Ohio Supreme Court Candidate Mike Skindell Has a Website

I've been keeping my eye out for it, and it's finally arrived:

http://mikeskindell.com/

State Senator Mike Skindell's website for his Ohio Supreme Court campaign is active.

In his email announcing it, he said,

As you probably know, I'm running for the Ohio Supreme Court this year and I want to take just a few moments to tell you why.

We need a balanced and fair Ohio Supreme Court in this state because the decisions handed down by our seven justices affect us all in our lives each and every day.

As an attorney, I fought against injustice. As a legislator in the Ohio House and now in the Ohio Senate, I have been a voice against injustice. As a member of the Ohio Supreme Court, I will stand up against injustice.

Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett has called me an "activist," and said that "Skindell's left wing ideology makes him unfit for the state’s highest court."

In Bennet's world, only Republicans are fit to be on Ohio's Supreme Court. These kinds of partisan attacks are not appropriate in a campaign for our state's highest court. We need balance and fairness from our justices.

I treat everyone equally with the understanding that the good and decent people of Ohio must at times turn to the judicial branch of government.

I'm respectfully asking for your vote because I will fight hard and bring true balance to the court for ALL Ohioans.

I cannot think of a higher recommendation than Bob Bennett thinking you are unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.

This was the man who, together with Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, helped George Bush carry Ohio in 2004 by making it insanely difficult for people with certain political leanings to vote. As then-chairman of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, he oversaw the largest block of Democratic voters in the state. On his watch, the county's election was corrupted and politicized by decisions that created chaos and long, long waits to vote. If he wants to see someone whose ideology makes him unfit to serve in a public capacity, I expect his house has some mirrors in it.

Currently, our Supreme Court includes six Republicans and one Democrat. This court over the last decade has consistently put the interests of big business — especially big business that has donated to their campaigns — over those of average citizens, no matter who was in the right. Skindell has a long record of standing with the little guy, the average working person. As a Supreme Court justice, he'd give them an equal shot.

The man Skindell is running against, Terence O"Donnell, was found by the New York Times in 2006 to have decided in favor of his campaign donors in 91% of the cases that involved such a donor. It made the front page of the paper. You can still read that article, titled "Campaign Cash Mirrors a High Court's Rulings," online, and I recommend you do. It's riveting reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/us/01judges.html?pagewanted=all

As Skindell's running mate Bill O'Neill, who is taking on Republican justice Robert Cupp, says "Money and judges don't mix." Or shouldn't anyway.

Here's Bill's website:

http://www.oneillforjustice.com/

O'Donnell recently joined with Cupp in the minority to make the hyper-partisan claim that FreedomOhio shouldn't be allowed to collect signatures to place the marriage equality issue on the ballot. Even attorney general Mike DeWine said this was legally baseless. The other four Republicans on the court agreed.

It's a long shot, but it would be nice to get rid of these two clowns and see Skindell and O'Neill join Democrat Yvette McGee Brown on the court (assuming she can retain her seat in her race against a totally under-qualified Republican candidate who was clearly slated because her name is Sharon KENNEDY).

They can certainly use your help. Please go to their websites and help them out.