April 4 Meeting Minutes

Written by: Susan Lambert on Apr 8, 2006 10:36 PM EDT

Sue Stromberg opened the meeting by announcing that there would be no meeting in May, because our normal meeting date falls on election day. So, the next time we meet will be on June 6th.

On April 22nd there will be a Democratic Party meeting at 12:30 at the Carpenter's Hall, 7359 Maple St, Mentor. The Carpenter's Hall is about 100 feet from the intersection of Maple and Mentor Ave, east of Rt. 615. Lunch will be provided and Lee Fisher will be there. Preceding the meeting will be a 9:00 a.m. lit drop for the Democratic slate. Sue thinks there will also be canvassing and/or phone banking the following weekend. She'll confirm plans and inform the group once more details are available.

If anyone is interested in volunteering in Cuyahoga County, the Cuyahoga DFA will be canvassing this Saturday, April 8, to get signatures on the petition to raise minimum wage in Ohio. Those interested should meet at the AFLCIO at 3250 Euclid Ave. There's a large parking lot and coffee and doughnuts will be served.

Sue announced that, unfortunately, Ohio Senate Bill 265 passed. This is the bill that will lower Ohio's air quality standards to those the federal government uses. When asked how our local elected officials voted on it, Sue said that both Tim Cassell and Tim Grendell voted for it.

The national DFA is announcing online courses in activism. See the DFA site for more details.

Dick Henderson told us that LaTourette told him that he would not be voting to privatize Social Security this year. But, Bush's budget has one line in it that sets the privatization of Social Security in motion.

Dick also announced the America Works Expo on May 5-7. Admission is free. Exhibited will be all union-made, American made products. Over $1 million in prizes will be awarded there. The only fee is to park,

Judge Peter M. Sikora, who is running for Ohio Supreme Court, was one of our featured speakers. He grew up on the west side of Cleveland, graduated from college and law school, and began his law career as a law clerk for the Ohio Court of Appeals. After serving there for two years, he served three years as Deputy Legal Counsel for Governor Celeste. In that position he handled the whole gamut of cases, from clemency appeals, to immigration issues, and on up. He then served three years as the Deputy Director and General Counsel for the Ohio Department of Mental Health Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. He has been in his current position, Judge of Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Division, for seventeen years. As the experienced candidate, he feels he is the best choice for the Ohio Supreme Court.

Judge Sikora talked about the current culture of corruption in Ohio's government where the office holders play musical chairs with their offices and operate mostly in a pay to play system. Even Ohio's Supreme Court has a cloud hanging over it. Five of the six justices have stepped aside for handling Coingate cases because their staffs have taken Noe money. Judge Sikora has ordered his campaign committee not to accept any money that would compromise his hearing any cases on the Supreme Court.

Judge Sikora discussed some of his plans for his tenure in the court:
- He wants to electronically update the Ohio Supreme Court so that cases can be filed electronically rather than in hard copy.
- He wants to promote family courts.
- He wants to set up programs to encourage adoptions in this state. There are 1200 children available for adoption in Cuyahoga County and 4000 in the state of Ohio. We need to do a better job of finding them permanent homes.

Judge Sikora made sure to thank his Lake County campaign coordinators, Dick and Nancy Henderson.

Our other featured speaker was Mary Jane Trapp, who is running for the 11th District Court of Appeals. The 11th District Court serves Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, and Portage counties, and hears appeals for cases from the courts in those counties. They make determinations on whether there has been an error in procedures or law in the lower courts.

Ms. Trapp started her life as a Democrat at age 12, when she worked on Bobby Kennedy's campaign. She went to Case Western Reserve law school and has been an attorney for 25 years. She has worked all types of cases, including civil, criminal, trial, etc. Because of her wide range of experience, she is very qualified to hear appeals on all types of issues. She is a past president of the Ohio Bar Association and is currently the Ohio Bar's representative to the U.S. Bar Association. If she wins this race, she could possibly end up being the only Democrat on the Court of Appeals..

Ms. Trapp talked extensively about how important it is for people to vote for judges. After all, who put George W. Bush in office? - Justices. She feels it is crucial that everyone know who the Democrats are who are running for judicial spots. She hopes to encourage coordinated campaigns that will make everyone aware of this so that they will vote on the judicial spots, instead of ignoring them. She's hoping to get the Ohio Democratic Party to put out a sample judicial ballot to help educate the population about who is running.

Sue Stromberg encouraged both Judge Sikora and Mary Jane Trapp to go the the DFA website and apply for DFA endorsement.

Sue announced that she is negotiating with the Sherrod Brown campaign to bring him to speak to our group in the next few months.

John Church suggested possibly combining our group with the Geauga and Cuyahoga groups to hear campaign speakers. He also suggested doing another picnic, like we did last year.

The next Lake DFA meeting is Tuesday, June 6th at the Eagles in Willoughby.

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Location: Mentor, OH 44060