Sen: DeWine (R) Voted to Confirm Bush Judicial Nominees Who Made Political Contributions During Nomination Process

Russell at BSB has just linked to a new article at Salon.com, reporting the results of a four-month investigation of political donations by Bush-appointed judicial nominees. The investigation reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Among the recipients are Ohio's two senators, George Voinovich (R) and Mike DeWine (R). There are no laws or regulations prohibiting political contributions by a candidate for a federal judgeship, it just looks really, really bad.

It appears from reading the article that DeWine returned the contributions he received from the two judicial nominees highlighted in the article, Deborah Cook and John Adams. (Voinovich did not return contributions from these or another nominee.) Still, DeWine voted to confirm these judges, knowing the unethical conduct in which they had engaged.