Last week, Governor Ted Strickland appointed Franklin County Probate
Judge Eric Brown Chief Justice of Ohio to replace the late Thomas Moyer. Brown had already been selected by Strickland and other Democratic Party leaders as the Democratic candidate for Chief Justice in the 2010 election. The selection sets up a race between two sitting members of the Supreme Court, Brown and current Justice Maureen O’Connor, the Republican candidate.
Eric Brown is married to Democratic Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, who has voted to use tax dollars to support Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio, an organization that performs abortions.
“Governor Strickland’s choice of Eric Brown for Chief Justice is a blatantly political decision,” said Mike Gonidakis, Executive Director of Ohio Right to Life. “In order to have the Democratic candidate run as an ‘incumbent’, Strickland has ensured that the remainder of this Supreme Court term will be marked by internal political tension because two members of the Court will be competing for election. Strickland and Brown clearly lack the statesmanship shown by Justice Evelyn Stratton, who decided not run for Chief Justice in the Republican primary because she was concerned about the negative effects that two sitting Justices running against each other would have on the internal operation of the Court,” Gonidakis said.