Speaker 1: Just out of eight o six here fifty five Kercity
Speaker 1: Talk stas you a very happy Wednesday to you listener.
Speaker 1: Lunch Wednesday, Weed Them and Brewery in Saint Bernard. I
Speaker 1: have to see you there and I'm always happy to
Speaker 1: have Hamilin County Prosecuting Melissa Powers on the program. Of
Speaker 1: course we need to keep Melissa Powers as Hamilton County Prosecutor.
Speaker 1: This Novembers vote is all critical and all important in
Speaker 1: the name of law and order and prosecuting the bad guys.
Speaker 1: Vote Melissa Powers. You can find her online Powers for
Speaker 1: Prosecutor dot com. Melissa Powers, Welcome back to the Morning Show.
Speaker 1: It's always great having you on the program.
Speaker 2: Thanks Brian, good morning. It's great to be here once again.
Speaker 1: Of course you're on because we need to vote for you,
Speaker 1: but you're also wanting to help us understand why it's
Speaker 1: a good thing maybe to engage in the early voting process,
Speaker 1: something that Republicans are kind of behind the times on.
Speaker 1: Democrats have always taken advantage of early voting and it's
Speaker 1: worked to their advantage in a lot of races. You
Speaker 1: can vote, vote early, get it out of the way
Speaker 1: that way. On election day, maybe if you can't make it,
Speaker 1: you're sick. You still have voto did already. Is that
Speaker 1: your position?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? And we keep getting beats. And when I say we,
Speaker 2: the conservatives or the independence that lean conservative, seem to
Speaker 2: get beat by this early voting. So the Democrat has
Speaker 2: an incredible machine. They're absolutely doing a fantastic job getting
Speaker 2: the early voters out, blessing them directly in person to
Speaker 2: the Board of Elections to vote. And we need just
Speaker 2: to do a better job the election. There's sometimes the
Speaker 2: elections get so there's so much in the early vote
Speaker 2: and so many ballots cast so early on that any
Speaker 2: type of conservative leaning candidate is in such a deficit
Speaker 2: it's so hard to make up on the day of
Speaker 2: the election. So we want to encourage everyone get out
Speaker 2: to vote. Vote early. It's safe, it's secure, it's legal.
Speaker 2: And the last presidential election, sixty percent of all the
Speaker 2: votes cast that were cast early, either by mail or
Speaker 2: by going in person to the Board of Elections. So
Speaker 2: we want you to get out and vote. Vote early.
Speaker 2: It's convenient. You know, obviously life can be unpredictable, and
Speaker 2: if you get your ballot in early, there's an entire
Speaker 2: month that you can cast your votes, either in person
Speaker 2: or by mail. I think mail is the easiest. I
Speaker 2: would encourage everyone to do the mail because you can
Speaker 2: do your research on your candidates, vote the entire ballot,
Speaker 2: making sure and then putting it back in the mail
Speaker 2: is perfectly fine and safe. If you are worried about
Speaker 2: your ballot that you put in the mail, it can
Speaker 2: always be tracked at the Board of Elections website. So
Speaker 2: it's really great.
Speaker 1: It is. It's easy to and I would immediately it's
Speaker 1: interject while I can props for the Hemlin County Board
Speaker 1: of Elections. I've gone there and voted early. I've been
Speaker 1: there on days when there's a line. It moves quickly.
Speaker 1: It's efficient, it's simple to do. I'm glad they put
Speaker 1: it there as opposed to where it used to be
Speaker 1: in downtown Cincinnati. Because there's plenty of parking, it's easy
Speaker 1: to get in and out of. There's really no downside
Speaker 1: to going in and vote in the Board of Elections early.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, it's really easy. I think you know.
Speaker 2: I know that my ninety year old mother voted the
Speaker 2: last presidential election at the Board of Elections and waited
Speaker 2: in line for a very very long time, So this
Speaker 2: time we're encouraging her to vote by mail. She's already
Speaker 2: submitted her application to vote by mail. Anyone can request
Speaker 2: an application, and just recently, every registered voter in Ohio
Speaker 2: received an absentee vote by mail application from our Secretary
Speaker 2: of State. So it's not a scam. We want to
Speaker 2: make sure that you know. Just fill that out, mail
Speaker 2: it back in, and by October eighth, when early voting starts,
Speaker 2: you'll receive your ballot in the mail.
Speaker 1: Well, it's simple to do. I got mine the other day,
Speaker 1: and there was some confusion among the listening audience. I
Speaker 1: had some and call in and say I got a
Speaker 1: ballot sent to me in the mail, and in fact
Speaker 1: it was not about it actually was the application to
Speaker 1: absent d vote, So yeah, don't be confused by that.
