The following announcement arrived via email:

To: Board of Elections officials, Prosecuting Attorneys, County Political Parties, Candidates, and legal counsel :

The Academy of Continuing Legal Education program, “Ohio Election Law 2014.2” will be presented August 27, 2014. This program has been approved by the Supreme Court of Ohio, Office of CLE, for 6.5 hours of attorney Continuing Legal Education, including 2.5 approved for the new-for-2014 mandatory “Professional Conduct”.

Application has been made for approval by the Secretary of State of Ohio for 4.0 hours of credit toward the mandatory Additional Instruction for Board of Elections members, directors, and deputy directors, for the portions of this program that are updates of the program that was prseented in March 2014, and approved by the Secretary of State. On July 23, the Secretary of State approved ONE hour of the requested four hours for Board of Elections credit. The Academy is sending this announcement so that folks who plan to attend for the purpose of learning about significant developments in Ohio Election Law, regardless of credit hours, may know that, with at least one credit hour approved, you may justify your attendance.

This program is of interest to county prosecuting attorneys involved in the election process, attorneys who are legal counsel to political campaign organizations, and attorneys who are themselves candidates, election officials, and political party officers. Non-attorney election officials, political party officers, active citizens, and candidates are welcome to attend.

This program is presented at the Richfield Conference Center in the Days Inn, formerly the Quality Inn, 4742 Brecksville Road, Richfield, Ohio 44286, on S. R. 21 at I-77 and I-80, between Cleveland and Akron.

Topics are:

“Court Decisions Affecting Ohio Election Law”. 1.5 hour discussing Federal and Supreme Court of Ohio decisions, including the June, 2014, Supreme Court of the United States decision in Susan B. Anthony List v. Dreihaus..  This section is presented by Timothy M. Burke, Esq., president of Manley Burke, a legal professional association; a member of the Hamilton County Board of Elections since 1993; and a United Nations International Supervisor of Elections in Bosnia in 1997. This section is approved for 1.5 hour general CLE.

“Legislation, Directives, and Advisories: Administering Ohio Election Law at the County Board of Elections“. 1.5 hour discussing 2013 and 2014 legislative amendments of Ohio Election Law, and Secretary of State Directives and Advisories, that will affect the 2014 election cycle, including voter registration, residency, and early voting, as interpreted by Ohio and Federal Courts, affecting the operation of Boards of Elections. This section is presented by Bradley L. Cromes, Deputy Director of the Portage County Board of Elections and an officer of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. This section is approved for 1.5 hour general CLE.

“Campaign Practices, Campaign Finance, and the Ohio Elections Commission”. 1.0 hour discussing Candidate, Political Action Committee, and Issue Committee, permitted and prohibited campaign practices, required disclosures on campaign written, printed, and electronic materials, Campaign Finance reporting, allowable contributions, and allowable expenses; what matters come before the Commission, how the Commission proceeds, what remedial acts the Commission can require, and what penalties the Commission may impose.  This section is presented by Philip Richter, Esq., Executive Director of the Ohio Elections Commission. This section is approved for 1.0 hour general CLE and approved for 1.0 hour of Board of Elections Additional Instruction.

These three sections will all be presented before the lunch break, so that attendees who do not have an interest in the attorney “Professional Conduct” presentation may leave at 1:30 PM.

In the afternoon, the 2014 mandatory “Professional Conduct” topic will be presented in two 75-minute sections presented by Linette M. Stratford, Esq., Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of the Mahoning County Prosecutor. Ms. Stratford is also a member of the adjunct faculty of Youngstown State University, where she has taught Ethics for business students. Two topics will be discussed, “Disciplinary Issues for Attorneys Who Hold Public Office” and “Access to Justice”, each of which have been approved for “Professional Conduct” CLE and are not approved for Secretary of State Board of Elections credit.

A Registration form with the complete program outline is attached.

Cost of enrollment in the 6.5-hour program is $215.00 for payments received by August 15, 2014..  Cost of enrollment in the program is $240.00 if payment is received after August 15, 2014, to offset the expense of printing additional materials at the price of expedited service.  For Elections Officials, Prosecuting Attorneys, and other employees of Ohio’s smaller counties, a small-county discount for EARLY registration is available, with details online at AcademyofCLE.com/Discount.pdf.  The small-county discount does not apply to registrations received after August 15, so register early. For attorneys attending from larger offices, the Academy will register five attendees from the same office for the cost of four.  As a special promotion to encourage bipartisanship, if all four members of a county Board of Elections register for this program, the four registrations will be accepted for the price of three.

A group discount rate is available for guest rooms at the program venue, the Days Inn Richfield, 4742 Brecksville Road, Richfield, Ohio 44286, (330) 659-6151.  The group rate is available under the name “Academy of CLE Seminar”.

You are encouraged to forward this announcement to any attorneys and elections officials to whom this may be of interest, including legal counsel to Boards of Elections, attorneys who are candidates for election themselves or are legal counsel to campaign committees, and attorneys who are county election officials or political party officers.  You are particularly encouraged to share this with colleagues in other counties who may not have participated in the Academy’s earlier programs. Information on this program will be updated online as information becomes available, along with information on other programs presented by the Academy of Continuing Legal Education, at http://AcademyofCLE.com. ;; Please contact me if you have questions, AcademyofCLE@ aol.com.

Truly yours,

Christopher J. Mallin

The Academy of Continuing Legal Education
Christopher J. Mallin, Esq., Academic Co-ordinator
367 North Cleveland Avenue, Mogadore, OH 44260-2101
tel. (330) 592-4513; fax (330) 628-5326
AcademyofCLE@ aol.com, http: //AcademyofCLE.com