TRACKING OUR LEGISLATORS SERIES: CONGRESSMAN JOHN BOCCIERI SEEMS TO BE OFF TO A GOOD START

John Boccieri is getting off to "sprint" pace start in his first term as 16th district congressman. If district Republicans have any idea of unseating Boccieri early on in order to prevent a Frank Bow/Ralph Regula type dynasty from happenint; they had better get up and running now. Because the congressman is off to a huge initial lead.

Boccieri (pronounced "bowl-of-cherries," - according to the congressman when he is out on the political stomp), is very impressive to STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) in terms of constituent contact.

He started of f in mid-February with his "Congress on Your Corner" constituent contact and continues the effort with appearances this coming week focusing on Alliance.

Boccieri lives in Alliance and readers of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) will recall that Boccieri's opponent, state Senator Kirk Schuring, seemed to make whether or not Boccieri was actually living in Alliance a focal point; and, alternative whether or not he was at heart a 16th district person or more interested in the welfare of Mahoning County (Youngstown area) where Boccieri has his Ohio roots.

This coming week Boccieri will be appearing Cedar Valley Energy located in Wooster of Wayne County (Monday); VFW Post 3747, Canton (Tuesday - NOTE: Boccieri is a major in the USAF Reserve); Sare Plastics located in Alliance (Wednesday); Mercy Medical Center (Wednesday, to discuss the upcoming Obama health care plans with hospital personnel and other community health care stakeholders), Alliance for Families and Children (Wednesday, located in Alliance, to discuss poverty issues); Alliance Community Hospital (Thursday, to discuss the upcoming Obama health care plans with hospital personnel and other community health care stakeholders), Alliance High School (Thursday, to motive high schoolers toward community involvement); and the Rodman Public Library (Thursday, a "Congressman on Your Corner" event).

So let's give the congressman an A+ for his constituent contact work.

Now for a couple of negatives.

First, The Report was real unimpressed with the congressman coming into the district and complaining about the lack of Republican congressional support for the Obama stimulus plan.

Let the Republicans play out their role as the "loyal opposition." That role is healthy for our democracy. Why is Boccieri complaining about what the Republicans do? Some Democrats say that Republican leaders are becoming "the party of NO." Let voters be the judge of whether or not the Republicans are being constructive.

Second, The Report is unmoved by Boccieri's inordinate focus on keeping postal operations in Canton.

To The Report this is a Boccieri bow and scrape to the postal union. Very few workers are invloved and Boccieri is better advised to work for organized labor and all other 16th district working class citizens on real job producing initiatives.

Now to another positive.

Recently, Congressman Boccieri announced that he had introduced his first piece of legislation House Bill 1545.

16th district folks would be pleased that Boccieri teamed up with a Republican in introducing this bill. If The Report did not that the congressman was not being productive in bashing Republicans for not supporting the Obama stimulus plan; this bipartisan effort undoes much of concern that The Report has about the possibility that Boccieri has thoughts about becoming some sort of political hack.

The question the SCPR has asked the Boccieri camp is this.

What will this bill do for the specific benefit of the 16th?

Here is Communications Dirctor Jessica Kershaw's response:

The most important things to remember are that the bill does two things:

1) It makes the R&D Tax credit permanent, therefore allowing companies in our district the confidence that they can apply for the credit year after year

2) It extends the R&D Tax credit on a bonus basis to companies that manufacture their products within the US (thereby encouraging companies to conduct R&D here at home, and this creates and saves jobs here at home). So companies in our district will benefit greatly if they manufacture products in the US (instead of off-shoring them) and this benefits the people of our district because more jobs are created or saved right here at home.

3) Also, as I outlined on the phone, several companies in our district would benefit from this legislation including Timken (specifically making the R&D Tax Credit permanent), and TekFor USA, Schmack Bioenergy, LukUSA to name a few.

So what is The Report grade for Congressman John Boccieri after nearly 100 days in office?

B is the grade.

Not bad, but leaves room for improvement.