About That Economic Recovery...

In March 2009, Congresswoman Kilroy stated in a Columbus Dispatch survey that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the so-called stimulus bill) would "create more than 16,000 jobs in central Ohio". In addition, her press release on the occasion of the Act's passage stated 133,000 jobs would be created in the State of Ohio. A question for the Congresswoman: where are the jobs?

According to recovery.gov, a mere 17,095 jobs have been created in the State of Ohio. That's pretty weak. Assuming none of these jobs were created in the phantom 43233 zip code where the State of Ohio's Office of Budget and Management sent $220 million to improve non-existent infrastructure, the 17,095 jobs created represent not even 13% of the jobs promised. What would happen to you at work if you delivered only 13% of the results you promised? (Assuming you're lucky enough to have work right now, of course. 15.3 million Americans don't.) I'd bet you'd lose your job for delivering barely over a tenth of what you promised--and rightfully so. Should we not then fire our Congresswoman who authorized tossing hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to the wind and failed to deliver the recovery she promised? You bet we should!

Nationally, unemployment remains at 10%. That's 1 in 10 people without jobs. According to the latest from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 in 10 unemployed Americans (or 6.1 million people) have been unable to find jobs for a period of roughly seven months (27 weeks to be precise). Seven months is a long time to be in professional and financial freefall. Can you imagine the toll that would take on a family?

As you can read in the Columbus Dispatch, the most disturbing finding in the new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is the erosion of 1.9 million Americans from the labor force since May 2009. That's 1.9 million Americans who have given up. These are people who want to be working, but they're so beaten down from scrounging for work in the dead economy that they've given up the search. If not for their despair, unemployment would have actually risen 0.4 percent in December.

Now that we've taken a quick look at the dismal national scene let's bring it back to Ohio: Ohio's citizens are among the hardest hit by the massive economic downturn the Democrats have brought us since gaining control of Congress in 2006. According to the latest data from the Ohio Bureau of Labor Market Information, Ohio, at 10.6%, has the 11th highest unemployment rate among the states. 623,000 Ohioans are without work. To add some perspective, the number of unemployed Ohioans is greater than the total population of Vermont. That's a lot of people.

We're in a particularly bad way in Ohio, wouldn't you agree? Last year, Democratic lawmakers promised us recovery, and yet we're still sorely in need. On her official House website, Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy states that the "effective and efficient action" of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act has "already addressed the immediate needs of the crisis". Effective? Efficient? Apparently, Ms. Kilroy needs to invest in a dictionary because the so-called stimulus plan has been anthing but effective and efficient. Far more troubling than her lack of comprehension of the English language is her dispassionate attitude that the immediate needs of her constituency have been addressed. 623,000 Ohioans without work. 10.6% unemployment. I'd say those are some pretty big concerns that need to be addressed. Wouldn't you?

In Better Circumstances There'd Be No Mary Jo

I've never thought of myself as the type of person who would ever maintain a blog. In better circumstances I wouldn't be starting one. I'm guessing in better circumstances you wouldn't have sought this blog out either. In the better circumstances I imagine we'd have a responsible and limited government not the dangerously out of control statist juggernaut we have today. You and I would be too busy with our families and our well-paying jobs--too busy living the American Dream--to have time to grouse around the internet in our discontent. One of the many great things about America is that by this time next year we can be well on our way to those better circumstances.

The current Congress has demonstrated through its actions that the politicians assembled believe they know better than we do. They believe they don't need to account to us for their actions. They believe we are fools. They are wrong. And we can demonstrate their wrongness to them in no uncertain terms. We can demonstrate it because we, the people, have the power to toss the bums out.

And the bums should be tossed out. The purpose of this blog is to illustrate why. I will focus on a particularly repellent bum you and I can toss out this November: Mary Jo Kilroy. I first became acquainted with Ms. Kilroy during the 2006 election cycle when she made her initial run for Congress against Rep. Deborah Pryce (now retired). I was mortified by how negative Ms. Kilroy is as a candidate and, by accounts, as a person. Her campaign ads were so malicious and mean-spirited they brought to mind a Saturday Night Live spoof of a political ad I had seen years prior which asserted that Mario Cuomo was a chainsaw murderer. I have long thought such negative characters have no place in government. It sets a bad example. It says to everyone in society that it's okay to act outside the bounds of decency. I was very pleased when Ms. Kilroy lost the 2006 race. I was pleased this district was spared the shame and embarrassment of having her styled as our "Representative". To my horror, in the next election she was able to obtain a victory and became Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, United States Representative for Ohio's 15th Congressional District.

To be clear, Ms. Kilroy didn't earn her victory. She put forth no great vision, no great ideas. She didn't make a vigorous effort to learn the values of the district she sought to represent. Ms. Kilroy did the cynical thing and sat back on her haunches and waited for the Republican Party to lose. She rode a wave of anti-Bush sentiment into office along with many of her far-left peers. It was her good fortune that a charismatic orator headed the Democratic ticket in 2008. Otherwise, she would have had to rely on her own lacking abilities--the same lacking abilities which had a mere two years prior failed to deliver her ambition's object.

In Congresswoman Kilroy, Ohio's 15th Congressional District doesn't have a representative. She doesn't share our vision or our values. Mary Jo Kilroy is a cold and ambitious woman beholden to her out-of-state liberal donors, trial lawyers, labor unions, and national party leadership. Casting votes along party lines 99% of the time, Ms. Kilroy is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi, the backroom-dealing, big government-loving Speaker of the House.

As a resident of Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, I'm offended by Ms. Kilroy. As many pundits have noted the OH-15 is the consummate swing district within the consummate swing state. I'm a swing voter. People like me are pretty common in this district. I've cast ballots for Republicans and Democrats, even some unaffiliated candidates. I evaluate candidates on their merits--just like so many of my neighbors in this swing district within this swing state. Because I evaluate candidates on their merits, I didn’t vote for Mary Jo Kilroy in 2006 or 2008, and, as you can likely guess, I won’t be voting for her in 2010. In this blog, I will explore why she’s wrong for our district and our country.