SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Urbana, Ohio — In what may have been the most hotly contested races on the ballot in Champaign County, Republican candidates took both seats for common pleas court judge in the domestic relations, juvenile and probate division.

Republican Lori Reisinger defeated Kevin Talebi, her Independent opponent, 11,019 to 5,038, according to final, unofficial results from the Champaign County Board of Elections.

Republican Brett Gilbert also won the second seat available, defeating Ronald Tompkins, his Democratic opponent, 6,851 to 5,065. Cathy Weithman, an Independent candidate, received 3,885 votes.

Reisinger said she was relieved and said she was ready to help Champaign County families from a different perspective. Her first goal, she said, will be to start working through the court's docket to relieve some of the backlog.

"I believe my first priority is going to be to get the docket caught up as much as possible," she said.

Gilbert said he looks forward to working with Reisinger, and said the two will likely work together to set up a framework for how the court system will work.

"I think at the moment, Lori and I will sit down and put together a framework for the court system," he said.

Gilbert said both his opponents ran a tough race, and while he was pleased with the result, he also knows he has a lot of work on his hands.

"It was a good race," Gilbert said. "It was a lot of work and a lot of time and it's kind of a relief it's over," he said.

Among the issues he will have to work with early on, Gilbert said some grants for juvenile probation may be expiring, and he will have to find creative ways of funding to make sure programs are available for those individuals.

Talebi and Tompkins both said they were pleased with how their campaigns were run, although they were disappointed with the end result.

One of the two judge seats was created by the retirement of Judge John Newlin, while the other position was created last year to assist with an increasing case load in the juvenile, probate and domestic relations divisions.

Throughout the campaign, each candidate acknowledged that whoever was elected will have a lot of work on their hands. Between 1999 and 2004, the case load in those divisions increased by 42 percent, according to a study by the National Center for State Courts. Many of those cases were put on hold until the new judges were elected, meaning even as they ran for the post, each candidate knew taking the job would mean wading into a heavy docket of cases from the start.