| ► Associated Press – 04/25/00 - Chief Justice says favorable comments not necessarily endorsement |
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Associated Press – 04/25/00 - Chief Justice says favorable comments not necessarily endorsement Andrew Welsh Huggins, AP Reporter
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A complaint filed Monday by a critic of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thom Moyer accuses him of improperly speaking up for a fellow-justice's election opponent.
David Palmer of Maumee filed the complaint with the court's Disciplinary Counsel. Palmer said he represents a group called the Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Attorneys and Judges.
Ohio's code for judicial conduct says judges or judicial candidates should not "make speeches on behalf of a political organization or another candidate at a political meeting or publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for another public office."
"If you can't act in accordance with the rules, why that the rules?" Palmer said. "Let voters determine who the best candidate is."
Moyer told the newspaper (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Friday that he didn't know he was speaking at a public meeting. He denied endorsing O'Donnell. Instead, Moyer said, he was "talking favorably about him."
Moyer said he wouldn't have made his comments if he had known reporters were present.
Palmer, 55, acknowledged filing complaints against Moyer in the past. His Web site contains statements critical of Moyer.
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