Candidate for judge wanted opponent's campaign ads and signs yanked: What happened
In politics, there’s a big advantage to saying “re-elect me.” And also to saying, “I’m an incumbent — so vote for me because I already know the job.”
It’s such a big advantage that Michigan forbids saying “re-elect me” and saying you’re an incumbent if you’re not. But just where should fair-election umpires draw the line in this strange situation? A veteran judge is running for the same job he already has. And yet, it's not the one in his own courtroom; it’s the open seat just down the hall, where another judge is retiring. Winning that other seat is the oddball quest of Oakland County Probate Judge Daniel A. O’Brien, as he seeks to skirt the state’s age limit for judges and add extra years to his career.
Everyone agrees that O’Brien can’t call himself a judge on November's ballots, which incumbent judges do when running for re-election. But can he call himself “judge” on campaign signs? He does. And can he say he's a judge in his online ads? He does that, too. Can he remind voters that, even though he's running for an open seat as a non-incumbent, he’s already a probate judge with 16 years of experience?
Those were among the questions raised Thursday in Oakland Circuit Court by O’Brien’s challenger, Franklin attorney Traci Richards, who wanted O’Brien’s signs and ads yanked. In her motion for a temporary restraining order ‒ a rare request that courts rarely grant ‒ Richards claimed that O'Brien's wording in several cases violated state rules and laws governing campaign wording. One of Richards' serious snits was with O'Brien's Facebook advertisement. It says, "I've served as an Oakland County probate judge for 16 years. This November, I respectfully ask for your support as I seek another term on the bench." The same ad says: "The best probate judge candidate is the one whose name has been on the door for 16 years." Richards, acting as her own counsel in the hearing, said that wording was unfair.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2024/10/25/ruling-oks-campaign-ads-of-veteran-oakland-county-judge-for-now/75829089007/