The Club presented its 21st Harold Hitz Burton Award to Louis Stokes at the offices of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey on October 6 accompanied by a complement of friends and colleagues. Louis Stokes was the first African-American elected to Congress from Ohio and served his district in and around Cleveland for 30 years. The text of the Award is added to the end of this story.      In addition, Mayor Jackson of Cleveland issued a proclamation that was read at the lunch.      Louis Stokes was in good form and high spirits, and graciously accepted the Award. He then talked about his many years of service in the Congress and his views on the approaching elections. In particular he talked about the race for his seat, vacated by the untimely death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones; the recently named Democratic candidate is Marcia Fudge, mayor of Warrensville Heights. Club members asked Congressman Stokes questions about the Congressional votes on the financial troubles “bailout bill,” then roiling the House; he said he would have voted for it.       Louis Stokes is now Senior Counsel at Squire Sanders and serves on the boards of both private and non-profit corporations.       Previous Harold Hitz Burton Awards have been presented to George Voinovich, Frank Lausche, Howard Metzenbaum, Chapman Rose, and Frances Bolton, to name a few. Following is the text of the Award presented October 6:      

Member Gary Arlen has told us about books featuring Cleveland and its neighborhoods. Arcadia Publishing specializes in paperback books featuring scores of vintage photographs of American communities interwoven with ample text. Some of Arcadia's books feature Cleveland and neighboring communities, including Rocky River, Berea, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood, Aurora, Canton, Akron and more. A search of the Web should bring you to the Arcadia Publishing website. The books sell for $20 to $25 and would make welcome gifts.

Slovenian Ambassador to the United States Samuel Zbogar spoke at the National Press Club in Washington on Slovenia’s assumption of the presidency of the European Union and its priorities while it holds that presidency through June 30. Ambassador Zbogar is no stranger to Cleveland and the Cleveland Club; he ran in the Cleveland Marathon and he spoke at the luncheon honoring Senator George Voinovich in 2006 when the Senator was presented the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award. Ambassador Zbogar noted that Slovenia is the first of the new Eastern European member countries to hold the presidency of the European Union. He said that the Slovenian presidency has several priorities. First is to strengthen the European Union, to make it more effective and to streamline its operations. Second is to work at enlarging the European Union, looking especially at admitting Turkey and Croatia and then at Georgia and the Ukraine. Third is to stress the European Union as a global player; this would take the form of security missions and charitable efforts.

Clevelanders assembled in the Town & Country Lounge of the Mayflower Hotel for some holiday camaraderie and cheer on December 10. The Town & Country Lounge has been the traditional meeting place for Club members during the holiday season. Discussion was lively and varied over drinks and free fajitas provided by the Town & Country staff. Talk ranged from the Browns and the Indians to politics and ideas for 2008 events.

Carin Rockind, Vice President for Marketing and Communications for Cleveland-based Team Northeast (Team NEO), gave a spirited presentation about Cleveland Plus, the campaign to drive long-term strategic growth for Northeast Ohio, during a Club meeting at the offices of Jones Day on Capitol Hill November 15. Cleveland Plus is the effort to market the 16-county region that includes the major metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown as an optimal region for business, travel and living.   Ms. Rockind’s Power Point presentation and video outlined the Cleveland Plus effort that is being shown to the world. She pointed out that the region’s economy has been growing, even in manufacturing. It is also diversifying and becoming increasingly high tech, with major polymer companies, the Cleveland Clinic, biomedical companies, financial centers and more. She made the point that the area has 30 colleges and universities as well as a skilled and eager workforce.

Several Cleveland Club members attended the very touching service for Charley Vanik in the House Ways and Means Committee Room on Capitol Hill late last month. There was much singing and story telling during this tribute to one of Cleveland's most outstanding Congressmen. Persons interested in a fine newspaper story by former Vanik staffer Bill Vaughn writing in a September issue of The Hill can find it online at http://thehill.com/op-eds/lessons-from-charles-vanik-no-need-for-money-in-politics-2007-09-18.html.

George Condon, Jr., discussed the Randy "Duke" Cunningham case and Washington corruption. Part of the team of four who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing Congressman Cunningham's acceptance of bribes in exchange for favors to defense contractors, Condon explained to Club members during an October 24 lunch at the National Press Club how Cunningham became embroiled in corruption. According to Condon, no Congressman in the nation's history has taken so much ($2.4 million) in bribery, not even excluding the horrendous Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s and figuring in inflation. The Cunningham misdeeds reached even into the CIA -- Dustin Foggo, the recently resigned executive director, is under indictment stemming from the Cunningham-related crimes.

Legal Times’ July 16 issue named Bruce Sanford of Baker Hostetler one of the top ten communications lawyers in Washington. Bruce was awarded the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award for Distinguished Public Service in January of this year. Legal Times pointed out that Bruce has defended more than a thousand First Amendment and intellectual property cases, representing Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, The New York Times, and the ABC Company among others. A ten-page petition Bruce once wrote to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit resulted in a majority two judges reversing their earlier decision in the case, a highly unusual occurence.

Club Member Tom Steich reported the following: The August 31 Plain Dealer and News Herald reported that former Cleveland Congressman Charles A. Vanik passed away at age 94 from natural causes at his home in Jupiter, Fla. Charley Vanik served 26 years in Congress representing the 21st Congressional District (Cleveland's East Side) from 1955 to 1969, and then the 22nd District from 1969 to his retirement in 1981. When his 21st District became majority Afro-American population, he gave up his seat so that Louis Stokes could run for his seat in Congress. Charley then ran against Congresswoman Frances Bolton in 1968 and won her seat in Congress representing the 22nd District (Eastern suburbs of Cleveland).