Latest / Chuck Douglas / Chuck Douglas Power Hour - DAN HAWKINS for OHIO SUPREME COURT

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Chuck Douglas Power Hour - DAN HAWKINS for OHIO SUPREME COURT · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: Seven minutes past six o'clock. Greeting salutations. Welcome to the
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  Speaker 1: Power Hour. I'm chugged Douglass. You know who you are.
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  Speaker 1: We take it from there. We get one hour together.
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  Speaker 1: I talk really fast. You must listen even faster. My
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  Speaker 1: number is always eight two one nine, eight eighty six
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  Speaker 1: a two to one WTV. And if at some point
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  Speaker 1: I like your candle and you feel the need to participate,
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  Speaker 1: get in, grab a line, hang on to it, don't
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  Speaker 1: let go. And for goodness sake, don't wait until the
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  Speaker 1: last five minutes of the show to try to call,
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  Speaker 1: because that's not gonna work. That's not going to work.
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  Speaker 1: It's not going to work. I just I'm reading over
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  Speaker 1: some other news stories here. This one's out of California.
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  Speaker 1: But look, you know how my wheels work. Everything's interconnected.
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  Speaker 1: One thing leads to another, YadA, YadA, YadA. So we've
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  Speaker 1: got the situation where the fourteen year old kid goes
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  Speaker 1: to the school, opens fire, starts shooting people. Dad is
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  Speaker 1: facing second degree murder charges because he purchased the gun.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know when he purchased the gun, but he
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  Speaker 1: had the gun. The gun was in the house. He
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  Speaker 1: should have known better. That's basically the disposition here, the
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  Speaker 1: legal mindset. He should have known better than to give
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  Speaker 1: has disturbed a son access to this firearm. Right. So,
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  Speaker 1: there's a story out of California, another tragic story, another
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  Speaker 1: four year old child who has been killed by the
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  Speaker 1: family dog. Being killed by the family dog. In case
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  Speaker 1: I didn't say being killed by the family dog. You
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  Speaker 1: want to guess what kind of dog it was. It's
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  Speaker 1: not a pit bull? Oh my gosh, of course it's
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  Speaker 1: a pit bull. And but people always want to come
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  Speaker 1: out of the ware. Pitbulls are really very nice. When's
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  Speaker 1: the last time you heard about the family colleague killing
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  Speaker 1: a kid? Okay, So, if you've got children in your
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  Speaker 1: house and you have one of these dogs, are you
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  Speaker 1: not as responsible for any harm that comes to those
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  Speaker 1: children because you have a dog that is known to
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  Speaker 1: be over and over again violence. Are you just as
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  Speaker 1: responsible as somebody who puts a rifle in a house
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  Speaker 1: of a fourteen year old kid that probably shouldn't have
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  Speaker 1: access to a gun. I think you should. I mean
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  Speaker 1: to think about that. Well, we'll have to talk about that,
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  Speaker 1: maybe only up to the Ohio Supreme Court for all
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  Speaker 1: I know. And if it does there's somebody who would
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  Speaker 1: like to be there, sitting in a very nice, freshly
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  Speaker 1: pressed rope and and uh and and making decisions. He
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  Speaker 1: is currently a judge on the Franklin County Court of
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  Speaker 1: Common Please, and now he is looking for your vote
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  Speaker 1: as he he runs for a seat on the Ohio
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  Speaker 1: Supreme Court. Judge Dan Hawkins, how are you, sir?
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  Speaker 2: I'm well, Chuck, how are you?
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  Speaker 1: I'm I'm as good as I ever get. So, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: this is this is a big deal for you. I
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  Speaker 1: have not seen you face to face in a while.
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  Speaker 1: We first met when you took over the uh the
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  Speaker 1: environmental court here in Franklin County, which I'm sure was
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  Speaker 1: just an absolute pleasure. And uh uh you're you're moving
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  Speaker 1: up now you're looking for the it's the two year seat,
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  Speaker 1: correct on the Ohio Supreme Court.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that is correct, That is correct. It's it's a
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  Speaker 2: thank you for having me. And I do remember meeting
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  Speaker 2: with you back when I was in the environmental division
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  Speaker 2: in Franklin count Municipal Court. I wish I could be
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  Speaker 2: Derek here in person today, but state wide race requires
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  Speaker 2: you to drive statewide, and I'm in the Dayton area today,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm calling you from a beautiful Okay.
