A six-member panel discussed election issues at the Lima NAACP town hall meeting Saturday at Grace Church Worldwide Ministries.
LIMA — The Lima chapter of the NAACP hosted a town hall meeting Saturday to discuss what has been a frequent talking point in this year’s presidential campaign: Project 2025.
The panel, moderated by Phyllis Henderson, included Tom Roberts, president of the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, who offered his evaluation on the document.
“It’s a 900-page document put together by the Heritage Foundation, which is one of the most extreme right-wing organizations in the nation,” he said. “It is willing to eliminate all the civil service jobs, it would remove the Department of Education, and it would remove Title X funding,” he said.
Roberts also discussed Ohio’s State Issue 1 and its focus on gerrymandering at Saturday’s meeting, held at Grace Church Worldwide Ministries, 2945 Wells Drive, Lima.
“If you have a statewide issue, the Republican party will get 54% of the vote. The General Assembly should get a similar number, but gets around 75% of the vote,” he said. “We need to take it out of the hands of politicians and put it into the hands of a 15-member commission consisting of five Republicans, five Democrats, and five independents to make it fair.”
Opponents of Issue 1 have asserted that the amendment, if passed, would remove accountability for those on the commission since none of them would be elected by the voters.
Roberts emphasized the conservative power of Project 2025, a document that former President Donald Trump has disavowed repeatedly during his campaign, according to the Associated Press.
“It will move our democracy to an autocracy, or some other form of government that you and I aren’t used to,” he said.
Lorenzo White, an independent insurance agent for almost 40 years, discussed how Project 2025 aims to dismantle the Affordable Care Act without an alternative healthcare practice.
“They’ll take everything away from you,” he said. “We spend more on healthcare than the total economies of three or four other countries combined, yet we are seeing poor outcomes.”
Lima NAACP chapter spokesperson Regina Freeman spoke on gerrymandering, claiming that gerrymandering has allowed U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, to retain his position in the House of Representatives.
“He has never once lost an election or faced any legislation,” she said. “He should have been gone.”
According to ASFSME Facts, Project 2025 also seeks to address cuts to corporate and income taxes and proposes Mifepristone, an abortion drug, be removed from the market entirely.
Fifth Ward Councilman, Thomas Jones, and community outreach coordinator Ajay Watkins were also panel members.
Reach Cade Higgins at 567-242-0351
