CANDIDATES

Democratic nomination for governor.

He announced his gubernatorial run Oct. 29, recused himself from hearing new cases and then remained on the court until Jan. 26, stepping down shortly before the filing deadline for statewide office.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor wrote that she believed O’Neill should have immediately resigned, while the Ohio Senate voted to begin the process to remove him from the court.

A proposed rule released by the court for public comment Wednesday would create a definition for a “nonjudicial candidate” in the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct:

“‘Candidate’ means a person who has made a public announcement of candidacy for nonjudicial elective office and has taken or engaged in any public action in furtherance of that candidacy, declared or filed as a candidate for nonjudicial elective office with the election authority, or authorized the solicitation or receipt of contributions or support for nonjudicial elective office, whichever occurred first.”

The existing code language requires a judge to resign “upon becoming a candidate ... for nonjudicial elective office.” O’Neill maintained he would not officially become a candidate and be required to resign until he filed his candidacy petition.

O’Neill pointed out Wednesday that he did not raise campaign cash or seek petition signatures until he left the court, saying, “I was well within the law.”

He called the proposed change in rules by the court “an unconstitutional abridgement of the freespeech rights of judges.”

The court will accept comments on the proposed change until April 25.

Gov. John Kasich appointed appellate Judge Mary DeGenaro, a Republican, to fill O’Neill’s spot on the court for the remainder of his term through the end of the year. He was the lone Democrat before his departure for the governor’s race.