to sitting Republican Supreme Court Justices have other places to put their money. Democratic leaning groups such as organized labor and trial lawyers have a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Attorney General, and a Democratic Secretary of State. In addition they have a veto-proof House of Representatives. This means that for at least the next four years, the tendency of the Republican Ohio General Assembly to do whatever it wants can be put in check. A Democratic Attorney General can bring class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers. A Democratic Secretary of State can undo some of the damage done to that office by Ken Blackwell. A Democratic Governor can veto unbalanced legislation.

All of this means that political dollars have some place else to go and that it likely to be into the presidential race and into an attempt to get Democratic control over the Ohio House of Representatives. This means that Democratic leaning groups aren't rushing out to find and, more importantly, fund Ohio Supreme Court Justice candidates.

Rothenberg is right to be concerned about the failure of Ohio's progressive community to line up candidates for these positions. Given the changed political realities since 2006, however, and given that political funding for judicial races is not easy, such a failure is understandable.