Ohio Chief Justice O’Connor misconduct and Retired Judge David Basinski of Lorain, Ohio

The state of Ohio provided David Basinski with a law license in 1966 after he graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Dave spent over twenty-four (24) years as a Lorain County Common Pleas Court judge in the Domestic Relations Division. He retired from the bench on January 3, 2013.

Even though Supreme Court Guidelines for Assignment of Retired Judges prohibits the assignment of a retired judge prior to the passing of thirteen (13) weeks from the date of his/her retirement, Chief Justice O’Connor knowingly violated said rule via the following assignments.

• 01/01/2013: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas DR- Assign No. 13JA0257
• 01/14/2013: Medina County Common Pleas DR - Assign No. 13JA0339
• 01/14/2013: Summit County Common Pleas Juvenile - Assign No. 13JA0178
• 02/05/2013: Summit County Common Pleas Juvenile - Assign No. 13JA0395
• 02/25/2013: Summit County Common Pleas Juvenile - Assign No. 13JA0483
• 03/25/2013: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Juv- Assign No. 13JA0750
• 03/25/2013: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Juv- Assign No. 13JA0751
• 03/25/2013: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Juv- Assign No. 13JA0752
• 04/01/203: Medina County Common Pleas DR – Assign No. 13JA0973

Judge Basinski passed away at 83 on August 6, 2021. The mandatory retirement age for Ohio judges is 70. Seemingly, Chief Justice O’Connor isn’t concerned with assigning elderly judges to far away venues despite his/her age. The following are a couple of examples of O’Connor's use of these types of assignments to Judge Basinski.

• July 2015 (77 years old) to Columbiana County: 230 miles roundtrip at 3 hrs. 50 minutes
• February 2016 (78 years old) to Crawford County 152 miles roundtrip at 3 hrs. 4 minutes
• October 2016 (79 years old) to Wood County 176 miles at 2 hours 14 minutes
• November 2016 (79 years old) to Mahoning County 188 miles at 3 hrs. 14 minutes

FYI: Despite personally providing Judge Basinski with one-hundred-ninety-four (194) assignments to fourteen (14) specific counties, she never assigned him to his home county of Lorain County.

In a truly irresponsible use of the Visiting Retired Judge system, Chief Justice O’Connor assigned 80-year-old Basinski to six (6) recusal assignments on January 18, 2017, 2 to Erie County and 4 to Medina County.

Fortunately for Ohio and County taxpayers, Chief Justice O’Connor’s incompetent conduct in overseeing the Assigned Judge Program will come to a merciful end on December 31, 2022.