William M. O’Neill, a former appellate judge and a Democrat, held a 4-point lead over incumbent Justice Robert R. Cupp, a Republican who has served on the high court since 2007. Cupp conceded the race last night….
A major theme of O’Neill’s campaign was that “money and judges don’t mix.” He proposes charging a $10 fee on every lawsuit filed in Ohio, which would raise money for judicial candidates and prevent them from taking contributions from donors who he says could influence the judges.
Under O’Neill’s plan, Supreme Court candidates would receive $1 million each, with lesser amounts provided to lower-court candidates.
Last weekend, an Ohio State Bar Association committee asked O’Neill to remove materials from his website that implied justices could be bought by campaign contributions. He refused.