For several years, the Cincinnati Bar Association has circulated an anonymous and non-partisan survey of judicial candidates to its members for their evaluation of their colleagues. The questions measure a candidate’s acuity in a variety of areas, including administrative diligence, community engagement, communication skills, integrity/impartiality/objectivity, legal experience, and professionalism/temperament, from the attorneys who regularly see them in action.
The CBA partners with the League of Women Voters to share the poll results with the Greater Cincinnati community, and to host a series of public forums with the judicial candidates. In 2020, the forums were moved to Zoom. This year’s forums will be announced at a later date — please visit cincybar.org/judicialsurvey for more details.
In June of 2021, Ohio Senate Bill 80 was passed, requiring the party affiliation of Ohio Court of Appeals districts and Ohio Supreme Court judicial candidates to appear on ballots.
We posed the following questions to Alex Triantafilou, chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party; Gwen McFarlin, chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party; Elizabeth Brown, chair of the League of Women Voters — Cincinnati; and John J. Williams, chair of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s committee on the judiciary.
AT: I support it. As a former judicial candidate, the one question regularly asked by voters during campaign season is about party affiliation. It educates the public and provides more transparency.
EB: The League of Women Voters has a strong position supporting the nonpartisan election of judges and, therefore, opposed SB 80. Its passage reflects the increasing partisan divide in our society that too often overcomes good government.
GM: I question why this discussion is occurring at this time, why is there a movement to change the rules? Senate Bill 80 from my perspective is trying to create different rules for appellate and trial court judges. It is not clear to me what the purpose or benefit of such a bifurcated system would be. This will erode the public trust in judges by creating a judicial system driven by politics instead of an open, fair, and transparent judicial system.
JW: Party affiliation has no place in a system that is supposed to be non-partisan.
AT: As the Republican leader, I recognize that, at least in my county, this poses a greater challenge to some candidates endorsed by my own political party. Nevertheless, we are committed to educating the public about why our philosophy is the better choice for voters as they make this decision at the polls.
EB: The League of Women Voters is pleased to have joined with the Cincinnati Bar Association in holding judicial candidate forums for several years. Through the League’s Voter Guide and the forums we work to help voters make informed choices in local judicial races based on the qualifications of candidates and not their political party. We will continue our advocacy to ensure the Common Pleas and Municipal Court judicial elections remain nonpartisan and to educate voters on judicial candidate qualifications.
GM: Because the law treats races for the Court of Common Pleas differently than races for the Court of Appeals, there is a substantial risk that voters will be confused by the presence of party affiliation in some races and the absence in others. Ultimately, more confusion will mean fewer voters participating in the election of judges, which is a bad outcome.
JW: Local races may eventually go the same route. If that were to occur, it would make it much harder for non-endorsed candidates to win an election.
AT: A competent, experienced, and independent judiciary is important everywhere. Our Founding Fathers saw the wisdom in an independent judiciary to check the power of the politicians and that wisdom endures. Electing judges who understand the limited role the courts should play in resolving disputes empowers citizens by leaving law-making up to the legislative branches of government. For many citizens, their only interaction with the judiciary is likely to be in traffic court or on a smaller matter that intermittently affects their lives. We must have a strong local judiciary to build confidence in our legal system and the role it plays in a free republic.
EB: The League of Women Voters has participated in a local Court Watch project for the last few years with other civic organizations. Our members have seen first-hand the impact individual judges can have on citizens and our communities. The impact on the people appearing before them is multiplied by the impact on family, friends and employers. Questions of judicial character and fairness could tear apart our communities, just as confidence in the police has been shaken during the last year. Local judicial races are important because trust in the judicial system is essential for our democracy.
GM: Locally, we have seen voters choose those judges who reflect the diversity of our community and who are qualified. In recent elections, voters in Hamilton County have chosen qualified candidates who will take on the pressing problems facing our legal system today, not yesterday. The judges we elect at the local trial court level have the biggest impact on the administration of justice in Hamilton County.
JW: Local races are important because the average citizen only has contact with the local system; therefore, it is the only process that same everyday citizen will ever experience. So it is extremely important for local elections to be nonpartisan, because issues that affect everyone, that need judicial intervention, are not partisan in nature.
AT: Attorneys who appear in court are in the best position to educate the public. This poll is very important to building the kind of strong judiciary we need to ensure justice for every citizen. Lawyers are in the unique, and best, position to evaluate the judges.
EB: CBA’s annual judicial poll is key to informing voters on candidate qualifications. It is Bar members who work with the candidates who know their character and their competence. Sharing that information with the voting public improves the quality of the judiciary.
GM: The CBA annual poll is important and valuable to our county because of the CBA’s credibility when it comes to analyzing the honesty, integrity, skill level and temperament of the potential candidates, and helping voters decide whether a candidate is qualified to sit in that judicial seat. We in the Hamilton County Democratic Party strive to do the same as we interview potential candidates. We then rank those candidates very carefully based on their professionalism, integrity, and skill before making our endorsements.
JW: The CBA poll is important because our members can best attest to the competency, demeanor, intellect and bias of those seeking office.
The Cincinnati Bar Association’s judicial poll will be circulated in September. For more information, visit cincybar.org/judicialsurvey.