Speaker 1: I'd also pay attention to who's sending because what you'll
Speaker 1: get should be from the Secretary of State's office, not
Speaker 1: some other entity.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and it's you'll be I've received mine. It was
Speaker 2: very easy to tell that this was and I thought
Speaker 2: it was a wonderful convenience fire Secretariat State to mail
Speaker 2: that to registered voters. It's even easier because I had
Speaker 2: already gone online to the Board of Election myself and
Speaker 2: you know, a printed off the application and mailed it
Speaker 2: in and I realized I even have to do that
Speaker 2: because it was sent to me by the Secretariat State.
Speaker 2: So if you haven't gotten that, I would go make
Speaker 2: sure you're registered. You have to register prior to October seventh,
Speaker 2: and you do that by going on the Board of
Speaker 2: Elections website. If maybe you've moved to a different location
Speaker 2: within Hamilton County or in whatever county that you are,
Speaker 2: make sure that you check that. I think that's not
Speaker 2: a bad idea. But what I really want to stress
Speaker 2: too is that once you get your ballot, it's this election,
Speaker 2: at least in Hamilton County, it's never been more important
Speaker 2: to fill out the entire ballot. We have a number
Speaker 2: of judicial candidates that are on the ballot. We want
Speaker 2: to make sure that you're voting for candidates that support
Speaker 2: law in order, that follow the law, and that will
Speaker 2: make sure safety. Your safety is important when they make
Speaker 2: their decisions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's easy to do. The Hamilton County Republican
Speaker 1: Party has taken care of that. They have identified those
Speaker 1: judges who are tough on crime and who are great
Speaker 1: about law and order and who actually will you require
Speaker 1: bail for folks who are likely to flee the jurisdiction
Speaker 1: or otherwise commit heinous crimes while they're out on bail.
Speaker 1: We've runted a lot of problems with that, and you've
Speaker 1: done a wonderful job on your Facebook page highlighting the
Speaker 1: judges that do and do not have a set bail properly.
Speaker 2: Thank you. We want to make sure that the information
Speaker 2: is getting to the voters and that you know, a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't get the news from inside the
Speaker 2: courthouse and so they can form their own opinion. We're
Speaker 2: just stating the facts of you know, this judge did
Speaker 2: set a low bond or no, they had an o
Speaker 2: R bond, which is no cash having to be posted
Speaker 2: on gun charges or serious offenses where we're concerned about
Speaker 2: the safety of the community. So we want to point
Speaker 2: that out. But we also point out judges that set
Speaker 2: good bonds, you know, and that we buil are good
Speaker 2: bonds on serious cases. And you can make your own
Speaker 2: opinion based on that too. You may agree or disagree
Speaker 2: that at least you've got the information.
Speaker 1: It's easy to find all those judges right there at
Speaker 1: Hamilton kundarepublican party dot org. Just click on candidates and
Speaker 1: thank you from Donald Trump all the way down to
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court judges, into the Juvenile Court judges and
Speaker 1: Domestic relations Court judges, etc. They're all right there. It's
Speaker 1: easy to do and take the time to do that
Speaker 1: in advance because so many people are caught off guard
Speaker 1: when they get into the voting booth and it kind
Speaker 1: of amazes me. But then again, me having a connection
Speaker 1: with the judicial system to some degree, give them my background.
Speaker 1: I'm interested in the judicial races. But if you walk
Speaker 1: in uninformed, that's a real puzzler when it comes to
Speaker 1: election day because they're usually not identified by party status,
Speaker 1: unless of course they're on the pink slip or the
Speaker 1: blue slip. My understanding, go ahead.
Speaker 2: I was just going to say, you're absolutely early voting.
Speaker 2: What helps us? And some people think, well, why vote early?
Speaker 2: I'm just going to do it on election day and
Speaker 2: I can tell you it does help. It'll help my campaign,
Speaker 2: It'll help a number of campaign We're watching who am
Speaker 2: the data coming in, what groups are voting, what's not
Speaker 2: And it actually helps save us money on the campaign
Speaker 2: because we're tracing or tracking down voters or voter groups
Speaker 2: that haven't already voted, and we want to get them
Speaker 2: out to vote. So it does help the campaigns if
Speaker 2: you vote early, and it saves us money because we
Speaker 2: can identify who's participated or who we need to encourage
Speaker 2: to get out there and vote.
Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent point on that one A twenty one fifty
Speaker 1: five Arrisey. You talk today Bran Thomas with Hamilin Kenny
Speaker 1: prosecuting Melissa Powers. It's Powers for prosecutor dot com. You
Speaker 1: can help her out like my mom did. My mom
Speaker 1: went door to door for you the other day. Prosecutor Powers.
Speaker 1: Just let you know that she met you at that
Speaker 1: event and she got a bunch of materials and just
Speaker 1: started door knocking in her neighborhood. So there's one little
Speaker 1: bit of effort on your behalf because she's impressed with
Speaker 1: you and she knows how important law enforcement is. But
Speaker 1: pivoting over.
