Bill Cohen puts elections in perspective

Reporter Bill Cohen receives his official Men’s Club mug

from President Dale Levy after speaking on Nov. 9

The Tifereth Israel Men’s Club welcomed Bill Cohen of the Statehouse News Bureau and National Public Radio to the latest installment of its brunch speaker series on Sunday, November 9th. Cohen continued the unspoken theme of speaking about issues hitting close to home begun by previous speakers Frances Strickland and Howard Schottenstein by focusing on a topic that has been at the forefront of news in Ohio for almost two years now: the recent election.

Cohen is now in his 34th year of news reporting for Ohio's public radio and TV stations. He can be heard regularly on national radio programs such as “Marketplace," NPR’s "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition," the weekly public TV show, "The State of Ohio," and Ohio News Network’s "Capitol Square," which he also produces. In 2002, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors gave him its national first place award for best radio beat reporting on state government and in 2004, The Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters presented Cohen with its annual "Lifetime Achievement Award."The talk was well-timed to summarize the results of the national and statewide elections. He provided his keen insights colored with a rich historical perspective on the Obama and McCain campaigns, the hotly-contested statewide issues over payday lending and casino gambling and key congressional races. A lively question and answer period touched on many other important issues highlighted by Bill’s predictions on significant 2010 statewide voter issues.
The next brunch speaker series event will feature Gary Smith, president of Men’s Club at Adath Israel Congregation in Cincinnati and a Federation of Jewish Men’s Club (FJMC) Keruv consultant. Called by fellow consultant Stephen Lachter of Washington DC “the most profound and important thing going on in the Conservative movement today,” Keruv (which means "bring near" in Hebrew and is therefore a term frequently used for outreach information) is a FJMC initiative to integrate non-Jewish members of families into synagogue life and the Jewish community. Please join us on Sunday December 14th at 10:30am at Tifereth Israel for this very important topic of discussion.