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The first question to Clinton – former First
Lady of the United States during her husband, former
President Bill Clinton’s eight-year term in the 1990’s;
former U.S. Senator for the State of New York and former
Secretary of State during the first four years of President
Barack Obama’s tenure – was posed by Toledo Representative
Michael Ashford.
Ashford asked the candidate what impact the
next president would have on the U.S. Supreme Court
considering the fact that several justices will have to be
appointed.
Clinton responded that the issue of the
Supreme Court would be a key issue in the campaign itself
because of the way the U.S. Senate is prepared “to
disrespect the president” by refusing to vote on his
appointment to the land’s high court.
“The next president should have two or three
appointments,” she said, adding that the selections will
affect “voting rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights … all
are issues affected by the Supreme Court.”
State Rep. Christie Bryant Kuhns of
Cincinnati asked Clinton for her opinion about the
importance of criminal justice reform particularly in light
of the policies undertaken during the Bill Clinton
Administration that led to an increase in the number of
those incarcerated.
Clinton replied that just recently her
husband had spoken to an audience admitting his regrets that
the response to an uptick in crime in the early 1990’s had
led to policies increasing incarceration “especially in the
way individual states added on to minimum mandatory
sentences.”
Clinton said: “We have to end the era of mass
incarceration. I was part of the administration but I have
spent the bulk of my life trying to lift up kids.”
She said that the country has to recognize
the systemic racism of the criminal justice system. “We have
to be honest about this. White people have to be honest
about it, that’s my passion about these issues.”
Clinton’s campaign, she said, had released a
“specific set of reforms about the criminal justice system
and to lift people up – we’ve got to keep people out of
prison and as they are coming out- provide them with
opportunities. Let’s ban the box.”
State Rep. Stephanie Howse of Cleveland asked
Clinton about her views on improving the economy and job
opportunities.
Clinton said the issue of the economy was the
most important of the campaign and that she advocated, among
other things, raising the minimum wage, supporting minority
and women-owned businesses, and working with the Small
Business Administration to be of greater assistance to those
entities.
“I want to see equal pay for women’s work and
bringing back some ides that worked during the 90’s,” she
added.
On Monday of this week, State Rep Alicia
Reece of Cincinnati, president of the OLBC, issued the
following statement on behalf of the Caucus members, in
support of Clinton candidacy:
"In the last two presidential elections,
history for the African American community was on the ballot
but this time the survival of the African American community
will be on the ballot. Therefore, we endorse Hillary
Clinton, who we feel has the experience, vision, plan to
move America forward and will build on the work of President
Obama. Hillary has committed to working with our caucus on
the issues that our members have been fighting for on behalf
of the 1.5 million African Americans in Ohio such as jobs,
justice reform, voting rights, and health care. In
addition, our members are committed to aggressively working
on-the-ground across Ohio to organize, register, and
mobilize our constituents to get out and vote!"
The State of Ohio’s primary election will be
held next Tuesday, March 15. Early voting is already
underway, however, at the Early Voting Center at 1301 Monroe
Street.
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