Until Tuesday, a bill that would create a judicial seat in Adams County, sponsored by Rep. Justin Pizzulli, seemed to be on track to pass. But after the bill received its third hearing in the Civil Justice Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives, members of the House walked away convinced that Rep. Pizzulli was misleading them.
The problem? It became clear during the hearing that Rep. Pizzulli had made false statements to the Ohio Supreme Court, claiming that Adams County Judge Brett Spencer supported the bill, when in fact he had never been consulted.
Judge Brett Spencer, currently the only judge in Adams County, testified before the committee that he had never heard about House Bill 283 until the Supreme Court called him to discuss the legislation. Judge Spencer said that in that conversation, the Supreme Court representative claimed that Rep. Pizzulli wrote to the court that the judge had endorsed House Bill 283, despite the fact that he had never done so. Judge Spencer stated that after he learned of this, he immediately reached out to Rep. Pizzulli, but has been unable to make contact with him despite several attempts to communicate over the past several weeks.
“Unfortunately and disappointingly, State Representative Pizzulli has refused to speak with me, although requests nearing double digits have been made by me to the Representative,” Spencer noted. “He’s never come to the courthouse to speak to me or to visualize the operations of our various aspects of the court … Although he’s been to our county to have his picture taken at grandstand bonanzas and different events, he’s never reached out to speak to me to my disappointment.”
So, what is Rep. Pizzulli’s motive behind this legislation? Judge Spencer told the committee he thinks it’s political. Describing the creation of the additional judicial seat as a “mulligan,” Judge Spencer speculated that Rep. Pizzulli and the supporters of the bill were attempting to create a seat for one of their political allies. In particular, Judge Spencer noted that his past election opponent, current Adams County Commissioner Barbara Moore, might be interested in filling this new seat.
Judge Spencer also noted that any need for an additional judicial seat certainly is not an emergency, as his Court’s docket has decreased in size alongside the population of Adams County. He noted that the total number of cases in his Court has decreased by 12.5% since 2013, when cases peaked.
Rep. Pizzulli will face election in March 2024. Earlier this year, Pizzulli was appointed state representative for the 90th district in the most divided vote in the history of the Ohio House, receiving “no” votes from 30 Republican members. The appointment of Pizzulli was controversial among statewide and local Republicans.
According to documents obtained exclusively by SCDN, Pizzulli has been active in supporting left-wing causes despite his registration as a Republican. The Facebook posts from Pizzulli’s personal page demonstrate that he has supported many agenda items that are typically endorsed by the far left.