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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MARCH 25, 1994
PAUL HARMS
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Juvenile Judge Robert Ferreri addresses gay and lesbian Republicans at Snickers.
Judge Ferreri presents his case to Log Cabin
by R. Woodward
Judge Robert A. Ferreri, the first Republican in 45 years to be elected as a Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court judge, spoke to members of the Log Cabin Club of Northeast Ohio at their monthly meeting at Snickers on March 9.
"Any group deserves the respect of being visited," said Judge Ferreri who is running for a second term this year. Many of those present recalled that he had not waited until it was an election year to show up and start talking to people.
Last June 13, the Log Cabin Club of Northeast Ohio held a Sunday brunch for Richard Tafel, president of the National Federation of Log Cabin Clubs and for Jerry Neal who had been an openly gay Republican candidate for a Columbus-area Ohio House seat in 1992. The public was invited to this brunch, and Judge Ferreri was there as part of the invited public to learn what was going on and to introduce himself to Log Cabin members.
At the March 9 meeting he described what the county juvenile court does. It handles abortion bypass cases, all juvenile delinquency cases, paternity cases, and all abuse and neglect cases involving minors. Two out of five cases, he said, are neglect and abuse cases.
Gay voters should be watching the juvenile courts, he said, because these courts have so much power over young developing minds. A juvenile court functions as a surrogate family for many children, showing them basic values and basic social skills they have not learned elsewhere.
In voting for juvenile court judges, gay voters choose parent figures for many children. This is one case in which gay voters have some real input into how homophobic the available parent figures are going to be. Judge Ferreri said that gay publications
should endorse slates of juvenile court candidates, or at least publish individual profiles of those they find to be the best candidates.
He pointed to two serious problems with how juvenile court judges are now elected.
One is that basic legal requirements for running as a juvenile court judge are far from strict. To run as a juvenile court judge in Ohio one pays fifty dollars, presents fifty signatures, and shows that one has had a license to practice law for six years. Unfortunately there is no requirement that one must have any actual courtroom experience. And there are examples of people elected as juvenile court judges in Cuyahoga County who have never represented anyone in any courtroom.
Judge Ferreri advocates requiring a minimum of ten years of actual courtroom experience for running for juvenile court judge. Serving as juvenile judge, he said, is the sort of job that cannot be done well without a goodly amount of "real-life experience"both outside and inside courtrooms. Now 44, Judge Ferreri himself has had many more years of courtroom experience than the minimum he advocates including eight years as assistant county prosecutor.
The other problem he pointed to is negligence of voters. All too many voters, he said, know nothing about judicial candidates they vote for-often choosing names on the ballot just because they sound familiar. Such irresponsible voting, he said, is worse than voting for no one on that part of the ballot.
Gay voters, he concluded, gain power by becoming better acquainted with juvenile court candidates. And they do themselves and the rest of society a big favor by helping to form future citizens.
"It's deciding what kind of future you want," Ferreri said, “and planning how to get it."
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