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.

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!

- 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.

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!

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

http://www.cityclub.org/Media/Audio/CityClubPodcast-090826.mp3 (source: WCPN/NPR Podcast of 8/26 City Club Debate)

http://www.wcpn.org/WCPN/news/27620/ (source: WCPN/NPR story on the debate)

http://clevelandmagazinepolitics.blogspot.com/2009/08/county-executive-or-not-city-club.html (source: Cleveland Magazine Blog article on the debate)

http://www.laprensatoledo.com/Stories/2009/082809/Venezuelan.htm (source: La Prensa)

Who are these council members?  Are they nuts?  Is it those snooty Gates Mills or Pepper Pike employees that might be getting their pay cut? Nope!  Is it Parma, ha ha even you knew it wasn’t them.  It must be an affluent suburb, right?

Wrong. It’s Mentor, Ohio.

Remember: we are the GREATER Cleveland YR’s.  Not the Cuyahoga County YR’s.  We do go to other cities and counties for social engagements and make friends.

Anyhow, our friends in Lake County are setting an example that Cuyahoga County Democrat henchman like Mayor Dean Dipiero and Parma City Council better take a look at: cutting pay and staff.  Sadly, that means their siblings kids and their friends that marched in parades for them and Bill Mason may not be able to buy that iPhone or donate to next year’s commissioner campaigns.

Mentor has an employee pay rol 364 deep.  The unions have not gotten to 118 people.  So, 118 City of Mentor employees may face reduced pay and reduced benefits.  This includes, get this, council staff!  This same council staff is reported to get not vacation or sick time!  Of course, the rest of the pay roll are union members and will continue to receive 3% cost of living adjustments.

Can you imagine telling Joe Cimperman or Martin Sweeney that they have to work more than 20 weeks a year on less that $72,000?! Or, how about that their $25, 000/year expense accounts or going to be cut.

Maybe the municipalities in Cuyahoga County will wake-up.

Not going to happen.

For months and months the Plain Dealer has beat the County Reform drum.  In fact, about every other week the editorial page and Metro section staff (air) publish the “dirty laundry” laying around the rooms and hall ways of our 10, 000 strong county government.  These exposes have included such hits as the infamous “mug shots” of county employees and their connections to the elected officals’ office in which they take up space.  It is clear that the Plain Dealer has been pushing an agenda; do not trust the Plain Dealer because it too will be bankrupt soon.  Heck, the Plain Dealer like County Government must lay off people.

The Senate Republicans have proposed a plan put together by Senator Tim Grendel and Senator Tom Patton.  This YR has met both and thinks both mean well.  However, the plan proposed by the honorable Senators is does not go far enough to reform.  In fact, one could make the argument that it actually may make government bigger!  Basically, the plan would replace the three county commissioners with thirteen county councilman and an executive.  Furthermore,  the auditor, recorder and treasurer would be rolled into one appointed roll; fiscal officer.  The coroner and engineer would also be appointed.  This leaves the sheriff and prosecutor up for election, by…get this…, the people!

This isn’t even a start.  Also, it means we would end up with more corrupt career Democrat politicians. This seems to increase government and manufacture more patronage machines.  Anything on ethics, spending, anything?

Local democrats are moaning and wailing.  County Commissioners fired off a letter charging that this is be driven by the Plain Dealer and Republican Party in so many words.

However, given the amount of money the Federal Government is spending investigating corruption in local government can we afford to listen to the same people whose homes and offices are being raided, and whose employees are being indicted on extortion?

However, you and I know that we can not pay for this budget without borrowing and raising taxes.  So, what’s goin’ on?  You got it!  Uncle Obama is sending us check via the so-called “Stimulus” spending.  Now, anyone with a pulse, expect Ohio’s News Media, is asking “What happens when Uncle Obama stops sending checks?”

Enter Senate Republicans, Stage middle right (not exactly from the right you notice).  Sentate Republicans have proposed a very, very modest 1.8% decrease in the over-the-top State budget.  This will be largely accomplished by cutting, GASP, earmarked projects (approx. $140), and around $400 million from State Agencies.

Senate Republicans do not deserve accolades, kudos, or even a pat on the back: THEY PROPOSED A MEASLY 1.8% reduction in spending.  How about proposing a 20% reduction and settling for 15%, boys!?