We had our monthly meeting on June 17th in the wine cellar room at RJ Boland’s downtown.  This month our theme was “Judicial Night” with the following judicial candidates addressing the group:
- Judge Gene Lucci, a current judge for the Ohio Court of Appeals (11th district) and former police officer
- Judge Dick Ambrose, a current judge for the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and former Cleveland Browns linebacker
- Rob McClelland, current candidate for Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.  Rob has recently been interviewed by multiple bar associations in Cuyahoga County and his ranking on http://www.judge4yourself.com/ should be forthcoming.

Each of the judicial candidates had a turn to speak briefly and all of them emphasized the importance of having fair judges who know the law.  They also all emphasized that judicial offices are non-partisan and that a person’s party should not influence his or her rulings.

Jim Crooks, candidate for County Executive in District 6th, was also able to join us for the meeting.  In leiu of a stump speech, Jim (a fellow young Republican) took a minute to encourage the members of our club to get involved in politics.  I always enjoying hearing about the path our conservative politicians have taken to get where they are - no matter how long they’ve been involved!

Afterward, Ed Oliveros, who is an active Republican in the area, gave some information and led a brief discussion on off-shore windpower in Cleveland.  He was able to explain some new projects going on a few miles into Lake Erie.  We also discussed the different types of jobs created by the windpower project, and what advantages and disadvantages the Cleveland area has compared to other areas focusing on wind power.  Members of our club were especially interested in the amount of power needed to get the power generated back to land, and some of the discussion focused on the importance of finding multiple energy sources to reduce our dependence on foreign oil - whether in the form of alternative energy or domestic drilling.

Couldn’t join us this time?  You’ll have to wait a while for our next topical meeting, but join us on July 22nd (this is the FOURTH Thursday - some of us are headed to DC for the national YRF conference during our regular meeting week).  We’ll be having a social for Matt Dolan!  Location TBD, so keep a look out on facebook or our Events page.

On behalf of the entire executive board and the membership of the Greater Cleveland Young Republicans, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the following individuals and campaigns who generously sponsored a hole at this year’s golf outing:

Our event co-sponsor, The Republican Party of Cuyahoga County
Matt Dolan, candidate for County Executive
State Representative Nan Baker, Incumbent candidate - 16th district
Jeff Hastings
Steven Backiel, RPCC Executive Director
Dave Harbarger
Mayor Marlene Anielski, candidate for State Representative - 17th district
Grace Drake, former State Senator
Tom Patton, State Senator - 24th district
Jim Crooks, candidate for county council - 6th district
Matt Cox
Strongsville Republican Club (Gordon Short, President)
Tom Ganley, candidate for Congress - 13th district
Robert McClelland, candidate for Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
Peter Corrigan, candidate for Congress - 10th district
Dave Luketic, GCYR President

This year’s outing was a huge success, despite a little rain after the turn (and by “a little”, I mean it rained with more force than the showerhead in my bathroom).  We nearly doubled the number of golfers who participated in 2009, and we had more than a dozen people who joined us just for dinner.  Thank you to everybody who participated - we hope you’ll join us for events in the future!

The Greater Cleveland Young Republican club had our monthly meeting at The Clevelander - a cool place in downtown Cleveland with a big Ohio University flag hanging downstairs (my alma mater!) and an awesome, huge meeting space upstairs.  If we could eliminate the fact parking can run $20 or more when there are sporting events or concerts downtown, this would be the perfect spot!

- We opened the meeting by voting for and installing our new exec board (Welcome aboard Dave, Candice, Stacey, Larissa & Maggie)!
- Lisa Stickan, former President of our club and current chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, was on hand to give an update on YRNF activity and to invite everybody to the Young Republican Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. July 14th-18th.  Interested in going?  Head to the registration site and sign up today!
- Ryan Johnson, President of the Ohio Young Republicans, was also on hand to congratulate the new exec board.
- Candice Miller began the healthcare discussion with a quick discussion of the questions about the constitutionality of the healthcare reform bill.  She then introduced Val Emmert, a coordinator with The Ohio Project, who discussed what the project aims to do and also dispelled some rumors.  The Ohio Project is an effort to get the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment (a proposed amendment to the state constitution) added to the ballot in November.  This amendment would preserve an individuals right to choose his or her healthcare, but does not affect someone’s ability to participate in a government program if they wish to.  If you would like to help, you can contact Val at republicanval@sbcglobal.net.
- Tom Ganley addressed the group with a powerful speech about what compelled him to get involved in politics after running successful businesses and discussed his plan to be the most fiscally conservative member of Congress when he wins!
- Dave Greenspan and Craig Marvinney, candidates for County Council, were also on hand to give updates on their campaign efforts and talk with our members.

If you weren’t able to join us this month, I sincerely hope you will be able to attend one of our events soon!  Head to the Events page to register NOW for our golf outing on June 5th, or come back soon for an update on our June meeting where we will be discussing off-shore wind power and the job opportunities for our local economy.

In just a few short days, we will be swearing in the new executive board for our club and I will stepping back from being a “Vice President” to be a communications chair.  It was brought to my attention this week that one duty I haven’t executed all that faithfully is updating this page with our club goings-on!  So, as a great group of officers prepare to take over, here is the first five months of 2010 in review:

Speakers
- Peter Corrigan (corriganforcongress.com), who has now been chosen as Dennis’ opponent in the general election for the 10th district Congressional seat spoke about his plan to use his business experience to benefit our area.
- W. Ben Franklin, also a candidate for the 10th Congressional seat, was also kind enough to join us for a meeting.
- Jeremy Caldwell, candidate for State Representative in District 13, spoke about his plans to leverage his experience as an engineer to bring jobs to the area.  Check out his website at: http://www.caldwell2010.com/
- Dave Greenspan, candidate for Cuyahoga County Council in District 1, spoke about his hope for county reform and his focus on job growth.  Visit his website: www.davegreenspan.com!
- Craig Marvinney, Republican candidate for County Council from District 5 spoke about his plans to end the county corruption and improve the county.

