MAHONING COUNTY Democratic Party plans dinner

The Kerry-Edwards national veterans coordinator is the keynote speaker.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Democratic Party will hold its second annual Hall of Fame dinner, honoring six people who made significant contributions to the local organization.
The event is at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mr. Anthony's Banquet Center on South Avenue in Boardman. Tickets are $50 per person and can be obtained by calling party headquarters at (330) 744-2280, or Claire Maluso, the general event chairwoman, at (330) 793-7293.
Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, national veterans coordinator for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, is the event's keynote speaker. Cleland introduced U.S. Sen. John Kerry at this year's Democratic National Convention.
Cleland served as the head of the Veterans Administration from 1977 to 1981, and was Georgia's secretary of state from 1982 to 1996. In 1996, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He lost a bitter campaign for re-election in 2002 to Republican Saxby Chambliss. Television ads were run during the campaign attacking Cleland for not supporting President Bush's homeland security bill, and questioning his patriotism.
Cleland served in the Vietnam War, receiving a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. In 1968, while getting out of a helicopter, Cleland picked up a grenade dropped by another soldier. It exploded, causing him to lose both legs and part of one arm.
Honorees
Those being inducted Thursday into the Mahoning Democratic Hall of Fame are:
UDee Cummings, the first female ward captain in Mahoning County who was active in many Democratic campaigns. She also served as president of the Women's Federated John F. Kennedy Club of Mahoning County for 25 years.
URetired Judge Joseph Donofrio, who served on the 7th District Court of Appeals for 20 years and as a Youngstown Municipal Court judge for seven years.
UThe late Joseph P. Gorman Sr., a former Mahoning elections board chairman, who was active in local politics and held a variety of jobs in Youngstown and the county.
UThe late Michael J. Kirwan, who served as a U.S. House member representing the Mahoning Valley in Washington, D.C., for 34 years. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Congressional Committee, the first House member from a Northern state to ever hold that position.
URetired Judge Robert G. Lisotto, who served as a county common pleas court judge from 1997 until this summer, when he retired because of a medical condition. He also served five years as a Mahoning County court judge.
UThe late Jack Sulligan, who served 26 years as the county Democratic chairman, the longest tenure of any Democratic chairman in the county's history.