Speaker 2: That's wonderful, that's really great news. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Eighty four years young and doing the door knocking. She's dedicated.
Speaker 1: So anyway, I wanted to ask you about the changes
Speaker 1: to the the juvenile justice system. I understand, Governor to
Speaker 1: one could it a task force and then came back
Speaker 1: with some recommendations, So can you explain to my listeners
Speaker 1: what those are and what that's all about.
Speaker 2: So the task force was set up and I think
Speaker 2: they worked for about nine minds and at the end
Speaker 2: they made a twenty six different recommendations to the governor.
Speaker 2: Now none of this is law yet. The governor then
Speaker 2: is encouraging the state legislature to incorporate the changes into law.
Speaker 2: So I think it's a wonderful thing that the task
Speaker 2: force was set up. Obviously there's different areas in juvenile
Speaker 2: law that needs improvement and so or things that we
Speaker 2: can be doing better so that we are the keeping
Speaker 2: the public safe. So we're wonderful. I think they're wonderful
Speaker 2: that he put that together. Now, until it's law, nothing
Speaker 2: will take effect and nothing will be happening. But I
Speaker 2: agree with overall, what the changes have been recommended is
Speaker 2: smaller secured facilities versus these larger ones. There's only three
Speaker 2: in the state of Ohio the Department Used Services. They
Speaker 2: want to create more regional, small, smaller locations of secured facilities.
Speaker 2: One would actually be in Hamilton County, which I think
Speaker 2: is great. We used to have a small facility and
Speaker 2: called Hillcrest where families could participate in therapy and counseling
Speaker 2: and be part of the rehabilitation process. So I think
Speaker 2: that it will be very effective. Hillcrest should, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: still be opened and available. It was the only one
Speaker 2: in the state that was of that facility, so I
Speaker 2: think they're modeling it or have some similar ideas about
Speaker 2: the smaller secured facilities. But some of the recommendations have
Speaker 2: to do with weakening sentences or dispositions for kids when
Speaker 2: they have guidance being used to commit crimes, and I'm
Speaker 2: strongly opposed to anything that will put us in jeopardy
Speaker 2: in our public safety. I think it's simple, it's common
Speaker 2: sense that absolutely there should be no reason for a
Speaker 2: child to have a gun or to use a gun
Speaker 2: to commit a crime. I think the penalty, if they
Speaker 2: stay strong, can hopefully deter future conduct or somebody even
Speaker 2: considering it. But if you weaken that, I think that
Speaker 2: that could be at risk. The deterrent could be at risk.
Speaker 1: Sounds dead on to me. Getting in a juvenile I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the most important time if the juveniles involved in
Speaker 1: the criminal justice system. I mean, that's the perfect time
Speaker 1: to get them out of it. And there's got to
Speaker 1: be a better path than leniency. I mean putting them
Speaker 1: in programs, maybe they need drug counseling, whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be, mental health assistance. But if they're showing criminal
Speaker 1: behavior at a very young age, we got a real
Speaker 1: problem on our hands because it's only going to get
Speaker 1: worse absent really solid intervention.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, And I think, you know, I have
Speaker 2: experience as a prosecutor, practicing in juvenile court, as a
Speaker 2: defense attorney, and then as a judge, and I think
Speaker 2: that's the primary difference between my opponent and I in
Speaker 2: this election. She has I don't believe she ever handled
Speaker 2: a case in juvenile court, has no experience dealing with
Speaker 2: juvenile crime, has no experience you know, as a lawyer
Speaker 2: with juvenile violence. And I don't know if someone like that,
Speaker 2: if she was, you know, running the prosecutor's office, could
Speaker 2: recognize the weaknesses and what it's being proposed and where
Speaker 2: to make sure the fights for public safety. And as
Speaker 2: you know, my opponent wasn't even licensed to practice law
Speaker 2: last year. Yeah, so when we you know, there's a
Speaker 2: big difference in this election.
Speaker 1: You know, and as you as we part company, and
Speaker 1: as you mentioned that, as we part company, I can't
Speaker 1: believe this is even remotely a close race. You are
Speaker 1: so far superior in terms of your background, your knowledge
Speaker 1: on the subject matter, your experience on the job, and
Speaker 1: your ideas for the future. So vote Hamilton Kuty prosecuted
Speaker 1: Melissa Powers and do what my mom did, go door
Speaker 1: to door and hand out some flyers and talk to people.
Speaker 1: It's Powers for prosecutor dot com until we get to
Speaker 1: talk again. Keep up the great work. I wish you
Speaker 1: all the best on the campaign, Melissa Powers.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Brian, have a great day you too.