Photos by Brett Dunlap
Washington County Republican Party Vice Chairman Khadine Ritter, left, stands with State Senator and Congressional candidate Michael Rulli during the Washington County Republican Party Lincoln Dinner held at the Marietta Shrine Club in Marietta Saturday night.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Washington County Republicans Saturday that he feels the law applied impartially to everyone is America’s best defense against injustice.
The Washington County Republican Party held its Lincoln Dinner Saturday night at the Marietta Shrine Club.
Washington County Republican Party Vice Chairman Khadine Ritter said the dinner is a gathering for all the Republicans in Washington County, elected officials and candidates.
The dinner is a chance for local Republicans to hear from different candidates and hear what is happening at the state level from Yost, she said.
“He will give us the lay of the land and pump us up for the rest of the election season which will begin this summer with parades, ice cream socials and other gatherings,” Ritter said. “It is a good way to get us fired up.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost spoke Saturday night at the Washington County Republican Party Lincoln Dinner at the Marietta Shrine Club about the need to follow the Constitution.
Yost talked about biological definitions of boys and girls, the lawsuits against President Joe Biden so people don’t have to drive electric cars by a certain date.
“Washington (D.C.) does not get to run our lives to that degree,” Yost said. “The rule of law means the same rules for everybody.”
He talked about actions they are involved with about eviction moratoriums and student loan forgiveness in suing the Biden administration, because the government can’t take that debt and put it on the taxpayers.
“It is not a forgiveness, it is a transfer,” Yost said. “It is an illegal transfer under the law and we are not going to stand for it.”
He talked about the importance of judges who follow the law as it is written and rule impartially. He introduced Megan Shanahan and Dan Hawkins, candidates for Ohio Supreme Court.
“We both feel strongly about public safety,” Shanahan said. “We understand the issues you are facing here, the problems with drugs on your streets.
“We are going to go to Columbus with common sense.”
Hawkins talked about protecting the court and not politicizing them where liberal judges want to legislate from the bench.
“We understand our roles as judges,” he said.
Yost addressed what he felt was a question by many.
“What about Trump,” he asked. “The conviction and what is going to happen with our elections.”
He said the conviction on the 34 felony counts in the case of the hush money to the former adult movie actress should never have been brought.
“This is an invented crime,” Yost said.
He recognizes all the warts Trump brings with him.
“None of us are perfect and some of us are less perfect than others,” Yost said. “I am not going to pretend that everything I or he has ever done is good.”
The whole case hinged on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who Yost said he wouldn’t believe about anything.
The statute of limitations on the charges relating to falsifying business records ran out a long time ago before the indictments came. Yost said no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute that case. So the people in charge had to change it around to make it a felony as it relates to the commission of another crime to make the statute of limitations last longer.
He outlined jurisdiction problems between state and federal prosecutors and more.
“This case has so many legal problems with it, it will surely be overturned eventually (when it reaches the federal level),” Yost said.
No one knows what will happen in November, he said.
He is hearing from people who aren’t Trump supporters that this isn’t right or the American way.
“I think people are generally angry over what they feel is a miscarriage of justice,” Yost said. “I think that will carry over this fall.”
Ohio State Senator Michael Rulli is running for the Ohio 6th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives where Rep. Bill Johnson, (R-Ohio) recently stepped down. Rulli, a Republican representing the 33 District in the Ohio State Senate, is running in a special election Tuesday to fill out the remainder of Johnson’s term and then he will be running for the next two-year full term in November.
Ritter said this dinner was a chance for many in Washington County to hear from Rulli as he has been in the area lately meeting people and connecting with the Washington County Republicans.
“America’s greatest days are yet to come,” Rulli said, quoting President Ronald Reagan. “We have a lot of work to get there.”
Rulli said he understands the challenges the working people of Ohio are facing. He said he understands the people who get no attention from elected leaders in Columbus and Washington D.C.
“The bureaucrats and the politicians don’t understand what it is like to use their paycheck so quick and you don’t have enough money to get to the next.”
He talked about being a butcher by trade and his family had grocery stores, being elected to a local school district and how he questioned how people’s tax money is being spent.
Rulli talked about how everything is getting more expensive and the government wants to tax people more.
“They think you have more to give,” he said. “Enough is enough. If you can’t live within your means, you don’t spend it.”
He also talked about the recent flooding in Marietta and how something needs to be done to lessen that impact when these types of floods hit every 6-10 years. He wants to engage the Army Corps of Engineers and see what can be done.
“We have to work until we can’t work anymore to fix it,” Rulli said. “It is 2024 and I can’t believe we are allowing this beautiful city to be flooded.”
He has seen places around the world where the infrastructure is in place to help prevent flooding in some places. He wants to see what could be done here.
“I want to fix this,” he said.
Teresa Judson, Republican candidate for Washington County Recorder; Washington County Commissioner Kevin Ritter, Republican candidate for the state’s 94th State Representative District; and Brian Chavez, Republican candidate for the Ohio Senate, also all spoke to those in attendance, asking for their support.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
