GOP'S Karl Rove asks donors to help Ohio justice retain seat
COLUMBUS, Ohio ( AP) — Influential Republican strategist Karl Rove is soliciting donations for an Ohio Supreme Court candidate's reelection bid, signaling the high stakes involved in controlling the battleground state's high court when congressional maps are redrawn next year.
Rove's fundraising plea focused on not wanting Republicans to yield power over redistricting to Democrats, whose own line- drawing effort has been joined by former President Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder.
A letter obtained by The Associated Press shows Rove, who served as President George W. Bush's chief political strategist, pleading with wealthy donors and various Ohio law firms to donate to Republican Justice Judith French's campaign as the court's conservative majority is up for grabs on Nov. 3.
"I don't often lend my name to statewide races, but Judi French's race is too important," Rove writes.
The letter is the latest indication that local and state races, sometimes overlooked in a general election season, are seen as instrumental for both political parties this year.
The former Bush adviser lays out what he calls the high- stakes race between French and Democratic state appeals court Judge Jennifer Brunner, a one- time U. S. Senate contender and former Ohio secretary of state.
Rove tells potential donors "wellfunded left- wing interest groups from outside Ohio" are vying to unseat French in order to redraw the lines of state legislative and congressional districts to benefit Democrats.
In an email, Rove said his pleas for donations to French are unrelated to his work for the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group whose board he joined in April. The group, which focuses on electing Republicans in state- level races, has also taken an interest in Ohio's Supreme Court races.
The group recently aired a TV campaign against Brunner, saying "reckless" judges like her "risk our children's safety," in reference to a February case she ruled on that involved a teacher convicted of voyeurism for recording videos of girls undressing.