Franklin County

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Stivers, Pryce, Karen Stivers

MARYSVILLE - Steve Stivers needs Union County to win his race for the 15th Congressional District.

Stivers (R-Columbus) said as much to 40 supporters who gathered at the 127-year-old courthouse to begin canvassing the district Saturday. Stivers' campaign is making a final push to turnout Republicans in reliably GOP Union and Madison counties, which are credited with saving U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus) in 2006 when she lost Franklin County to Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus), Stivers' opponent this year.

"I know that Union County sent Deborah Pryce back to Washington two years ago!" Stivers told supporters. "And we need to do it again. I want to make sure we keep this seat in Republican hands."

State Sen. Steve Stivers' campaign admitted today that it made an error in an earlier attack on Mary Jo Kilroy's record in the race for the 15th Congressional District.

Stivers press secretary Rob Nichols told PolitickerOH.com that the numbers the campaign used were not correct when it sent a Tuesday press release criticizing Kilroy’s spending record as a Franklin County commissioner. The Stivers release claimed that from 2001 through 2007 county spending increased $624 million.

However, as the Kilroy campaign pointed out, that figure was based on an incorrect value for the county's 2000 spending. Stivers' campaign originally said the county spent $676 million that year, but a copy of the county budget provided by the Kilroy campaign shows the real number was $838 million.

MARYSVILLE - Chickens brought both candidates for the 15th Congressional district to Union County yesterday to participate in a community meeting to discuss the impact of a 6-million chicken farm pending approval.

Hi-Q Egg Products wants to build an egg farm in York Township, a rural area of Union County, which borders Franklin County in the Congressional district. In a demonstration of grassroots politics, about 350 residents came to the meeting to ask questions of Hi-Q officials, with more than a few heckles too.

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."

State Rep. Jim McGregor: State House of RepresentativesLess than 400 votes separated state Rep. Jim McGregor (R-Gahanna) from defeat two years ago.

McGregor's district was drawn to create a safe Republican seat but it's now one of Democrats most inciting pick-ups this year, with Columbus' suburbs trending Democratic recently. The district is under such intense focus by Democrats that rumors flew through the GOP two weeks ago that McGregor was about to take a job with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (where he once worked) and leave the legislature.

McGregor said he didn't have a direct contact from Gov. Ted Strickland's administration about a job and will not be leaving office this year.

"I'm glad to support the governor and I think I can best serve him in the House of Representatives," McGregor said.

COLUMBUS -- Franklin Co. Commissioner and 15th congressional district candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) said today that if elected to Congress she’ll make improving the nation and her district’s infrastructure a top priority – without asking for unnecessary pork-barrel projects.

Kilroy spoke at the recently closed Town St. Bridge and said the country’s bridges and roads are in serious need of federal aid.

“We’ve reached a very critical point with our nation’s infrastructure,” Kilroy said, adding that both it and Washington are broke. “We need to have a Congress that has the right kind of budget priorities to take care of the critical needs of this community and other communities across the country.”

State Rep. Ted Celeste: Ohio House of RepresentativesUPPER ARLINGTON - State Rep. Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights) did something rare for a politician yesterday: he did more listening than talking in front of his constituents.

Celeste held his 16th "District Dialogue" town hall meeting at the Upper Arlington Library with about 30 people in attendance to discuss the economy, which quickly moved into other related topics.

Celeste said he holds these dialogues across the district to stay aware of peoples' concerns and to foster a sense of community.

"I really started this as part of the process of what I see as the responsibility of a representative is being in touch with constituents, listening to what the concerns are, but also beginning to build community for dealing with some of the issues," Celeste said.

U.S. House candidate and Franklin Co. Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) hailed the commission's approval of one year of funding for the Maloney community health center on Columbus's south side.

"Everyone deserves access to healthcare," said Kilroy in her statement. "Nobody should be forced to wait until they're so sick that they must go to the hospital. The preventive treatment provided to those who utilize community health centers goes a long way towards keeping our communities and our country healthy."

Kilroy has made health care a priority during her time as commissioner and a key portion of her Congressional campaign. As commissioner she worked to expand health care by funding Access HealthColumbus, a program that provides health care to low-income residents in Franklin Co. Kilroy has also worked to implement a prescription drug benefit for county residents.

Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks (D-Columbus) plans to buy at least $150,000 in television advertisements for her releection campaign.

Brooks' media advisor Greg Haas said Brooks plans to buy at least $150,000 for TV and probably more. However, Haas said no time has been purchased yet because the campaign is doing a cost-benefit analysis of when it would get the greatest effect from advertising.

Still, Haas was positive that Brooks will have a strong TV presence.

"She's going to have a very aggressive TV buy," he said.

Brooks opponent Angel Rhodes (R-Dublin) started airing TV ads two weeks ago, as PolitickerOH.com first reported. Rhodes ads have been airing on 10TV and Fox News. Rhodes said she plans to produce another ad to put into her TV rotation and to air radio ads soon.

City councilman Kevin Boyce: Columbus City CouncilFranklin County Democratic Party Chair Bill Anthony is throwing his support behind Columbus City Councilman Kevin Boyce to become Ohio's next treasurer.

In an interview with PolitickerOH.com, Anthony said he spoke to Boyce today and that Boyce said he's interested in an appointment to become treasurer, which would become available if state Treasurer Richard Cordray (D-Grove City) is elected as attorney general. Anthony said that Boyce has spoke to Gov. Ted Strickland about an appointment.

"Kevin has what it takes to move on up," Anthony said. "I think Kevin would be a great choice."