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OHIO DEMOCRATIC PARTY FILES COMPLAINT OVER “MISLEADING” DARK-MONEY AD ATTACKING OHIO SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE

For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020

CONTACT: Kirstin Alvanitakis, kirstin@ohiodems.org, 919.923.4055

The complaint also calls on Justices Sharon Kennedy and Judi French to adhere to their “clean campaign pledge,” disavow the advertisement and publicly call on the RSLC to discontinue airing it.

“If Justices Sharon Kennedy and Judi French are going to make ‘clean campaign pledges,’ then they are obliged to adhere to them,” said Ohio Democratic Party Executive Director Greg Beswick. “This is straightforward -- the ad makes false statements, has been judged to be ‘misleading’ by an independent fact checker and impugns a sitting appellate judge and candidate, along with two current members of the Ohio Supreme Court. The Ohio State Bar Association must take action, and Kennedy and French must publicly disavow this ad and demand it be taken down.”

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Campaign Ad Watch: GOP group's attack on Brunner misleading in race for Ohio Supreme Court

Randy Ludlow - The Columbus Dispatch

Published 1:23 p.m. ET Oct. 27, 2020 | Updated 2:56 p.m. Oct. 27, 2020

The ad: A 30-second commercial from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a tax-exempt nonprofit that spends millions of dollars nationally to support Republicans running for state judicial and down-ticket offices, that attacks Ohio Supreme Court candidate Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.

Analysis: The implication that Brunner, who is running against French, freed a child predator is misleading. The ad concerns her ruling in a 2-1 10th District Court of Appeals decision involving Lawrence Dibble, a former teacher at Wellington School in Upper Arlington. He pleaded no contest in 2013 to 17 felony counts of voyeurism and was sentenced to four years in prison. 

Brunner and Judge Gary Tyack, a Democrat running against incumbent Republican Ron O'Brien for Franklin County prosecutor, ruled in 2017 that police conducted an "unreasonable search" of Dibble's home for incriminating videos of girls undressing.(O'Brien also is using the case to attack Tyack in a TV commercial.)

The appellate decision was not about the prison sentence of Dibble, who was freed three years into his sentence by a trial court judge and placed on house arrest while his case was on appeal.

KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES: JENNIFER BRUNNER

Jennifer Brunner

FROM THE CIRCLEVILLE HERALD, October 15, 2020: Brunner, 63, has a bachelors degree in sociology-gerontology from Miami University where she graduated cum laude and a law degree from Capital University with honors. 

Describe what is motivating you to seek office: Ohio voters have adopted a new process for drawing Congressional and state legislative districts, which happens every ten years, the year after each census. I decided to run for the Ohio Supreme Court because I want to serve my state in fairly applying constitutional requirements in any challenge of the fairness of these new maps. I want to help end gerrymandering in Ohio.

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If elected what are your goals for your term? My goals are to assist with the development of a statewide database of criminal justice sentencing, convictions, prosecutions, bonds, indictments, arrests and more that could reveal disparity in sentencing across the state for criminal defendants whose crimes and criminal records are similar. Disparity would be categorized according to demographic factors such as race, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, income, education, zip code and more. This would allow the Ohio Supreme Court to define the problem for courts in Ohio and begin to tackle solutions to ending systemic racism in the state’s criminal justice system. Overall, I want to apply my judicial philosophy based in my philosophy of public service, that all persons are entitled to fairness, equality and respect.

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Do you have any additional comments or message to relay to the public? In 2008, for my work as Secretary of State to protect and improve Ohioans’ voting rights, I received from the bipartisan board of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, the Profile in Courage Award for protecting the voting rights of Ohioans. My commitment to the people of this state remains as strong as ever.

Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum Airs Statewide

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The Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum was presented by The Ohio Debate Commission, a coalition of news organizations, universities and civic groups that encourage respectful civic dialogue.  ODC's Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum program was recorded live-to-tape Friday, October 9, 2020.  The moderators are Curtis Jackson, anchor at Spectrum News, and Karen Kasler, Ohio Public Radio and TV Statehouse News Bureau Chief.  The forum was virtual, with candidates joining via the web.  Four candidates are in races for two seats on the Supreme Court of Ohio.  Incumbent Justice of The Supreme Court of Ohio Sharon Kennedy is challenged by Judge John P. O’Donnell of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. And incumbent Justice Judi French of The Supreme Court of Ohio faces challenger Judge Jennifer Brunner of the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals.