The Champaign County Republican Club met on June 1, at the Champaign Residential Services Inc. (CRSI) in Urbana. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer for leaders. Longtime member and former vice chairman of the Champaign County Republican Executive Committee, Fry Shokouhi, who recently passed away, was recognized for his friendship and volunteer service over the years.
Guest speakers U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and state Sen. Matt Huffman were present for the meeting. Also present were recently elected District 12 Republican State Central and Executive Committee Member Ms. Katie Deland and a representative from Candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Renacci’s office.
Club President Doug Hoffman spoke briefly about the need for unity in the party heading toward the 2018 elections. “Now that the Primary election is behind us, no matter who you’re favorite candidate was at the pole, we must now get behind the winners”, said Doug Hoffman.
Sen. Huffman spoke about Sen. Bill 216, the Ohio Public School Deregulation Act. SB 216 is a bill designed to reduce the amount of mandated paperwork, practices, and compliance items that public schools across Ohio face on a daily basis. “All too often what sounds like a good idea in Columbus translates instead to burdensome paperwork and tedious tasks that distract teachers and superintendents from their primary role in our schools—educating,” said Senator Huffman. “The bill was formulated over several months of work directly with public school superintendents in the 12th Senate District. We first met with them in July 2017, where we asked them to list the work demanded by the state that they find redundant or unhelpful. That list formulated the foundation of SB 216, which we continued to refine until introducing the bill in October 2017.”
Then Sen. Huffman introduced Congressman Jim Jordan who spoke briefly about what the Congressional agenda looks like over the next few months in Washington D.C. Congressman Jordan took questions from various members for some time on topics like the ongoing Russia collusion investigation and the upcoming OMNIBUS bill.
The Champaign County Republican Club meets quarterly and holds various annual events in the county in order to connect with like-minded people. More information about the club is available on Facebook.
