The Hamilton County Board of Elections today will consider whether a Republican candidate for Common Pleas judge is eligible to run for office.

        Democratic candidate Bruce B. Whitman contends that his Republican opponent, Frederick D. Nelson, is not qualified to run for judge because there is no record proving he practiced law in Ohio for a total of six years as required by state statute.

        Mr. Whitman wants Mr. Nelson disqualified from the November ballot despite his selection as the Republican nominee in May's primary election. The race is the only contested Common Pleas judge's race on the November ballot.

        Citing a 1995 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court that such protests could not overrule the results of a primary election, Mr. Nelson counters that his opponent's protest is invalid.

        He adds that the county Board of Elections has no authority to hear Mr. Whitman's challenge because such a protest must come before the primary. And any valid protest must come from someone within his own party.

        The four-member elections board is expected to determine whether it has jurisdiction in this case.

        “Some public agency must have jurisdiction,” Mr. Whitman said. “If the Board of Elections is not the right place then what is?”

        The county board is composed of two Democrats, Dan Radford and party chairman Tim Burke, and two Republicans, Todd Ward and party chairman Mike Barrett.

        If the board vote on jurisdiction winds up tied, state law says the Secretary of State — Republican Ken Blackwell — will cast the deciding vote.

        Mr. Whitman, a Cincinnati-based trial attorney for more than 20 years, worries his challenge won't survive a partisan vote.

        “This is the first time I've run for office. I'm a lawyer, not a politician,” he said. “It's very rare for someone in the legal community to become a judge, most are former prosecutors or court administrators,” Mr. Whitman said. “I'm not naove, but I always thought judge's races were supposed to be nonpartisan. I understand that we live in a political system — I had to run in a primary. But, I don't want this (contest) to be politicized.”

        Mr. Whitman hoped the secretary of state's office would shed some light on this dilemma, but so far the office has declined comment.

        Secretary of state assistant elections counsel Gretchen Quinn said in an e-mail to Mr. Whitman “that it would be inappropriate ... to comment on the specifics of a protest ... pending before a board of elections.”

        Mr. Nelson says his opponent infused the contest with partisan undertones in August when he filed his protest.

        “This is a frivolous matter. It's ridiculous. My qualifications are well known in this community, “ Mr. Nelson said. “This sort of game playing is what's wrong with politics and with some elements of the legal profession.”

        A former civil litigator with a prominent Cincinnati law firm for about five years, Mr. Nelson served as chief of staff and legal counsel to Congressman Steve Chabot. He is president of his own public policy development firm in Cincinnati and is a member of the state Board on Uniform State Law.

        He also served in the Justice Department under President Reagan and as an assistant White House legal counsel during the tenure of the first President Bush.

        “When all is said and done, the voters and the board will put politics aside and do the right thing,” Mr. Nelson said. “I have tried to contribute to that effort by running a positive campaign, talking about my record and what I think the appropriate role for a judge is — which is to follow the law without imposing his or her personal biases from the bench.”

        The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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