Conservative political advocacy group Freedom's Watch will begin airing radio ads attacking two Democrats running for the U.S. House in Ohio.
Franklin Co. Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus), running in the 15th district, and state Sen. John Boccieri (D-Alliance) will be targeted in radio ads starting today and running for the next two weeks.
Freedom's Watch spokesperson Tim Pearson said the Boccieri ad will criticize him for not lower the gasoline tax, just as robocalls from the group attacked Boccieri last month.
The Kilroy ad says, in part, "Thanks to Mary Jo Kilroy, you the taxpayer will pay $215,000 more than necessary to build the Franklin County baseball stadium."
Conservative political advocacy group Freedom's Watch will begin airing radio ads attacking two Democrats running for the U.S. House in Ohio.
Franklin Co. Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus), running in the 15th district, and state Sen. John Boccieri (D-Alliance) will be targeted in radio ads starting today and running for the next two weeks.
Freedom's Watch spokesperson Tim Pearson said the Boccieri ad will criticize him for not lower the gasoline tax, just as robocalls from the group attacked Boccieri last month.
The Kilroy ad says, in part, "Thanks to Mary Jo Kilroy, you the taxpayer will pay $215,000 more than necessary to build the Franklin County baseball stadium."
The knock on Kilroy rests on the Franklin Co. Commission's decision last winter to split plumbing instillation from a larger construction contract that was going to TP Mechanical Contractors Inc. The plumbing bid went to union-contractor W.G. Tomko Inc., at an extra cost of $215,000 more, as the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Kilroy communications director Brad Bauman said in a statement the non-union contractor didn't meet the commission's contracting standards.
"TP Mechanical failed to meet the minimum accepted standards required of all companies during the bidding process. A bipartisan panel of commissioners passed these basic bidding standards in 2002 to safeguard the process's fairness and integrity. No Franklin County tax dollars have been used in the project and the ballpark is being completed on time and under budget," Bauman said.
Bauman said Freedom's Watch is an "ultra-conservative" group advised by Karl Rove and is helping state Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus).
