Article: Courting for dollars

According to the "Cleveland Scene" website-LOTS!!!!!!!!! Below is the article taken from the Cleveland Scene. Justice "ain't" free in Ohio. John

Courting for dollars

Last week, state Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) called on all but one Ohio Supreme Court justice to recuse themselves from deciding a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the state's charter-school system. The reason: Akron charter mogul David Brennan and his family have contributed almost $130,000 to the justices' campaigns since 1992.

"It's the same old story, pay to play," Fedor says. "And David Brennan learned very quickly how he can pull the strings in Columbus and manipulate public policy by just giving a whole boatload of money to everybody."

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer raked in $11,500 from Brennan. Justice Terrence O'Donnell took $7,000, while Justice Paul Pfeifer got $5,150. And the list goes on. In all, Fedor asked for six of the seven justices to recuse themselves.

The only judge who didn't take money from Brennan was Alice Resnick, the victim of buffoonish attack ads from Citizens for a Strong Ohio -- a business group financed by Brennan to the tune of $25,000.

While Brennan is not named in the lawsuit, he's hardly a disinterested party. His White Hat Management operates 31 charter schools that enroll 15,000 kids, making it the ninth-largest district in the state, raking in $110 million in taxpayer money.

"All the money he's put into contributions, he got a pretty good return," Fedor says.

Yet it probably doesn't matter if the court is bought off or not. It's already ruled Ohio's school-funding system unconstitutional four times, and the legislature just blows it off.