Judicial candidates spar over politics

Candidates in Ramsey County's only contested judicial race are taking political shots at each other, even though both hopefuls vowed the campaign should steer clear of politics.

In a 30-second cable television ad, Jay Benanav labels incumbent District Judge Elena Ostby a "Republican appointee." The tag is true. Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointed Ostby to the bench in 2004.

But Ostby's campaign said Benanav, a St. Paul City Council member, has taken a partisan swipe in a race in which both candidates agreed not to seek party endorsements.

"This is typical Jay Benanav, who will do anything to win an election," said Ron Lattin, Ostby's campaign manager. "He says he won't run a political campaign, then he campaigns at the DFL convention and basically calls Ostby a Republican. He is just a politician who wants a job."

Lattin said Ostby is a "lifelong Democrat." He added that Ostby's abilities as a lawyer caught Pawlenty's attention for the judge's post and that she is nonpartisan on the bench. Benanav said Ostby threw the first political punch. He said he's just hitting back with facts.

"She raised the issue of politics first," he said. "She called me a career politician. That has always been used by candidates to denigrate somebody. It's not used as a compliment."

Benanav is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, but said he did not seek the party's endorsement because doing so would not be appropriate in a judicial race.

The U.S. Supreme Court, acting in a Minnesota case, opened the door for politicized judicial elections in 2004. So far in Minnesota, a Republican judicial hopeful in Hutchinson is the only candidate still in the running who has sought and accepted a party endorsement.