Although I stand by that article, there is apparently a dispute. A very knowledgeable judge, who helped to write the disqualification rule at issue, called me the day the article appeared and suggested I was in error. The judge’s position was that since campaign reports were filed publicly, then there was no need for the judge to reveal the contributions to the litigant, since the parties could have checked the contributions on their own. Second, the judge’s position was that a sense of proportionality has to be utilized. Although $25,000 may well be a large contribution, if the common pleas judge, in fact, had received a $1 million contribution, then the $25,000 might not trigger a disqualification issue.
The standard for disqualification for a campaign contribution is set forth in the Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 2.11. The language under 2.11(a)(4) states whether or not the contribution “would raise a reasonable concern about the fairness or impartiality of the judge’s consideration of a case involving the party, the party’s lawyer.”
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