OH-16: "Boccieri Exaggerates His Representation"

This just in...

CANTON - It's obvious John Boccieri still needs to learn more about the 16th Congressional District. This week he misrepresented himself to his new neighbors by claiming in a newspaper interview that he'd been "fighting for this congressional district for eight years."

Unfortunately, this is far from accurate. Only 6 percent of the 16th Congressional District lies within Boccieri's 33rd Senate District.

The numbers, as provided by the Ohio Secretary of State, don't lie.

The small portion of Boccieri's Senate District amounts to 39,538 out of 630,730 residents in the 16th Congressional District. So when he says he's been "fighting for the district" in the General Assembly for 8 years, the people of the 16th District know this is a stretch at best.

Senator Boccieri does represent 100 percent of Youngstown in Mahoning County.

Senator Kirk Schuring, the Republican running for the 16th District seat, currently represents 338,560 of the District's 630,730 residents -- that's 54 percent.

Schuring, a lifelong resident of the 16th District, understands the needs of the district.

"Senator Boccieri said he'd like for everyone to get past his residency problems and put this 'distraction' to rest. But as long as he continues to misrepresent himself, we'll be here to shed light on these inconsistencies because the residents of Stark, Ashland, Wayne and Medina counties deserve to know the truth. They also deserve a representative who is from here and familiar with the issues that are important to them," said Schuring Campaign Manager PJ Wenzel.

"All of this represents a growing trend where our opponent seems willing to say or do almost anything in order to get a seat in Congress," Wenzel said.

Residents apparently can see the truth, as evidenced by a recent Tarrance Group poll that shows Schuring leading by six points.