The following is a presentation of FCB Faith. This is the Jeffrey and Nick Show. Welcome to the jeff Glorie and Nick Show. And we are a talk show that is very informative and we're full focused on finding solutions to today's issues and problems and making our communities, our nation, our country a much better place. We're happy to have with us an exciting guest today, one who is gonna help tell us just what his job entails and why he should be re elected. We have an appellate court judge John Ecklin. Judge John Ecklin of the eleventh District Circuit Court. Judge, Welcome to our show, John Ecklund. Thank you so very much. I'm pleased to be here and thank you for everything you do to serve our community. Oh, thank you, judge. Can you tell us how did you become judge? How did you get to the events where you are right now? Well, the longest short of it is I served for ten years as an Ohio State Senator representing the eighteenth district, which was Lake County, Geoga County, and Portage County. And in that capacity I worked very closely over the years with initially Attorney General Mike Dwine and then towards the end of my terms, Governor Mike Dwine on many many issues, and we worked very closely together. When I came to the end of my Senate career because of term limitations, there was a vacancy on the Court of Appeals in the eleventh District, and the Governor and his folks approached me late in my Senate term to see if I was interested in being appointed to fill that position as a judge when I left the Senate. Now, all during this time I was still a practicing lawyer in Cleveland with Kalfie Halter and Griswold, and I had anticipated going back to doing that full time and once I got out of the Senate. But the Governor's folks were very shall we say, persistent and persuasive, and I think it was largely as a result of the personal relationship I had developed with the Governor over time and his ability to see me in action for ten years as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Criminal Justice Committee, and some of the other initiatives I was involved in. That he was very familiar with my capabilities and my abilities, and so at the end of the day. The short and long of it is, I accepted that appointment in June of twenty twenty one. I was took the bench in July of twenty twenty one, July one, and then because of the Ohio Constitution, I was filling an unexpired term, so I had to run in the next general election to finish that term, which I did in twenty twenty two, and I won, and that term now expires, so I'm standing for a re election to a full six year term this year. That's kind of the reader's digest version, if you know what I mean. Judge John Ecklin, do you feel that your time in the Senate pretty much prepared you for your time to serve on this Court of Appeals Love District. That's a great question, and I think in more ways than one, the answer is yes. Okay. So much of what court appellate court judges do is interpret the laws and try to understand what they mean, and so often appellate judges are looking for, well, what was the legislative intent? Okay? I happen to think that in many respects because of my experience in the legislature, I know what a frustrating and frankly at times futile effort. That is why because in the legislature there are ninety nine and thirty three is one hundred and thirty two legislators voting on legislation. And if you can figure out what all one hundred and thirty two of those folks were thinking when they passed a particular bill, you have a crystal ball that I don't own, all right, So it's kind of you have to appreciate that when you're looking for legislative intent, to delve into it is sometimes not very productive, which is why I have a greater appreciation than most for the need of an appellate judge to just look at the words. You can't tell what was in the minds of one hundred and thirty two legislators and a governor who signed the bill. To get the intent, you have to go by what was written on the page. That's number one. Number two. I think because I know what the legislative process was about, and I have a deep appreciation for what the judicial process is about. I know there's a difference between the two legislators are advocating for a particular position. They're advocating for policy. They're making policy. Judges don't do that, at least in my mind they should not, but rather they should be applying the law, making sure the law is constitutional, making sure that nobody's overstepped their bounds in passing the law. But once it's passed by the will of the people through their legislators, we apply it as best as we can understand it. And knowing that distinction and everybody has their lanes, if you know what I mean, in which to operate, is a critically important part of the fabric of our constitutional system. And I think that having experience in both the legislative and a judicial branch goes a long way towards maintaining that constitutional framework within which we all thankfully operate in this country. Yes, and that's so important. I'm glad you touched on that. We just saw that, and you know, we see in so many cases where there's the attempt uh to to overturn you know, constitutional law laws. Right, that's just right there, and I think in this day of activism, we have to be careful to make sure that our judiciary system simply interprets the law as it is written, as opposed to taking it upon themselves to be activists and change law or make law from the bench. We talk about the Court of Appeals in the eleventh District. What areas do you represent? We we have appellate jurisdiction in five counties, Astabula, Lake, Geoga, Portage, and Trumbull Counties, the five northeastern most counties