No Sanctions in Challenge of 2004 Vote

Ending one of the last fights from the contentious 2004 presidential campaign, Ohio’s top judge declined Thursday to punish four lawyers who had challenged the results in court.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer ruled against Ohio Atty. Gen. Jim Petro’s attempt to have the lawyers sanctioned for filing a “meritless claim” against the vote that gave President Bush a win in Ohio and, as a result, enough electoral votes to win a second term in the White House.

In legal documents filed with the state Supreme Court, the lawyers had said the challenge they filed on behalf of 37 voters included enough evidence of voting irregularities to back up their allegations of widespread fraud. Neither Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry’s campaign nor his party were part of the challenge, which was later withdrawn.

Petro, a Republican, asked for sanctions against lawyers Cliff Arnebeck, Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt and Peter Peckarsky. If the court had sanctioned the lawyers, they could have been forced to repay lawyer’s fees and court costs.

Moyer, acting under the court’s power to assign election-related complaints to a single justice, said although the court had the authority to sanction lawyers, the speed with which elections must be challenged allowed the court some leeway.

“The General Assembly could have expressly authorized courts to sanction those who pursue frivolous election contests. It has not,” Moyer, a Republican, said in his decision.

But the judge added that the lawyers’ allegations in the contest of the presidential election were, “at best, highly improbable and potentially defamatory, inflammatory and devoid of logic.”

Bush beat Kerry by about 118,000 votes in Ohio, which turned out to be the pivotal state in the November election. The lawyers’ election challenge was withdrawn in early January, with those contesting the results saying it was clear their argument would be dismissed as moot with Bush set to be inaugurated.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general said he welcomed Moyer’s ruling, but noted that the plaintiffs withdrew the case and no fraud was proven.