In Ohio, Mary Jo Kilroy is hoping to defeat Steve Stivers to replace outgoing mixed-record Rep. Deborah Pryce in the 15th district.
Stivers received a zero rating from Ohio NARAL, showing him to have a strong record against abortion.
"This seat has been in GOP hands since 1967 -- you can bet the right-wing special interests won't let it go without a fight. Kilroy needs $3 million to defeat Stivers and win this open swing seat for Democrats," the group says.
Miraculously, I was unable to find any mention of this endorsement on her website... Why is that?
Independent candidate and pro-life advocate could prove to be a fatal thorn in Stivers' side, as he wins 8% of the pro-life vote and 3% of the pro-choice vote (5% overall).
It all comes down to whether or not the district wants someone in office who is okay with killing babies or not. And these two "Also Ran..." candidates should think about that as well...
In the 15th District, covering western Franklin and Madison and Union counties, Steve Stivers of Columbus is the best choice. He was appointed to the state Senate in 2003 to replace Priscilla Mead and then was elected to his current term. Stivers has built a solid legislative record. While a senator, he served in Iraq as a lieutenant colonel with the Ohio Army National Guard and received the Bronze Star.
He promises to push for a balanced federal budget, noting he's ready to make the tough choices to accomplish that. He favors a two-year federal budgeting process, similar to Ohio's system, a law mandating balanced budgets and line-item veto powers for the president.
Stivers' reasonability, affability and willingness to work in a bipartisan way stand in contrast to Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, his Democratic opponent.
But the real news is the total evisceration of Mary Jo Kilroy that takes place after that:
Kilroy, who lost a race for the 15th District seat two years ago, lacks Stivers' legislative experience, but perhaps even more important, she has shown that personal political ambition is more important to her than the public interest. This is demonstrated by her use of the county's Quality Contracting Standards to reject nonunion bidders on county construction projects and to steer contracts to union contractors to reward her labor supporters. In one case, Kilroy rejected an Ohio low-bidder in favor of an out-of-state union contractor that previously had been fined $23,000 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for four serious safety violations related to an accident that killed a worker in 2006. The same company also failed to pay an employee's pension while he served in Iraq, and the company's former president was sent to jail for tax evasion.
This is the kind of bad judgment that Kilroy offers residents of the 15th District.
