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Disciplinary Counsel v. O'Neill9/7/2004
Transcript Vol. VII -- 141-142)
322. Respondent defeated Judge Cain in the 1992 election and has testified that it is that defeat that motivated his actions in this matter. Judge Cain testified that as administrative judge since 1998 his motivation to take action was the volume of complaints he received about Judge O'Neill, which exceeded complaints he received about any other judge. Judge Cain testified that although complaining individuals were advised to file individual grievances no one individual would do so for fear of reprisals and because one incident would not be enough get anyone's attention. (Transcript Vol. IX -103-106)
323. Judge Cain discussed the complaints about Judge O'Neill with Judge Watson as Chair of the Personnel Committee and Judge Miller as Chair of the Rules Committee. In late 1999 after Judge O'Neill was re-elected the complaints seemed to increase and the judges decided they would tell people to write them down and Judge Miller would collect them. They consulted Disciplinary Counsel and were advised "to collect the information, and the individuals who had firsthand knowledge of what transpired, give them to us; and we'll investigate." The collection of information was submitted to Disciplinary Counsel in January 2001 and these judges had no further participation in the investigation or prosecution of this Amended Complaint.
324. The panel majority found that Respondent's claim that this action arose out of partisan politics was belied by the evidence that in July 2002 Judges John Connor and Beverly Pfeiffer, other Democratic judges on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court, made and seconded the motions to seek assistance from the Chief Justice about Judge O'Neill's conduct and take action on the issue with Judge O'Neill secretary, Elsa Cunbow. Part of Respondent's evidence of a political conspiracy against her was also her exclusion from administrative committee appointments at the Court. However, Respondent testified that the three other Democratic judges on the bench have not been excluded from participation in court administration. (Transcript Vol. VII -163-165) Respondent later expanded her definition of political motivation: "When you have referred to these proceedings as, quote, politically motivated, closed quote, what did you mean by that phrase? A. Politically motivated, I mean that there is a group of people who have an agenda and who have the power and have abused that power in an effort to remove me from my employment, to take my position away from me. And in my opinion, have intentionally interfered with my ability to do my job and are seeking to deprive me of earning a livelihood." (Transcript Vol. XVII -150)
325. When asked to identify the persons who were seeking to deprive her of her livelihood Respondent testified: "...those people are the eight judges who signed the grievance but no one else, because anybody else that's certainly been involved in this has certainly been part of the tensions rising, certainly were working at the direction of or the request of those that were the ones that were the signators. So I would look to the judges." (Transcript Vol. XVII -- 166-167)
326. Rather than a political motivation, the panel majority finds there is clear and convincing evidence that the motivation for this process has been the persistent and accelerating pattern of improper activity by Judge O'Neill. The evidence upon which this panel must decide this matter is not what the signatory judges have said happened but rather the sworn testimony of the 76 litigants, lawyers, employees and staff who testified about their first-hand personal knowledge of Judge O'Neill's behavior over the past seven years. Those witnesses
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