Ohio Supreme Court justice assailed after revealing sexual past
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Decrying what he calls “the national feeding frenzy about sexual indiscretions decades ago,” a sitting Ohio Supreme Court justice and Democratic candidate for governor on Friday volunteered details from his own past.
The post brought swift rebukes from the Ohio Supreme Court’s chief justice and fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidates.
The controversy also cost the justice his campaign spokesman.
“Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Sen. Al Franken, I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males,” Justice William O’Neill wrote on Facebook. “As a candidate for Governor let me save my opponentssome research time.
“In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females,” he wrote. “It ranged from a gorgeous blonde who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents’ barn and ended with a drop-dead gorgeous red head from Cleveland.
“Now can we get back to discussing legalizing marijuana and opening the state hospital network to combat the opioid crisis?” he asked.
The justice had edited his original Facebook message to remove identifying information about the “blonde” and “red head.”
The sole Democrat holding statewide elected office, the justice is serving his first and only term on the Supreme Court. He recently announced his candidacy for governor and raised eyebrows with his decision to stay on the bench until Feb. 7, when he plans to file his petitionsto officially become acandidate.
Heis expected to drop out of the race if Richard Cordray runs. Ohio’s former attorney general recently resigned as the nation’s top consumerwatchdog.
“I condemn in no uncertain terms Justice O’Neill’s Facebook post,” Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said. “No words can convey my shock. This gross disrespect for women shakes the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.”
The post even took his campaign spokeman, Chris Clevenger, by surprise. He then resigned from the campaign.
“I am in West Virginia with my fiancée visiting family,” he said. “I was out of the pocket for the first time in a long time, and I learnedabout this when I got a call from a reporter. I thought he’d been hacked. I couldn’t believe he’d post somethinglikethat.”
He called the comments “incredibly inappropriate” and said he could envision himself working for one of JusticeO’Neill’s Democratic opponentsifasked.
FellowDemocratic gubernatorialcandidate Betty Sutton said she was “appalled” bythecomments.
“As a Democrat, I’m horrified a statewide candidate would belittle victims of sexual harassment and assault this way, and as a woman, I’m outraged he would equate sexual assault with indiscretion,” the former Akron area congressman said.
“It’s wrong to trivialize this,” she said. “He should resignimmediately.”
By that, she meant resign from both the court and the gubernatorial race, a campaignspokesman said.
“There’s nothing funny about sexual assault,” said fellow candidate Connie Pillich, a former Cincinnati state representative. “Justice O’Neill should resign from the bench and immediately cease his campaign for governor.”
Contacted later, Justice O’Neill said his Facebook post was not tongue-incheek, but rather reflected what he considers the media’s focus on past indiscretions of politicians and candidates, triggered most recently by the Franken accusation.