Friday, April 30, 2010

Questions for Stivers

* Did you know that Republican congressional candidate and former bank lobbyist, Steve Stivers, voted against a bill for the disabled when he was in the Ohio Senate?

According to Project Vote Smart, on May 7, 2008, Steve Stivers voted against SB 57, the Disability Scholarship Fund.
Official Synopsis:
Creates the Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program to provide scholarships for disabled children in grades K through 12 to attend alternative public or private special education programs in fiscal years 2010 through 2015....

Why would Stivers vote against a bill that would help disabled children? Someone should ask him.


* We have not heard Steve Stivers offer his opinion on the recent Arizona bill requiring people to provide their "papers" if asked by law enforcement. Does he support this law? Is he for or against a similar law in Ohio?


* Do you remember the huge controversy about the factory farm with 6,000,000 chickens? When Steve Stivers was in the Ohio Senate, he sponsored a bill (in 2003) that restricted what localities could do regarding the animal waste from a factory farm.

Buckeye State Blog (8/19/08):

...In an interview, Steve said:

"She's (Kilroy) criticizing me for a House bill (H.B. 152) that passed in 2003 that changed some different levels of pollution and things on concentrated animal feeding facilities. She's trying to say that it took away local control, but local control actually went away in Senate Bill 141 in the year 2000, and I was not in the Senate."

But hold up, according to Section 903.25 of H.B. 152:

"An owner or operator of an animal feeding facility who holds a permit to install, a permit to operate, a review compliance certificate, or a NPDES permit or who is operating under an operation and management plan, as defined in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code, approved by the chief of the division of soil and water conservation in the department of natural resources under section 1511.02 of the Revised Code or by the supervisors of the appropriate soil and water conservation district under section 1515.08 of the Revised Code shall not be required by any political subdivision of the state or any officer, employee, agency, board, commission, department, or other instrumentality of a political subdivision to obtain a license, permit, or other approval pertaining to manure, insects or rodents, odor, or siting requirements for installation of an animal feeding facility."


Note:
Steve Stivers is listed as one of the sponsors for HB 158, 125th General Assembly: Link. The bill was introduced and passed in 2003.

Does Stivers have any concerns about those property owners near those factory farms?

Personally, I'd like to see answers to these questions on Stivers campaign website. I won't hold my breath waiting for answers.