OhioSupreme Court

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel

250 Civic Center Drive Suite 325

Columbus, Ohio

Attn: Joseph M. Caligiu – Disciplinary Counsel Chief

Re: Ethics complaint v. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor

Dear Mr. Caligiu:

The following ethics complaint deals with the unethical conduct and/or misfeasance in performance of her official duties regarding the assignment of Retired Visiting Judges and the maximum annual amounts said judges can earn.

Violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct

RULE 1.2Promoting Confidence in the Judiciary: A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence,integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

RULE 1.3Avoiding Abuse of the Prestige of Judicial Office: A judge shall not abuse the prestige of judicial office to advance the personal or economic interests of the judge or others, or allow others to do so.

Rule 2.5: Competence, Diligence and Cooperation (A): A judge shall perform judicial and administrative duties competently and diligently and shall comply with guidelines set forth in the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio.

Failing to assure that Stucki was not receiving excessive compensation contrary to the Guidelines/Rules of the Supreme Court clearly indicate that Chief Justice O’Connor failed to act competently and/or engaged in gross negligence of her duties as the sole overseer of the Retired Judge Program.

The table below proves that Chief Justice O’Connor directly and/or indirectly allowed Retired Judge David Stucki to be paid excessive amounts for five (5) consecutive years. In fact, during fiscal year July 2020 to June 2021, she approved Stucki receiving nearly $13,000.00 in excess earnings.

Hopefully, Chief Justice O’Connor will not again rely on her so-called claim that she has “discretion” to totally disregard the guidelines/ rules for assignment of judges. If she does, then she would certainly be guilty of over-the-top arrogance.

Please provide me with a copy of Chief Justice O’Connor’s reply.