Life has been good for “Meds, Feds and Eds” in the Miami Valley under Mike Turner- because that’s all we seem to have left. After GM closed its manufacturing plant here (after massive local tax dollar support- the clear coat paint line, not the federal bailout), NCR leaving (after massive Georgia and NYC public tax dollar incentives), DHL closing down Wilmington (after massive tax dollar support)- we’re left with high unemployment, a gerrymandered district, and a Congressman who can’t give you an example of one way HE would do things to change things nationally to help locally. Of course, he has plenty of ideas for earmarks- because Turner admits he’s for sale (NCR was not only one of his largest donors- it was also a recipient of an earmark that he had pulled when they left). I’ve repeatedly called for an end to “Corporate Welfare” on this site.

The only problem with using the following Brookings Institution numbers to blame Turner specifically- is they are by Dayton’s MSA- not by the insane boundaries of OH-3, if that was the region measured, unemployment and production drop figures would be even bigger:

The Dayton area ranks in the bottom 10 among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in both loss of employment and loss of economic activity since 2004, a new report by the Brookings Institution has found.

Through the end of March of this year, the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area — which is comprised of Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Preble counties — saw an 11 percent drop in employment and 4.1 percent drop in goods and services produced as compared to the third quarter of 2004, when employment and economic production reached their peak among the metro areas. Both of the Dayton MSA’s figures ranked ninth-worst among the 100 largest metro areas.

Dayton’s 11 percent employment drop almost doubles the 6.4 percent average drop for the 100 metro areas and the 6.1 percent drop for the nation as a whole. The loss in gross metropolitan product was much larger than the 0.2 percent drop for the 100 metros and 0.8 percent growth for the nation.

The report is another look at familiar bad news for Dayton and other Ohio metro areas, said Jennifer Bradley, senior research assistant for the Brookings Institution.

“It’s sobering to see that a lot of Ohio metros, particularly those that have been especially dependent upon the auto industry are really struggling,” said Bradley, who also co-directs the Washington D.C.-based institution’s Great Lakes Economic Initiative….

Perhaps one bright spot for the Dayton area was that it fared much better than most in housing price decline. The region ranked 37th out of 100 in the drop in housing prices over the last three years. Prices in the region dropped 11.0 percent, about half of the 21.4 percent average drop among all the metro areas.

By comparison, the worst housing drops over three years were in Modesto and Stockton, Calif., where prices dived a whopping 55.5 and 55.3 percent. Las Vegas dropped 53.4 percent over three years and almost 22 percent last year alone

via Dayton metro area gets 9th worst ranking in U.S..

The only reason our housing didn’t get hammered as bad was that we were already overbuilt, losing population and our housing values never bubbled. Yet, our housing has lost much of its value thanks to predatory lending, induced foreclosures and foreclosures due to job loss.

Turner can’t point to a single position he’s taken to defend his constituents from this giant sucking of value out of the community- leaving it prime for vulture capitalists to come steal what’s left. Entire office towers are in foreclosure and some are being auctioned off- including one right across the street from Turner’s new luxury condo in Performance Place (which have also seen huge drops in value).

The pillaging of our community, while Turner continues to accept massive campaign donations (despite lack of credible challengers) from special interests and the wealthy are a good reason to challenge his incumbency.

On July 13th, Democrats, independents and Republicans who are willing to sign a form 10z and come over to the D side- can choose me to be the Democratic challenger to Mike Turner. For that to happen, I’ll need your support: www.electesrati.com/donate

You can find my positions on how to turn this around throughout the many posts on this site. Please explore- and comment on the issues or ideas you find most interesting- you will get a response from me.

Thank you.