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Letter to the editor: 4/25/08
Where is Austria on Twin Valley closing?
Re: "Twin Valley closing will have massive impact on area," Dayton Daily News, April 20. Steve Austria, just like his mentor, U.S. Congressman Dave Hobson, is always eager to take credit for earmarks, pork and tax breaks that come to his Ohio Senate District, especially those that benefit special interests and campaign contributors. Take for example the Third Frontier first proposed under the Taft administration, or even state income tax exemptions for retired military which came to Ohio decades after other states implemented similar incentives to military retirees, but conspicuously coincident with the 2008 election cycle. However, when funding is lost on programs like Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare, the region's only public psychiatric facility, Austria and Hobson scurry back to the shadows.
I am not passing judgment on cutting the budget; we really need to see more of that, but we should be demanding accountability for politicians' budget priorities, and so should the media. Take for example the contract Greene County Commissioners awarded in 2003 to the Dayton Development Coalition, a private, non-profit corporation. The deal sent $1.9 million in tax dollars to the Coalition, who in turn awarded an un-bid contract to The Greentree Group, who then noncompetitively awarded $560,000 to The PMA Group, a Washington lobbyist. Steve Austria and his mentor, Dave Hobson, were instrumental in steering taxpayer dollars to these private organizations on the pretext that they were needed to protect jobs at Wright Patterson, and then received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Greentree and PMA (Source:
www.fec.gov ). The simple truth is that Wright Patt is a national treasure and as such will
never be in danger of closing or downsizing, and therefore the $1.9 million Austria and Hobson money-laundered to special interests to defend the base was a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
John Mitchel
Beavercreek
(937) 427-8442
www.patriotpress.com
www.reformcongress.com
Paid for by Americans for John Mitchel
