COLUMBUS, Ohio - The candidacy of Bill O'Neill, the former Ohio Supreme Court justice who quit the court to run for governor, could hurt down-ballot Democratic candidates should he become the party's nominee in the race, a party background check committee has determined.

However, the party has decided to allow O'Neill - who raised eyebrows when he announced on social media he had bedded 50 women -- to participate in gubernatorial forums and debates since he has held statewide office and has been endorsed by the party in the past.

On Wednesday night, Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper read 144 members of the party leadership a memo from a committee tasked with vetting gubernatorial candidates. The committee's job was not to endorse candidates or pass judgment on their politics - but to look at each hopeful's viability and how each would affect the entire Democratic ticket. The committee was formed after Ed FitzGerald's 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidacy tanked when news broke that he didn't have a valid Ohio driver's license for a decade, which many believe turned Dems away from the polls on Election Day.

The vetting committee has met several times in recent months and reviewed O'Neill, Richard Cordray, Dennis Kucinich, Connie Pillich (who has left the race), Betty Sutton (now Cordray's running mate), state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley (who also has left the race).

"With one exception, all candidates satisfied the committee that there was not an issue or pattern of issues that risked the basic viability of their candidacy or of the Democratic ticket should they emerge as the Democratic nominee," the memo read.

O'Neill was the exception.

"Candidate O'Neill exhibited a pattern of financial and ethical challenges over a number of years, as a private citizen, a candidate and an elected official," the memo said.

The Columbus Dispatch has reported that O'Neill had $4,361 in past-due state income taxes that he said he's paid, and that he faced liens from the Ohio Department of Taxation in connection with income taxes owed in 2014 and 2016.

O'Neill also faced heavy criticism for not immediately stepping down from the Supreme Court after announcing his plans to run for governor. He left at the end of January, not long before the candidate filing deadline.

"Moreover, O'Neill has, on more than one occasion, posted highly inflammatory and insensitive remarks on social media," the memo said. Together, these challenges left the committee deeply concerned about the viability of his candidacy should he emerge as the Democratic nominee."

O'Neil has apologized several times for his social media posting about women.

O'Neill wasn't at the Wednesday meeting where the memo was read. But he said in a telephone interview that he thought Pepper took a "cheap shot" at him in part because the memo the party shared with cleveland.com had a "confidential" watermark on it.

O'Neill alleged the party ran candidates against him the last two times he ran for a statewide office -- Supreme Court. He's never lost a primary since 1974 and in his last race -- 2012 -- he won 87 of Ohio's 88 counties.

"My statewide credentials are in fine order," he said. "I'm disappointed the Democratic Party would treat someone who is potentially the next governor of Ohio in such a shabby fashion. There was a lot of negative information about a lot of candidates that came to that vetting committee, none of which was written about in the newspapers because it was promised to be a confidential session."

It isn't the first time O'Neill and the party have butted heads. O'Neill has frequently been critical of Democratic leadership.

Party spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis said after the Wednesday meeting - where the party's executive committee endorsed dozens of candidates mostly without opponents in the May primary - that the committee's work is to help educate voters.

"I think we wanted them to make an informed choice," she said.