With one appointment, Gov. Ted Strickland undermined what Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer spent much of his 23-year career trying to accomplish while leading the state’s judiciary.

Strickland appointed Franklin County probate judge Eric Brown, a fellow Democrat who’s up for election this November to become the high court’s next chief justice, as the state’s interim chief justice on Wednesday.

Moyer had planned to retire at year’s end but on April 2 died unexpectedly at age 70.

Brown is currently campaigning against Republican Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor, and when he assumes his duties as interim chief justice on May 3, the two will be forced to try to make impartial decisions against a backdrop of election-season politics. …

(Moyer’s) goals included fighting the perception its rulings are driven by politics ….

Yet when Strickland had an opportunity to keep out politics — and the money that follows it — from the current chief justice campaign, he failed. …

We would’ve preferred to see the governor appoint a placeholder chief justice who could have served without the distraction of a heated campaign.

There are countless other qualified judges who have no stake in the upcoming election from whom Strickland could have made his selection.

Instead, he made an appointment that reeks of partisan politics and disrespect for Moyer’s legacy.

The (Toledo) Blade