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  Speaker 1: See, the fact that you just said beautiful and daton
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  Speaker 1: in the same sentence makes me doubt everything you say
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  Speaker 1: from this point forward. As a as a Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: justice in the State of Ohio, Yes, sir, you this
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  Speaker 1: is not unlike the Supreme Court of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, obviously it is a state exclusive. But essentially
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  Speaker 1: you are there to be the ultimate authority on you know,
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  Speaker 1: the constitutionality within the State of Ohio constitution, whether something
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  Speaker 1: works does not work, and you're kind of the final say.
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  Speaker 1: What makes you want that responsibility because that's a that's
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  Speaker 1: a big burden to put on your shoulders every day
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  Speaker 1: when you wake up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well it is the house. Supreme Court is the
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  Speaker 2: court of last resort in Ohio and as a final
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  Speaker 2: say of what Ohio law is, what the Ohio Constitution
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  Speaker 2: says and means. So it's a big responsibility. I've never
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  Speaker 2: shied away from big jobs, responsibilities. Between being a judge
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  Speaker 2: for eleven years now and from county, I was a
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  Speaker 2: prosecutor for thirteen before that. The last ten of years
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  Speaker 2: I was head of the Special Victims Unit in Franklin
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  Speaker 2: County overseeing all those crimes of violence against women and children,
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  Speaker 2: human trafficking, homicide, sexual assault. So you know, my wife,
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  Speaker 2: I've been married for eighteen years. I have three kids.
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  Speaker 2: I want them to grow up in in Ohio that
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  Speaker 2: is safe, free and prosperous. And these Supreme court races
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  Speaker 2: are very, very important, as you can tell just by
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  Speaker 2: the way that the court has ruled the last few
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  Speaker 2: years and how supreme courts have ruled in different parts
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  Speaker 2: of the country between when Colorado kicked Donald Trump off
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  Speaker 2: the ballot with no hearing at all or some of
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  Speaker 2: the other courts. When we see across the nation, I
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  Speaker 2: think voters are starting to see the importance of these
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  Speaker 2: supreme state Supreme court races. And so that's why it's
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  Speaker 2: important people become more and more knowledgeable about my race.
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  Speaker 1: What is the there must be And I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: you don't want to point fingers at any or any
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  Speaker 1: particular decision, but what is the one thing that happens
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  Speaker 1: on a regular basis right now within our state Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court that you would like to, you know, maybe start
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  Speaker 1: making a little noise about saying, you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: we could do this better. I think we could serve
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  Speaker 1: citizens better. I think we'd be more effective, more efficient
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  Speaker 1: if our process went this direction. Is it an efficient
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  Speaker 1: process at this point or do you think we might
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  Speaker 1: be able to slim some things down.
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  Speaker 2: So I think since our new Chief Justice, Sharon Kennedy
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  Speaker 2: has taken the reins as our chief Justice, she's really
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  Speaker 2: put an emphasis on having court cases move along much
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  Speaker 2: more quickly, having cases not just you know, get stalled
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  Speaker 2: on the docket, not just the criminal matters, but of
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  Speaker 2: course important civil litigation type cases that can drag on
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  Speaker 2: for years and years and cost litigants and small businesses
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  Speaker 2: a lot of unnecessary legal fees. And so I think
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  Speaker 2: partnering with her and her efforts and continuing to make
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  Speaker 2: courts more efficient so cases can move more quickly, but
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  Speaker 2: also making sure, especially in criminal matters, that constitutional rights
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  Speaker 2: of defendants and the victims constitutional rights under Ohio Constitution
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  Speaker 2: are always upheld.
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  Speaker 1: This is Franklin County Judge Judge Dan Hawkins, who is
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  Speaker 1: joining me right now. He would like to be Ohio
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  Speaker 1: Justice Dan Hawkins on the Ohio Supreme Courties on the
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  Speaker 1: Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone lines. We are talking
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  Speaker 1: about his quest for your support in the November election.
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  Speaker 1: Early voting starts in Ohio. When is it October sixth?
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  Speaker 2: I think oct yes, October eighth?
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  Speaker 1: Is it October eighth?
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  Speaker 2: Okay?
