County Democrats to hold fall banquet

VW Democratic Party information

Mike Brickner, senior policy director for the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, will be the keynote speaker as Van Wert County Democrats celebrate their annual Fall Banquet on Tuesday, October 7, at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5803, 111 N. Shannon St. Also speaking during the evening will be Ohio Lieutenant Governor Candidate Sharen Neuhardt and Fifth District Congressional candidate Bob Fry. Representatives from the David Pepper for Attorney General and the Connie Pillich for State Treasurer campaigns will be present for questions.  Incumbent County Auditor Nancy Dixon, who is running for re-election, will also meet voters that evening.

Brickner, a 2002 graduate of Van Wert High School, graduated from Hiram College and then went to work for the Ohio ACLU. During his tenure there, Brickner has worked on a variety of critical civil liberty issues.

Protecting Ohioans’ right to vote and combating the privatization of Ohio’s prisons have been at the forefront of Brickner’s work at the ACLU. In 2013 he co-authored two reports that focused on the connection between poverty and the criminal justice system, and he is nationally recognized for his work on prison privatization.

In 2014, Brickner was part of a core team that is fighting the Republican Party’s efforts to restrict voting rights in Ohio. He has presented testimony at the Ohio General Assembly, has acted as spokesperson to the media, and has assisted in litigation against Ohio officials to restore evening, weekend, and Golden Week early voting opportunities.

The evening will begin with cocktails at 6:15 p.m., followed by the meal at 7.  Walk-in tickets will be available at the door, and the public is invited.