An Ohio University alumnus hopes to take the Ohio Supreme Court Justice seat this election season.
Judge William O'Neill, who lives in South Russell, Ohio, studied journalism at OU and graduated from the university in 1969.
O’Neill is a retired judge who served on the Eleventh District Court of Appeals from 1997 to 2007. He isa retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam. He also served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio from 1984 to 1996.
O’Neill now works as a registered nurse in the pediatric emergency department of Hillcrest Hospital, an affiliate of Cleveland Clinic.
O’Neill said he is running for the Ohio Supreme Court because he believes the way judges are elected is fundamentally broken. Heis not accepting any campaign contributions.
“Judges should not accept money from anyone,” he said. “The courts are the foundation of our government, and in order for our government to be successful, people need the belief that they are being treated equally. When money is in the court, this belief is shattered.”
Nick Tuell, president of OU’s chapter of College Democrats and a junior studying political science, said he thinks O’Neill’s campaign strategy of not accepting monetary contributions is interesting.
“Money in elections can be tricky,” Tuell said. “I applaud his efforts for taking a stance like that in his campaign, but I don’t know if it is wise.”
O’Neill’s opponent in the primary, Judge Fanon Rucker of the Hamilton County Municipal Court,said he doesn’t agree with O’Neill’s disdain for campaign contributions.
“The philosophy of running without campaign funds has been unsuccessful in the past, and I don’t know why he would expect it to be successful in this state run,” Rucker said.
Rucker added that O’Neill should not refer to himself as a judge because he is not currently working as a judge.
By doing so, Rucker said, O’Neill is in violation of the American Bar Association’s Rule 4.3, which states candidates cannot “use the title of an office not currently held by a judicial candidate in a manner that implies that the judicial candidate does currently hold that office.”
However, O’Neill said Rule 4.3 applies to someone who has never been elected judge or who ran for reelection for judge and was defeated.
“The Ohio Code is clear that I am a retired judge,” O’Neill said. “A retired judge is a judge nonetheless … he is mistaken — I know that I am abiding by the rule.”
