Geauga County Recorder Sharon Gingerich is attending her first Republican National Convention in downtown Cleveland as an alternate delegate for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. She shares what it’s like to attend one of the biggest political events of 2016.
Yesterday (July 11) was the annual JAD picnic at the Governor’s Mansion in Bexley, a suburb of Columbus. JAD is the acronym for the JoAnn Davidson Institute for Women in Leadership. I am a 2007 graduate of the Institute.
JoAnn brought us up to speed on some of the things that we will be experiencing at the convention.
First of all, as an Alternate Delegate, I must be present any time session is going on. Anytime the Delegate leaves the floor, they will come and get me. The Delegate cannot leave the floor for any reason unless the Alternate is in his place.
Unfortunately, that means I will be missing a lot of events. Sessions run until 11 p.m. every night and there are also afternoon sessions at various times. I may miss Rascal Flats, which was the one group I was familiar with. Will get to be with the Doobie Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd on Sunday (July 17), but I had to Google those two bands to see who they were. As you may be able to tell, I am not much into musical entertainment.
Each morning there will be a breakfast session where we will be given our marching orders for the day. We will also hear from different speakers each day. Monday, for instance, is hosted by Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and the featured speaker is Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
I also learned that Monday there will be a lot of voting on different issues. I am not sure what those issues will be, but was just told that there will be a lot of things to decide.
The Rascal Flats performance is called the Buckeye Welcome Bash and is hosted by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and The Jones Day Foundation. It is a reception for Steve LaTourette to benefit the Case Comprehension Cancer Center.