Democrats and Republicans accused each other Tuesday of being beholden to “special interests” that have donated large sums of money to support Ohio Supreme Court candidates.

        The spat began when Citizens for a Strong Ohio, an advocacy group for Republican-backed candidates, announced that it has collected more than $430,000 from insurance companies and other businesses.

        Democrats seized on the donor list as proof that candidates supported by Citizens for a Strong Ohio are pawns of big business. Republicans then criticized Democrats for accepting tens of thousands of dollars from labor unions and trial lawyers.

        “Anyone who thinks trial lawyers and labor unions don't have a vested interest in this are kidding themselves,” said Chip McConville, a trustee of Citizens for a Strong Ohio. “It's a little disingenuous for those folks to be making that argument.”

        The verbal sparring suggests the battle lines in the fall election will be drawn in the same place as in the last election, when business interests spent heavily on Republicans and unions and lawyers backed Democrats.

        Both sides poured millions of dollars into their candidates then and are expected to do so again.

        The four candidates in the two Supreme Court races already have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that doesn't include money raised by advocacy groups such as Citizens for a Strong Ohio. The groups can spend what they want as long as they don't coordinate their campaigns with the candidates.

        The money is flowing because stakes are high. In recent years, the court has ruled in several controversial cases that have sharply divided Republicans and Democrats.

        By a 4-3 vote, the court has changed the rules for workers' compensation, thrown out the system used to fund public schools and expanded the ability of employees to make insurance claims against employers.

        The parties see this fall's election as crucial because it's an opportunity to either strengthen the majority vote or swing it the other way.

        In 2000, the campaign quickly turned negative when Citizens for a Strong Ohio raised $4 million and launched an aggressive ad campaign against Democratic Justice Alice Robie Resnick.

        Democrats and Republicans criticized the campaign as too negative, and Justice Resnick won re-election.

        This year, Mr. McConville said, Citizens for a Strong Ohio will spend the money on a positive campaign for Maureen O'Connor and incumbent Justice Evelyn Stratton, who are running against Democrats Tim Black and Janet Burnside, respectively. “We've been assured this (money) is going to be used for positive messages,” said Paul Blume, vice president of the American Insurance Association, which has donated $75,000 to Citizens for a Strong Ohio.

        The group was founded by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which contributed $100,000. Other contributors included State Farm Insurance ($60,000), Ohio Casualty Insurance ($20,000), Procter & Gamble Co. ($20,000) and Ohio National Insurance ($5,000).

        Mr. Black, a Municipal Court judge in Cincinnati, said he was wary of where the money was coming from and how it would be spent.

        “People have a clear choice between judges who are tough, fair and independent and candidates who are endorsed by big insurance companies,” Mr. Black said.

        Mr. McConville said the criticism is unfounded and unfair

        E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com

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