© 2024 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio Supreme Court Rules For Republicans In Lawsuit Over Democratic Candidate's Key Card Data

Ed FitzGerald speaks during his 2014 campaign for Ohio Governor
File photo
Ed FitzGerald speaks during his 2014 campaign for Ohio Governor

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered Cuyahoga County to release the data on the comings and goings of Democratic former candidate for governor Ed FitzGerald, the former county executive.

FitzGerald ran for governor rather than for re-election in Cuyahoga County. The court ruled that since FitzGerald is no longer in office, the data that was requested in an Ohio Republican Party lawsuit in July 2014 should be released. ORP chair Matt Borges said he’s interested in looking at the data FitzGerald wanted to hold back.

“Of course it ended up not mattering one way or the other to him, but the bottom line is, he doesn’t have the right to decide these things weren’t public records and the court made that clear.”

FitzGerald had cited security concerns in declining to release the data. Three justices disagreed with the ruling – the court’s lone Democrat, William O’Neill, wrote that the records were properly withheld then and shouldn’t be released now.