I have always had trouble voting for judges and I know in some states, judges are appointed, not voted in by citizens. I’ve heard and tried to analyze arguments on both sides and politics becoming so easily corrupted these days, I suppose voting outweighs appointments. Still, the average voter is not very well informed when it comes to selecting judges and we must rely on the media such as this one to help us make the right decisions. In the current race, however there is one which is a clear choice for me. It is the race for Summit County Common Please Court with the incumbent Todd McKenney being challenged by magistrate Alison Breaux. Most candidates for judges have nothing but their past experience on the bench, their education and to come across as generally being a nice family person with picture of their family, including the family dog. In this case, however Mr. McKenney likes to talk about his past experience as a pastor at the Chapel as well as his serving on the state legislature. This troubles me because both of those responsibilities require strong personal convictions on important, controversial issues. As a legislator, he lead the fight to overturn abortion legislation in Ohio, endorsing the one heart beat definition and has also been against collective bargaining rights. This position has won the endorsements for his opponent Alison Breaux by all local labor unions as they have come out in support of her. I gleaned most of this from a recent Meet the Candidate night, hosted by the League of Women Voters. Magistrate Breaux is a bright, young lawyer, having earned that degree from the University of Akron. Her compassion is to seek fairness and equality as a judge for all people. She has earned the reputation as being a focused listener and an excellent interpreter of the law. After all, this is the primary role of the judicial branch of our government. I believe, having served as a pastor disqualifies Mr. McKenney to sit on the bench, because of the separation of church and state principal. Human nature being what it is, how can we trust him to be completely unbiased and offer fair decisions?
William N. Melver
177 Oakdale Avenue
Akron, Ohio
