It was a fun time yesterday at the annual picnic sponsored by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
One special guest that spoke to the group was Mike Skindell, candidate seeking election to the Ohio Supreme Court. Mr. Skindell is currently serving in the Ohio Senate, representing District 23 which includes Cleveland.
In his speech, Mr. Skindell said the Ohio Supreme Court lacks balance, that no Democrat has been elected to the court since 2000 when Alice Robie Resnick was elected. He said the voice of big business and corporations is well represented on the court, but there is no balance in hearing the voice of average people. (See transcript below.)
Skindell says that the Chairmen of the Republican Party has railed against him, calling him, among other epithets, an “extremist,” because of his votes against SB-5, against the Kasich budget, and because he brought a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Gov. John Kasich’s creation of a private, economic development entity, JobsOhio.
I asked Mr. Skindell his prediction about the next Kasich budget which will be presented to the Assembly next January and Skindell said it will be more of the same — cuts to K-12 education, cuts to higher education, cuts to local governments. Skindell said it that Governor Kasich has a goal to “strangle” local communities.
Mike Skindell’s Speech At MCDP Picnic
It’s great being here. My name is Mike Skindell. It’s great being here in Montgomery County. I am your Democratic candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court.
At the end of June when the Ohio Democratic Party nominated me to run for the Supreme Court, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party had something to say about it. Understand that the state chairman generally does not weigh in on the Supreme Court races, but the Republican chairman, Bob Bennett said about me, “Trial attorney, Mike Skindell, with his left wing ideology is unfit to serve on Ohio’s highest court.”
Bob Bennett, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, has been getting his way for over a dozen years because there is not an elected Democrat on the Ohio Supreme Court. And with your help, we can change that.
Bennett took it a little bit further. When I was given a recommended rating from the Ohio Bar Association, which is not a liberal organization whatsoever. When the Ohio Bar Association gave me a recommended rating, Bennett said, “Extremist Mike Skindell is nothing more than a partisan legislator in Columbus,” and he said the Bar Association was biased in giving me that recommended rating.
Why does Bob Bennett think I am an extremist?
Bennet thinks I am an extremist because I voted against Senate Bill 5, and I worked to see it was repealed by Issue Two. Bennett thinks I am extremist because I voted against the Kasich budget, because it defunded primary and secondary education. It defunded higher education. It took money away from social services like our programs that help our disabled. It was a budget that broke our county and local governments. I voted against that budget and that’s why Bennet thinks I am an extremist.
Bennett thinks I am an extremist because I voted against John Kasich’s House Bill 1 — because it creates a corporation to privatize our department of development. And this corporation is unconstitutional and I brought a lawsuit against John Kasich and Jobs Ohio because it is an unconstitutional government run corporation and that’s why Bennett thinks I am an extremist.
Bennet thinks I am an extremist because I’ve supported labor, supported collective bargaining. I supported prevailing wage, because collective bargaining and our prevuing wage laws in this state has not only lifted up union members, it has lifted up all Ohioans.
Bob Bennett likes a Supreme Court made up of Republicans. Not only does he like that, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Manufacturing Association likes a Supreme Court made up of all Republicans. when the justices sit at that conference table and decide what cases will be heard by the Supreme Court and when they make their decisions about those cases, your voice is not being heard. But the Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturing Association is being heard. Why? Because we, as Democrats, have not elected a member to the Supreme Court, since 2000 with Alice Robie Resnick.
We need to get more people to vote by mail, because we know that in Supreme Court races, when people vote for a president, there is a 35% drop off of those who vote for a Supreme Court justice. 35% drop off, because Supreme Court candidates do not have a D or an R next to our names. I need your help. Yvette McGee Brown needs your help — to tell voters who the Democrats are.
It’s been a pleasure to be with you this evening. Thank you for your support and help.
