Mary Jo Kilroy, Franklin County commissioner and candidate for Congress in Ohio's 15th Congressional District, called for a strong partnership between local, state and federal governments to renew the commitment to invest in Ohio's infrastructure. While standing at the recently closed Town Street bridge, Kilroy stressed the importance of not having a tragedy similar to the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that occurred a year ago this week...
.....She noted that a well maintained infrastructure is especially important to Ohio because it has the 6th most interstate highway miles and is home to the second most bridges of any state in America. Federal dollars are needed to ensure that the 25% of Ohio's 18,940 local bridges that are structurally deficient are repaired. Kilroy said she has already proven she has the abilities to bring transportation improvements to Central Ohio.
"As a County Commissioner, I helped invest in the Rickenbacker Intermodal Facility to improve transportation and commerce through Columbus. This investment will result in a $15.1 billion economic impact on the region and create more than 20,000 jobs. I look forward to continuing these priorities in Congress to invest in our infrastructure" Kilroy said.
** According to Politico, the GOP will stay away from the collapsed bridge site in Minneapolis when their convention comes to the city. Gov. Pawlenty, a disciple of Grover Norquist, doesn't want to risk his chances to be a vice presidential candidate for McCain.
>>> Things are getting ugly in Ohio's 16th congressional district. Democratic candidate, John Boccieri, is running a decent, issues oriented campaign. However, the Republican candidate, Kirk Schuring and his staff have been running a campaign that is similar to a junior high student council election. Hopefully, people are looking at Boccieri as a serious candidate with an actual plan on how to get things done. Example-- Boccieri's energy plans:
John believes that America's energy should come from Midwest innovation, not Middle East oil. To start relieving pain at the pump today, we should open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, crack down on oil speculators, make oil companies drill on the U.S. lands and coastal waters they already have, and transition to alternative energy sources as soon as possible.
In the same 10-20 years it would take to develop new sources of oil, we could invest in cutting-edge technologies like wind, solar, biomass, biofuels, geothermal, clean coal and nuclear that will lead to home-grown, affordable, renewable energy while creating jobs and turning around the economy.....
>>> When will John McCain start talking about the issues? Is the McCain campaign desperate because all they can offer citizens is the same old worn out Bush policy failures? Can McCain have one of his "town hall" meetings (you know the ones with all the "specially" picked audiences) without mentioning the word "surge"?