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  Speaker 1: So Dan Hawkins is an easy name to remember. I've
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  Speaker 1: been encouraging people. As much as I dislike the concept
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  Speaker 1: of early voting, we've been getting beaten with that stick
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  Speaker 1: over and over for years. So I say we start
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  Speaker 1: swinging it back. So, so you lies the early voting,
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  Speaker 1: the absentee, whatever you have to do to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that you participate in the process. When the Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: hands down a decision and it is not a single
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  Speaker 1: entity but a body, and that decision does not apparently
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  Speaker 1: matter enough to get it here. So and you may
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  Speaker 1: even know where I'm headed with this. What's it been
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  Speaker 1: twenty three twenty four years now since the Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: directed the legislature to change school funding? How do you
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  Speaker 1: is there a route to going back and saying, you
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  Speaker 1: know what, as the Supreme Court we issued this decision
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  Speaker 1: and it has not but on behalf of the voters,
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of the taxpayers. And with the turmoil that
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  Speaker 1: our public school systems are in, is there a route
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  Speaker 1: that you can take should you be elected that can
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  Speaker 1: get the court to go back, revisit this decision and say, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: we need to kick somebody's tail into gear here because
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  Speaker 1: it didn't get done.
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  Speaker 2: Well. The particular case you're talking about, the school funding case,
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  Speaker 2: and I probably can't specifically talk about that case particularly,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, the court speaks through its decisions, and
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  Speaker 2: this is where I think, you know, in certain cases,
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  Speaker 2: courts have an inherent power. For example, my court now
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  Speaker 2: is a trial court to uh issue orders and if
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  Speaker 2: orders aren't followed up with to uh to you know,
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  Speaker 2: issue citations for contempt or hold contempt type hearings. But
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  Speaker 2: spring court is a court of Court of Appeals that
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  Speaker 2: the court of reviews, the court that tells what the
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  Speaker 2: law is. And so ultimately, you know, certain decisions, for example,
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  Speaker 2: redistricing decisions that came out a few years back, ultimately
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  Speaker 2: were taken up to a federal district court who intervened.
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  Speaker 2: You know. Obviously, state courts don't like having cases brought
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  Speaker 2: up in the federal courts, and federal courts don't like,
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  Speaker 2: uh don't like intervening in state decisions. But I think
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  Speaker 2: that that's this goes to show the importance of these
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  Speaker 2: state courts and importance of having justice who are going
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  Speaker 2: to follow the law, not just create law or event
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  Speaker 2: laws out of thin air and legislate from the bench.
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  Speaker 2: They need to be able to stay what the law is,
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  Speaker 2: have a clear decision, clear map that in your opinion
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  Speaker 2: written opinion as to what's expected, and you know, trust
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  Speaker 2: in the system from there that the parties are going
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  Speaker 2: to follow the law. If not, then the case will
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  Speaker 2: be right back before the court no time.
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  Speaker 1: That's just a question that popped into my head about
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  Speaker 1: three years ago, and I've never had an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: ask it. If someone that could actually provide an answer,
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  Speaker 1: that might have some substance to it. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: if I don't comply, I can be fined. I can
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  Speaker 1: be jail charged with content blah blah blah. So can
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  Speaker 1: my company if I have a company. But I mean
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  Speaker 1: finding an entire legislature for not acting. I just I've
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  Speaker 1: been trying to figure out how what do you do?
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  Speaker 1: How do you what is that? Just? It seems like
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  Speaker 1: there should be a route, but I don't. I don't
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  Speaker 1: see a route.
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  Speaker 2: Well, part of it is our powers come Court's powers
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  Speaker 2: are come from statue, right. I mean, when I was
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  Speaker 2: an Environmental Court judge, I had the statutory of thought
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  Speaker 2: already to tell someone to pare down their vacant structure
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  Speaker 2: or to you know, kick out the drug dealers. And
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  Speaker 2: if not, I had the statutory the authority under law
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  Speaker 2: I could point to to issue daily finds or to
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  Speaker 2: even jail people. So part of it is a statutory
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  Speaker 2: remedy that proud courts have in certain issues. But when
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  Speaker 2: you get to appellate courts and state supreme courts, there
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  Speaker 2: they review decisions of lower courts or they issue decisions
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  Speaker 2: of what the law is. And ultimately, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: up to the voters to hold to hold their legislators
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  Speaker 2: and their executives accountable, is to whether or not they
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  Speaker 2: follow up on those laws followed in the decisions.
