Columbus, OH – Before Sunday’s big game even begins, Ohioans have already lost, thanks to Joe Deters and the Republican majority on the Ohio Supreme Court. Late last month, Deters ruled that taxpayers don’t deserve to know how much taxpayer money his political ally Mike DeWine spent on his trip to the Super Bowl in 2022. The Governor appointed Deters to the Supreme Court after years of close political connections between the two families, despite Deters lack of judicial experience.
“Ohioans deserve better than the political backscratching happening on the Ohio Supreme Court. When the Governor appointed Deters after years of close political ties, questions were rightfully raised about Deters’ ability to be impartial. It’s clear those questions have been answered: Deters will always put politics over people,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Read more about what Ohio media has to say about Deters’ political ruling:
- Cincinnati Enquirer: “Enquirer Executive Editor Beryl Love said it best: ‘The fact this decision was made along party lines speaks for itself.’ Four Republicans signed onto the majority opinion, while three Democrats signed onto the dissent, signaling to taxpayers that this case was less about their right to know and more about protecting one of its own.”
- Cleveland.com: “Well, they voted along party lines instead of doing the right thing. There is no way you cannot make the argument that this is correct. This is not correct. This violates the state law. It violates everything that we hold dear and transparency and creates a gigantic loophole for ludicrous spending.”
- WTVN Columbus: “The Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court said no, we’re going to withhold these records, and the reason bothers me. They suggest that allowing Ohio taxpayers to know how much the DeWine administration spent to go to the Super Bowl would be a security breach, they suggest that disclosing the expense receipts would reveal some security issues, like the size of the detail, which hotels and rental cars they used, when they chose to refuel and other information that could be used to attack the governor in future appearances.”
“Why does that bother you?”
“Because that is really thin.”
- Cincinnati.com: “Ohio taxpayers might not know how much they spent to send the governor to the Super Bowl, but the fact his political allies fought to keep it secret suggests it was a sizable sum that would have raised some eyebrows.”
Deters has also faced criticism this week for refusing to recuse himself from a case his office oversaw when he served as Hamilton County Prosecutor. Time and again, Deters has demonstrated to Ohioans that he’s putting his own political interests over theirs.
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