Who will be appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court? Letters show hopeful applicants,

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A lobbying effort is underway to sway Gov. Mike DeWine as he considers whom to appoint to a vacancy on the Ohio Supreme Court, letters sent to the governor’s office show.

The letters, obtained through a public records request, show DeWine has been urged to consider several candidates, including Ben Flowers, the state solicitor general who works for Attorney General Dave Yost, and Megan Shanahan, a Hamilton County Common Pleas judge.

The governor’s office also heard directly from at least three candidates expressing interest in the position: Daniel Hawkins, a Franklin County Common Pleas judge; Steve McKinley, a Richland County Domestic Relations judge; and Joseph T. Burke, a Fairview Park attorney.

The letters, sent over the past month, do not include any references to Joe Deters, the Hamilton County prosecutor and former state treasurer whom recent media reports have tied to the position.

The vacancy on the court was created when Republican Justice Sharon Kennedy was elected in November as chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, replacing Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor.

O’Connor, who is leaving office at the end of the year due to judicial age limits, was a swing vote who voted with the court’s three Democrats on several high-profile issues, including repeatedly striking down Republican-drawn maps during this year’s redistricting process.

Speaking with reporters last week, DeWine wouldn’t confirm or deny that Deters was in the mix for the position, but said he plans to fill the vacancy before the end of the year.

“There’s a lot of people who are applying. I’m getting calls from people every day suggesting different names. So no decision has been made,” DeWine said.

A couple influential figures in state politics submitted letters to DeWine on Flowers’s behalf: David Johnson, who serves both as chairman of the Columbiana County Republican Party and state treasurer for the Ohio Republican Party, and Dick Pogue, a former managing partner of the Jones Day law firm in Cleveland.

Johnson wrote that Flowers, a former clerk to late U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia who is active with the conservative Federalist Society, would be a “philosophically reliable and intellectually credible” swing vote on the court.

Shawn Parker, chairman of the Delaware County Republican Party and the and leaders of the Highland County Republican Party wrote letters in support of Flowers. The Highland County GOP leaders, Executive Chair Paulette Donley and Central Committee Chair Jeff Duncan, wrote that Flowers had met with the Highland County GOP over the summer.

“When asked, he assured us he would interpret the law as written,” the letter says.

Joseph Trauf, a Cincinnati-area attorney, wrote a letter of recommendation on behalf of Shanahan, the Hamilton County judge, saying she “has all the credentials necessary to be a fantastic Supreme Court Judge.”

State Sen. Mark Romanchuk, a Richland County Republican, also wrote a letter on McKinley’s behalf, saying the local juvenile court during McKinley’s tenure has been a “beacon of judicial review and justice for each citizen of Ohio who has entered his courtroom.

Andrew Tobias covers state government and politics for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Read more of his work here.

Statehouse / politics reporter Jeremy Pelzer contributed to this story