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  Speaker 1: Got about three minutes left here and I want to
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  Speaker 1: get out of your way, and I want you to
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  Speaker 1: tell me why, Dan Hawkins for Ohio State Supreme Court.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to answer any questions that nobody bothers
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  Speaker 1: to ask you, but you feel like it's something you
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  Speaker 1: want to get out there. Websites, Facebook's, twitters, anything you
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  Speaker 1: want to do do, let the people know how to
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  Speaker 1: reach you and how to find out more about you.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, thank you, Chuck. So yeah, my website is Hawkinspurjustice
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  Speaker 2: dot com. Feel free to go there and find out
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  Speaker 2: more about me. Also, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter,
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  Speaker 2: and apparently I'm on Instagram too. I'm not much up
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  Speaker 2: on that, but apparently I'm on there as well. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I'm in Ohio, Proud Ohio, Proud Ohio and born, raised
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  Speaker 2: in Central Ohio to a hard working, blue collar family.
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  Speaker 2: Attended the Ohio State University. I decided instead of going
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  Speaker 2: and working for law firms and making a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: money as a lawyer, I decided to become a criminal
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  Speaker 2: prosecutor instead because public service has always been in my heart.
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  Speaker 2: And I spent you know, thirteen years as a prosecutor
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  Speaker 2: dealing with the most difficult cases imaginable. In the last
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  Speaker 2: eleven years as a judge here in Franklin County as
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  Speaker 2: one of the sole Republicans left here in Franklin County.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been able to do that because I've got
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  Speaker 2: a reputation here in Central Ohio of not being a
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  Speaker 2: political judge, keeping politics out of the courtroom, just following
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  Speaker 2: the law as it's written and doing what I think
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  Speaker 2: is best to keep our communities safe and upholl people's
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  Speaker 2: constitutional rights. That's my goal as the House on the
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  Speaker 2: House Supreme Court. When I get to House Supreme Court,
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  Speaker 2: I want to keep politics out of the courtroom and
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  Speaker 2: make sure people's constitutional rights are upheld and the rule
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  Speaker 2: of law is always upheld.
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  Speaker 1: That makes you kind of an outsider when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to modern day politics, but I'm glad to hear it.
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  Speaker 1: And I think I think, as you said, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you've you're one of the few remaining in Franklin County
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  Speaker 1: because overall, you know, the office aside, just as a person,
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  Speaker 1: your disposition is generally likable. You don't come across as
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  Speaker 1: a hardhead and nut case or anything like that. You're
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  Speaker 1: a generally likable person. And and I think that you know,
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  Speaker 1: might might sway a little support from places unexpected sometimes,
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  Speaker 1: which is why you are one of the few remaining
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  Speaker 1: Republican office holders in this county. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I spent all my time with the
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  Speaker 2: Environmental Court and in Franklin County the Police Court. I
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  Speaker 2: spend many nights a week going to different commedee groups,
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  Speaker 2: block watch groups, church groups and talking to them about
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  Speaker 2: our court system. And I had a number of people.
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  Speaker 2: Take Dan, You're the only I'm a diehard Democrat, You're
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  Speaker 2: the only Republican I voted for because I met you.
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  Speaker 2: I may not agree with you about certain things, but
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  Speaker 2: I met you. You're a good guy, and I believe
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  Speaker 2: you're doing what you think is best, and I think
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  Speaker 2: that that matters a lot. That retail politics and getting
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  Speaker 2: out there and meeting voters meet meets a lot, which
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  Speaker 2: is why I really appreciate you taking the time to
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  Speaker 2: give me this audience.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time to be the first
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  Speaker 1: of the people that I'll be talking to for election
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  Speaker 1: this November. You're you're the inaugirls, so thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get the podcast up and links up and all
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  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff on the social media, so folks
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  Speaker 1: who might want to go back and re listen to
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  Speaker 1: you or click the links and see what you're about,
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  Speaker 1: we'll be able to do that.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate a Hawkins forjusice dot com for any more information,
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  Speaker 2: and thank you again, Chuck, and I'd love to come
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  Speaker 2: back anytime, hope maybe in studio after the election as
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  Speaker 2: your new Supreme Court justice.
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  Speaker 1: All right, I appreciate that, And as long as you
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  Speaker 1: bring snacks, will be good. That's that's all I ask.
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  Speaker 1: If you're going to come to the stadium, bring snacks.
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  Speaker 1: Dan Hawkins for Ohio State Supreme Court. We'll get that
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  Speaker 1: up as I said on the podcast as well as
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  Speaker 1: on the social media, so you can click the links
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  Speaker 1: see what he's about.