Ohio 15th District congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy has begun to outline her priorities for implementation of policy should she be elected to the House of Representatives in November 2008. At times, specificity is lacking in her assertions:
To change Washington we need to change the way Washington works. We need to rein in the power of special interests, particularly the undue influence of the banking, oil and pharmaceutical industries that have written laws that enrich themselves and hurt working families.
I’d like to know how Kilroy proposes doing this. Elsewhere, however, Kilroy hits the mark, showing the courage to use the dreaded C-word: (conservation) and outlining a plan that would eliminate the Bush-era tax breaks for oil companies and repeal tax cuts for households earning more than $1 million a year.
I have quibbles with what she’s proposing: $1 million, for instance, is a pretty high bar for rescinding tax cuts, and in order to pay the bill for the credit-card Iraq war and other priorities, this nation will have to be more bold than Kilroy proposes in finding sources of revenue and eliminating wasteful contracts (hello, Bechtel and Halliburton).
That said, Kilroy clearly presents a more progressive policy vision than her Republican opponent, Steve Stivers. Stivers has shown no inclination to alienate his rich Republican allies by ending the Bush millionaire tax cuts and instead of pushing for universal health care coverage has been cozying up to insurance industry lobbyists.
Now that the candidates have actually begun making substantive statements, expect this congressional race to start heating up.
