Judges are supposed be ethical. They should be beyond reproach and fair -and they absolutely have to be honest. They certainly shouldn’t misrepresent themselves. The same is expected of judicial candidates.
But, that can’t be said of Sherrie Miday, who is running for Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge again after spending over $400,000 on her failed 2014 judicial campaign. She wants to be a judge badly, so badly that her campaign will lie about her resume. At a recent parade, someone with Miday’s campaign was calling her a judge – and Sherrie didn’t correct her.
It says quite a lot about Sherrie Miday’s character when she is allowing herself to be misrepresented as a judge when she is not. Honesty is an important part of being a judge. These two videos show that Sherrie has some trouble with the truth.
Pamela Ballard even tagged Sherrie Miday on Facebook as being a judge. Miday didn’t remove the tag or even correct Ballard for falsifying Miday’s resume.
Wouldn’t someone who was ethical and honest remove the tag and comment that she isn’t a judge? Well, Sherrie didn’t. She should have read and be following the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct. She seems to have some challenges following a certain portion of it:
Rule 4.3 Campaign standards and communications
During the course of any campaign for nomination or election to judicial office, a judicial candidate, by means of campaign materials, including sample ballots, advertisements on radio or television or in a newspaper or periodical, electronic communications, a public speech, press release, or otherwise, shall not knowingly or with reckless disregard do any of the following:(A) Post, publish, broadcast, transmit, circulate, or distribute information concerning the judicial candidate or an opponent, either knowing the information to be false or with a reckless disregard of whether or not it was false or, if true, that would be deceiving or misleading to a reasonable person;(C) Use the title of a public office or position immediately preceding or following the name of the judicial candidate, when the judicial candidate does not hold that office or position;
(D) Use the term “judge” when the judicial candidate is not a judge unless that term appears after or below the name of the judicial candidate and is accompanied by either or both of the following:(1) The words “elect” or “vote,” in prominent lettering, before the judicial candidate’s name;
(2) The word “for,” in prominent lettering, between the name of the judicial candidate and the term “judge;”
Sherrie Miday is tied into the old Bill Mason machine of the Cuyahoga Democratic Party. She ran her 2014 campaign in a manner that was reminiscent of the old machine that crumbled when so many were hauled off to prison.
After the likes of Bridget McCafferty and Steven Terry, Cuyahoga can’t afford to have another judge with some ethical concerns. Miday’s silence is deafening. People along that parade route likely accepted the lie that she already is a judge. And with it being posted on Facebook, that lie had even farther reach.
Yet, Miday just accepted the lie. Is this what you want in a judge?