Makeup of municipal court hangs on election
Franklin County Municipal Court could be reshaped by voters this fall, with the ballot featuring contested races for seven of the 15 spots on the bench.
The face of the court already is in transition, as the election will fill the seats of three retired or retiring judges and another who died a year ago.
The August 2020 death of Judge H. William Pollitt Jr., who served for 24 years and was consistently rated as one of the court’s best judges in Columbus Bar Association polls, created the most noteworthy void.
In March, Gov. Mike Dewine appointed Republican Michael J. King to serve the final months of the term. King is seeking to retain the seat for a full, six-year term in a November race against Democrat Mike Mcallister, a magistrate for the Franklin County Juvenile Court.
“I’m well aware of how big the shoes are that I’ve had to fill,” said King, who spent a decade as law director for the village of Granville in Licking County before his appointment to the bench.
“I’ve had a few people introduce me as the judge who replaced Judge Pollitt,” he said. “I’m always quick to interrupt and correct that, because I’m under no illusion that I’m replacing Judge Pollitt. I’ve been given the privilege of following him and trying to do as well, and I’m doing my level best to do that.”
Mcallister said the Municipal Court could see “a huge change” when voters complete mail-in absentee and early in-person ballots beginning Oct. 5 and at the polls on Election Day on Nov. 2. Seven of the 15 seats are challenged, and two incumbents are unopposed.
The thought of moving from his job as a magistrate in juvenile court, where he’s worked for nearly six years, to the Municipal Court bench isn’t intimidating to Mcallister, because he said he’s been handling more serious offenses as a magistrate than he would if elected to Municipal Court.
“I’ve handled attempted murder cases, multiple sexual assault and rape cases, aggravated robberies with gun specifications and other high-level felonies involving juveniles,” Mcallister said.
Conversely, Municipal Court judges handle misdemeanor and traffic offenses, evictions and small-claims cases involving no more than $15,000.
The three other races on the No
on who is eligible and when, these plans cannot yet be finalized.”
While a decision on Pfizer’s booster shots could come as early as Friday, it could be weeks before the CDC and FDA make recommendations for booster shots from Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. Initial approval for Moderna’s two-dose COVID vaccine came a few weeks after Pfizer’s in December 2020, and the single-dose J&J shot wasn’t originally approved until late February.
Federal health officials are expected to recommend that Americans get boosters that match the brand of their original vaccinations, if possible. If booster shots are approved as currently proposed by the White House, Ohioans may be able to get their additional COVID shot about eight months after completing their prior vaccination regimen.
The timeline for boosters likely will follow the same pattern as the initial rollout of about nine months ago, meaning health care workers, nursing home residents and employees and elderly Ohioans will go first, medical experts told The Dispatch. The free booster shots will be delivered directly to long-term-care facilities once approval is given, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
With some people eager to get a booster, it could be harder to nail one down in the first few weeks, said Virginia Ruef, Mount Carmel’s regional pharmacy officer. Still, getting a booster might be far easier than in the early days of the vaccine rollout, when some Ohioans reportedly scrambled to sign up for shots online and sometimes waited hours in line to get the jab.
“I think there’s enough doses in the country and in Ohio for patients,” Ruef said. “Do I think on any given day someone will be able to get vaccinated? There may be an intermittent day where there aren’t enough appointments, but for the most part, I think there will be.”
While booster-shot planning is already proving to be a bit “clunky,” it will no doubt be smoother than the initial rollout, said Dr. Joe Gastaldo, medical director of infectious diseases for Ohiohealth. That’s due in large part to the fact that there’s no shortage of vaccine now and the shots are available not just at hospitals, but at pharmacies and health departments.
It’s unclear whether Ohio will see mass-vaccination clinics return if boosters are approved. Previously, Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center administered shots at its Schottenstein Center, Columbus Public Health injected patients with shots at the Ohio State Fairgrounds and Ohiohealth hosted large clinics at its administrative campus.
Despite the likelihood of boosters, COVID vaccines given months ago are still proving effective at preventing hospitalization and death.
Fully vaccinated people have accounted for just 2.5% of the 21,584 Ohioans hospitalized for the virus this year, according to the Ohio Department of Health. A total of 80 fully vaccinated Ohioans have died of COVID-19 this year compared to 7,167 who were not immunized, state data shows.
“These vaccines are working . ... Yes, I can still get an infection, but the chances of me getting an infection is lower by a huge amount,” Gastaldo said. “The pathway to ending this pandemic is through (vaccinated) immunity.”
The continued effectiveness of the original vaccines against severe illness has fueled debate on the necessity of boosters.
The World Health Organization has called on the U.S. to first focus on distributing more COVID shots to other nations with less access to vaccines. The U.S. has donated more than 127 million doses of COVID vaccines so far and plans to share about 580 million total doses worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of State.
COVAX, the United Nations-backed effort to vaccinate the world against the virus, announced this month that it would be able to distribute 1.4 billion doses in 2021 marking a steep decline from the anticipated 1.9 billion shots it expected to dole out.
So far, more than 208 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including 6.1 million Ohioans, federal and state data shows.
While boosters could be a useful tool to beat back the pandemic and morecontagious variants such as delta, it’s equally important that more people get vaccinated, said Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at Wexner Medical Center.
“It’s not an either-or situation,” Thomas said. “It’s got to be a both, and (situation).” mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby