► Columbus Dispatch – 10/01/02 – Appellate judge will look into spending by justices Print

Columbus Dispatch – Oct. 1, 2002 – Appellate judge will look into spending by justices

By Jon Craig
Judicial watchdog David Palmer of Columbus won a favorable order against the Ohio Supreme Court last week.
 
Magistrate Stephanie Bisca Brooks of the Franklin County Court of Appeals said she wants to review any records that show how much the justices claim as personal use of their state vehicles.
 
Brooks wrote that there was no evidence that Palmer made any false assertions, denying the Supreme Court’s motion that he be found guilty of contempt.
 
She struck portions of Palmer’s complaint that were ‘redundant, immaterial, impertinent, and scandalous.”
 
Brooks said she might personally review the Supreme Court’s materials before deciding whether they are public records.
 
Palmer was criticized by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer in June for alleging that Moyer and several other justices overcharged for gasoline. Those charges were tossed out by a Franklin County municipal judge in July.