Picnic alert

Jane Prendergast reports:

Leaders of the new Loveland Republican Club are rounding up notables for their first (they hope) big political picnic.

Topping the list so far is Tom Raga, the Deerfield Township state representative running for lieutenant governor. Off the list: Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, who plans instead to be in Florida.

The group began late last fall after Brad Greenberg, a former Loveland mayor who’s now executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party, and Dave Kothman got to talking about how close the congressional race was between Jean Schmidt and Paul Hackett. That closeness, the men decided, “was fairly shameful in an area that’s so predominantly Republican,” Kothman said.

So they decided to start a club of “like-minded” people who want to work to get Republicans elected and Republican-friendly issues passed in Loveland and beyond, Kothman said. Spoken like the group’s president, which he is. Other regulars: Greenberg, vice president; current Loveland Mayor Rob Weisgerber; and Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Heather Russell.

The first picnic is Aug. 28, 5:30 p.m. in Symmes Park, Loveland.

The club meets the fourth Monday of every month, 7:30 p.m. in the Lebanon Citizens National Bank building on Loveland-Madeira Road. With this month’s meeting moved to the park, the next regular one will be Sept. 25. E-mail: lovelandrepublicans.@zoomtown.com.