Kilroy’s Support for “Stimulus” Delivers Funds to Columbus, GEORGIA?

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts:  Steve Driehaus (OH-01) and Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15).

 Kilroy’s Support for “Stimulus” Delivers Funds to Columbus, GEORGIA?
Does Mary Jo Kilroy Still Support the “Stimulus” that Ships Jobs Out of Ohio?

Washington- As Ohio officials are up in arms by the misuse of the Democrat-passed “stimulus” plan to potentially assist in the removal of jobs from the Dayton community and relocate them to Georgia, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) remains silent on this harmful effect from the bill she supported.  Columbus, Ga., Mayor Jim Wetherington has requested a “significant amount” of federal stimulus money at Ohio taxpayer expense to help facilitate the move of NCR Corp. headquarters to an Atlanta suburb:

“Although Columbus, Ga., Mayor Jim Wetherington said he does not know if the federal government will approve his request, he wants stimulus money to help refurbish a 340,000 square foot facility and construct a 100,000 square foot building for NCR to make ATMs.…

“Wetherington said he ‘personally wouldn’t have a problem’ using federal stimulus dollars to lure jobs from one state to another, although he acknowledged that ‘other people might. This money that we’ve applied for is what President Obama said is going to be available.’….

“NCR announced yesterday that it was moving its headquarters and about 1,200 jobs from Dayton to Duluth, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. In addition, NCR plans to lease a new production facility in Columbus, Ga., creating an additional 860 jobs.” (Jack Torry, “Columbus, Ga., seeks federal stimulus money to help NCR move from Dayton,” The Columbus Dispatch, 06/03/09)

Even Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who cast the deciding vote in the Senate to pass the stimulus bill earlier this year, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke urging him to prevent the misuse of federal stimulus dollars to lure jobs from one state to another:

“’He is writing Secretary Locke to urge him to prevent funds from being used for the purpose of building a new facility that would take jobs from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ga.,’ said Meghan Dubyak, a Brown spokeswoman. ‘The senator would say the Economic Recovery Package (stimulus bill) was passed to create jobs, not help relocate them.’’” (Jack Torry, “Columbus, Ga., seeks federal stimulus money to help NCR move from Dayton,” The Columbus Dispatch, 06/03/09)

“Because Mary Jo Kilroy and her party leaders failed to apply even a minimal level of scrutiny to this massive spending bill, thousands more Ohio families could end up paying the price with further job losses,” said Ken Spain, NRCC Communications Director.  “Does Kilroy still support the so-called ‘stimulus’ despite the fact that it ships jobs out of Ohio, or will she continue to back a bill that has yet to produce the results that Democrats promised it would?”