of the district. It's essentially the same size as the as the congressional district that currently David Joyce represents in our United States Congress. It's about seven hundred and fifty thousand people. And we hear appeals from every court in all five of those counties, from your municipal court, your judges court, the courts of common pleas, the probate, juvenile, domestic relations courts, the whole ball of whack. So we get quite a quite a corniocopia of cases on different legal issues, different legal contexts, and we have the primary appellate jurisdiction on those cases. We hear some original what they call original actions as well. We have jurisdiction over some special writs that some parties seek from time to time. But the bulk of our work is appellet work, and we are in most instances, and it just happens to be this way. We are oftentimes the last stop on people's search for justice because the Supreme Court of Ohio, which is the next step, they have what we call discretionary jurisdiction. They don't have to hear every case that is appealed to them, but we have to hear every appeal that is appealed to us. And the next stop is the Supreme Court, but they don't have to take everything that comes their way. So it's a big, big responsibility for a lot of great Ohioans. Judge John Ecklin, we've heard nothing but good things about you, and we know that you've done a great job as a legislature and as a judge. Do you have in Europe for re election? Do you have an opponent, any opposition in this to your reelection? I have an opponent in the primary which is scheduled to be held. Well, it's being held now and the final election day is March nineteenth. Yes, so it's so important to get this information out. Have you been endorsed by any or reviewed by any organizations. I've been reviewed by various bar associations in the district. I don't know whether they've made their pronouncements public or not. And I hesitate to say what they might say, but I've been endorsed by the Lake County Republican Party and by the Astabula Republican Party so far as I know, they are the only county parties that have endorsed a candidate in this primary race at this point. But the most important iportant thing, as you know better than most probably is that the most important endorsement is the one that comes on the evening of March nineteenth. And I would say this to you as well if I may. You know, it's very important to me to include in my message the fact that to voters in particular, please vote in the judicial elections. You know, there's sometimes a little farther down the ballot than others, and when you're in a primary season, it's sometimes hard for people to you know, dig in and get a little further down the ballot. But I would encourage all of your listeners to please investigate and make found choices and vote in the judicial elect actions all the way down to your municipal court judges, because it does make a difference to a very important function of government. Yes, it does how about you know, the issues of safety and justice. Are you one that really stands for that? Yes, of course. I mean, the safety of our citizens and ultimately justice are the critical functions of government. I mean, why did we have a declaration of independence? Right? Because the colonists sought justice and liberty right and their safety, safety from the government and safety from the bad guys. Okay, But and there's no equivocating on that. But what we also need to remember is the function of a of an appellate judge, of any judge, first and four most is to make sure that justice and safety are attained consistent with the procedures and the protections afforded to everybody under our constitution. Okay, And yeah, you wouldn't sacrifice the people's safety or justice over something minor like the First Amendment, or would you? No? The First Amendment comes first, the Fifth Amendment comes first, the Fourth Amendment, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures comes first. It's justice within the bounds of the law, within the within the protections that are blessed system of government provides us. And that's primarily where the appellate judge does their work. And that's what I try to do what you say is correc but within the bounds of our system, which we're pledged to protect and uphold. Thank you so much, Judge John Eckland. We wish you the best. How can people find out more about you or someone may be willing to assist you. How can they find out about your campaign? How to reach you, how to help Judge John Ecklund. Dot com is a good place to go. I'll take a big chance here. Okay, they can also call me on my cell phone. I'm going to give you my cell phone number four four zero eight six seven three eight six zero. I'm happy to talk to any citizen who has questions or wonders about the importance of what we're doing or how we're trying to go about it. Thank you so much to our guest, John Eckland. Judge John Ecklund of the Court of Appeals, eleventh District. We're so happy to have him here today. He's done an excellent job telling us what he does, why he should be re elected, and informing our audience. Wanna thank you for being with us. Our greatest producer on this side of heaven, Darby Omorrow, Thank you again, and let's all remember to keep fighting the good fight. Let's remember to keep making our communities better, our cities, our villages, towns, townships, and this state and nation a better place to live. Keep doing your part and keep fighting a good fight. Thank you all, hey, God bless you. God bless you too, and thank you again for everything you guys do. This has been a presentation of the FCB podcast Network, where real Talk lives. Visit us online at fcbpodcasts dot com.
