Columbus Dispatch
By Darrel Rowland
August 2, 2015
Amid
the fuss about whether Gov. John Kasich will qualify for the prime-time
portion of Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, you
might have
forgotten that 14 of the 17 candidates will appear on television Monday
night from New Hampshire.
In
a two-hour event that will be broadcast live by C-SPAN starting at 7
p.m., Kasich and 13 other candidates will take turns answering questions
in five-minute
segments.
Organizers
say that “as a forum, instead of a debate, the format will be less
confrontational and geared towards more of a Q&A format where
candidates won’t
spend much time addressing each other.”
Those
who will miss Monday’s gathering at St. Anselm College near Manchester:
Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and the race’s newest
entrant,
former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
Speaking
of the Cleveland debate, not only have more than 800 people signed up
for media credentials, but several organizations also are holding events
centering
on the big matchup at Quicken Loans Arena.
For
example, the American Conservative Union is sponsoring a day of
training and speeches called Get Ready to Fight: Buckeye Boot Camp &
Debate Watch Party.
The group says presidential candidates are expected to stop by, and
speakers include U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and state Treasurer
Josh Mandel.
Meanwhile,
Ohio’s Voice — part of the national pro-immigrant group America’s Voice
— will watch the debate at Moncho’s Bar & Grill in Cleveland and
will have
“local immigrants and voters” on hand to comment.
The
Republican Party of Cuyahoga County is holding Cleveland’s first Urban
GOP Leadership Conference the day of and after the debate, designed to
show the GOP
how to compete for urban voters. Similarly, the American Enterprise
Institute is holding a roundtable on how conservative politicians can
overcome the fact that they are often viewed as “uncaring and lacking
compassion despite having the best economic solutions
to problems such as poverty and declining mobility.”
And
ColorofChange.org says it has bought nine billboards right outside the
convention center to generate discussion about how “police are murdering
black people
with impunity.”
More
than two months ago, we asked the office of Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine about federal charges involving major financial institutions that
handle Ohio
pension funds. A spokesman promised that the office would check to see
if any Ohio laws were broken or pension funds misused.
But nothing has materialized.
“We are still conducting our review,” said DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney.
The
questions were sparked by an inquiry from the head of Ohio’s Police
& Fire Pension Fund to state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who in turn
kicked the issue to DeWine.
As
Ohio’s voting equipment continues to age, with no significant money in
sight to replace devices purchased with federal money after the 2000
presidential voting
debacle, perhaps Buckeye State elections officials might be open to an
idea from Kansas.
Tabitha
Lehman, elections commissioner of Sedgwick County (which includes
Wichita), is proposing an unspecified assessment on campaign
contributions that would
be used to pay for needed voting equipment.
“It’s
akin, I guess, to a portion of money raised by college athletics to be
put back into the campus infrastructure — parking fees, reduced ticket
prices for
students and campus security,” said advocate Brian Newby, elections
administration of Johnson County, near Kansas City.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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