Meeting topics
In January, the meeting topic was “Campaigning 101″ where we talked about the basic activities people can do support campaigns.  At February’s meeting, our main goal was to discuss and accept nominations for our exec board - but we still squeezed in a game to help get to know our state and local GOP candidates better!  In March, the meeting topic was “Gun Night”, where two local NRA-certified instructors talked about Ohio concealed laws and pending legislation.  The next month our meeting fell on April 15th, so we discussed some of the most shocking and little known tax provisions.  This month we will be discussing the impact of Obamacare on businesses.

Social Events
We’ve been picking up new members all over the place, and I can’t help but think it’s because we’re such a fun group!  Way back in December, we did a bar crawl through Ohio City’s W. 25th Street in search of a new meeting location.  We hosted a kick-off party at RJ Boland’s in January with more than 30 of our members and friends from the Lake-Geauga YRs.  Our annual birthday party for Ronald Reagan was held in February with record attendance - despite the snow!  In April we took advantage of (slightly) warmer weather and did another bar crawl to partake in the monthly Tremont Art Walk.

Networking Events
One of the best advantages to being a member of the GCYRs is all the county and community events we attend as a group (not to mention the discounted or free tickets we often get!).  This year we had a table at the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County’s annual Christmas party in December.  Some of us were able to attend a finance committee dinner with Dick Cheney as the keynote speaker in February.  In April we had more than a table of members at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner, where most candidates from the state ticket were present.  The following week, we again overflowed a table at Life Works annual Choose Life dinner.

All in all it’s been a great year - with more to come!  I’m still pretty new to Cleveland, but with the friends and contacts I’ve made through my involvement with theclub, I feel like an old hat.  If you’ve been at these events I’m talking about above or you remember one I forgot, let’s hear about it!  If you haven’t had a chance to come out and meet us, I really hope you will.  We have a meeting at The Clevelander on May 20th and our annual golf outing on June 5th (check the events page for more details).  Both are certain to be tons of fun and nothing could make them better a slew of new members to get to know!

Disclaimer: The following is meant to stimulate discussion and does not necessarily represent the views of the GCYR, any member(s) who didn’t contribute to the post or the Republican Party at any level.

How time flies! It seems like just yesterday I was debating my friends about whether Y2K was going to do us all in. Okay, maybe it doesn’t seem like yesterday, but it is hard to believe I’ve arrived in the fourth decade I’ve been alive in!

As I rang in 2010 with some friends, I reflected back on what New Years 1999/2000 looked like. I was 14 years old, living with my dad in West Virginia. I was all about stage theater, even though I was rarely cast above a chorus role, so my dad allowed me to invite my theater company friends over for a new years party in the basement. I couldn’t drive. I didn’t work. I had never lived outside of West Virginia. I had adults all around me (parents, counselors, ministers, teachers, neighbors…) helping me with every decision: what classes to take, who to hang out with, how late to stay out, what food to eat, what church to attend, what colleges/majors to consider, what to spend my money on. And that was great! I owe an enormous portion of my success and happiness as an adult to all those people who spent time helping me learn the ways of the world.

I’m almost 25 now, though, and those same people would not be so patient if I still required that kind of help. If my dad’s accountant daughter called him up asking for $20 to go to a movie with friends or if I somehow ended up with scurvy because I preferred to eat frozen pizza for every meal, well… there comes a time when the people in my life would run out of patience for an adult who still needs to be tended like a child.

As a teenager, I had a few fender-benders with my car. I tried out several churches and took classes on multiple world religions before I picked a church. I transferred colleges and I changed my major - twice. And yes, there were moments, if not periods, of discomfort in each of these experiences. However, it was not during the times when people imparted knowledge upon me that I learned how to do things and took responsibility for myself - it was during the times they stood back and let me try to use those skills myself.

Going in to 2010, I can’t help but look at this big, ugly, filibuster-proof liberal tri-fecta we have in Washington and shrug. From schools to healthcare, guns to road construction, retirement benefits to union votes, this administration wants to run it all! Just like a child or a teenager, it’s true there will be less uncertainty and fewer trials if the government is “in charge” of everything, but we have to take a look back and decide if that’s affordable. For instance, I can agree more people will have access to healthcare if the government runs it, but over time more people will rely on that healthcare who would have otherwise provided for themselves. I believe government should be like a parent - providing for those (people/states/countries) that are having an emergency but with the goal always being for them to eventually provide for themselves. And, like a parent who has a limited amount of patience, there has to be a line we draw where we run out of money and recognize that “to each his own” should apply to responsibility, not just freedom.

It is hard for me to understand why our Congress is approving close to a trillion dollars in additional spending in the very same week they are raising our debt limit to $12 trillion. I certainly wouldn’t run my household or my business that way, and if I knew somebody who did, I certainly wouldn’t choose that person to run my life in my absence. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to Election Day 2010 as a chance to tell my elected officials at all levels that I value my freedom, even if it comes with some responsibility, and that they need to stop spending so much money!

What do you think??

Posted by Tiffany Hoke, VP of Finance & Administration