Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill announced back in October that he would join the Democratic primary for governor, but refused to step down from his judicial seat, instead saying that he would resign at some point before early February.
The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct states that a judge will step down upon becoming a candidate. O’Neill, however, decided that he would remain in his powerful position a full 13 weeks after announcing his candidacy.
O’Neill’s already gotten himself in trouble with creepy sexually explicit posts on social media, but ignored those calling for him to drop out as a candidate.
Cleveland.com reports:
Ex-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill, a Chagrin Falls Democrat, is running for governor. That’s fine. That’s his right.
What isn’t right is how O’Neill exploited loopholes in Ohio’s Code of Judicial Conduct and in high-court oversight procedures to stay in his powerful judicial job for 13 weeks after announcing he intended to run for governor.
That didn’t just enable O’Neill to continue to rule on pending cases — cases that could amass possible campaign contributions or votes for him if he ruled right. It also, thanks to the state Supreme Court’s random-draw procedures for determining who writes opinions, included at least one case in which O’Neill wrote the majority opinion – upholding FirstEnergy Corp.’s right to squirrel away $43 million in refunds rather than repay them to overcharged customers. That opinion was released Jan. 24, two days before O’Neill’s resignation took effect […]
That is, O’Neill helped decide as many as 99 cases as a lame-duck justice and candidate for governor. Yet the state Code of Judicial Conduct says, “Upon becoming a candidate in a primary or general election for a nonjudicial elective office, a judge shall resign from judicial office.” O’Neill, however, did not resign.
In a Nov. 2 letter to the Supreme Court clerk, O’Neill wrote, “On Oct. 29, 2017, [I] announced [my] intention to become a partisan candidate for the Office of Governor of Ohio.” Yet the letter added that he would continue to vote on pending cases while recusing himself from new cases.
O’Neill didn’t worm his way through the loophole without notice. Many Ohioans insisted he resign as judge immediately.
Bill O’Neill must resign as an Ohio Supreme Court justice now that he’s running for governor: Dave Yost (Opinion) https://t.co/fSArsbKYkF
— Dave Yost (@Yost4Ohio) November 11, 2017
On January 25, O’Neil finally announced that he had zero cases to decide, and he was officially resigned by the next day.
We have lift off. On October 30 I had 99 cases to decide. Today I have zero. Thanks to a wonderful staff and colleagues. William Michael O’Neill, Justice, Supreme Court of Ohio, RETIRED.
— Bill O’Neill (@BillForOhio) January 25, 2018
O’Neill made headlines by taking to Facebook to defend Senator Al Franken as women came forward to report…