Ex-GOP leader says he can't get a fair hearing from them
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/NEWS02/60301004/-1/NEWSArticle published Wednesday, March 1, 2006
COLUMBUS — To hear Tom Noe tell it, his efforts to awaken a “moribund” local Republican Party led to watershed gains by the GOP in Lucas County and had a profound effect on the party’s takeover of statewide offices.
Now, because of those “ferocious” partisan efforts, Mr. Noe has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to disqualify all of the county’s 10 common pleas judges from hearing his criminal case.
“It is my belief that I cannot and will not receive a fair and impartial hearing before any judge of the Lucas County Common Pleas Court as a result of my singular, unprecedented, and extraordinary level of involvement in their political, professional, and personal lives,” Mr. Noe wrote in a 27-page affidavit that details nearly 20 years of local political history.
Referencing decades-old social relationships and recent political battles, Mr. Noe’s affidavit lists in specific detail why the judges are “political enemies” or “personal friends.”...