CAMPAIGN 2004 Kerry touts renewal of funds for cities

A Bush campaign official says Kerry's promise of 10 million jobs is unrealistic.
By ROGER G. SMITH
and DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry's plan to help struggling urban cities such as Youngstown and Warren reaches back to when Washington, D.C., provided municipalities major support.
Kerry, presumed to be the Democratic presidential nominee, said he has a $25 billion plan to funnel federal funds through the states to cities.
The money would help cities pay for items such as roads, sewer and waterlines, and education, Kerry said in an interview with The Vindicator on his campaign bus after Tuesday's rally downtown.
The approach has parallels to the days when federal funding, termed revenue-sharing, flowed into cities. Revenue-sharing dwindled drastically in the 1980s.
"I'd like to see us get back to that relationship," he said. "The philosophy is the same. The delivery system is different."
Revenue-sharing was based on a formula, and the money went to certain programs, Kerry said.
Proposed distribution
Instead, Kerry said he would use proceeds from his tax plan to provide cities money based on their loss of revenue during the Bush administration.
Kerry also talked about environmental empowerment zones in cities. The federal government would increase the money spent cleaning up dumps and reviving brownfields, he said.
"The cleanup is way behind in the Bush administration," he said.
During his speech on West Federal Street, Kerry repeatedly discussed the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs in the country, including 170,000 in Ohio, since President Bush took office in 2001.
"Anyone who thinks we should be satisfied with the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs doesn't understand what it means to be president," Kerry said of Bush.
Kerry said that if elected, he would create 10 million new jobs, including 417,000 in Ohio.
Bush campaign response
Jo Ann Davidson, Ohio Valley chairwoman of Bush-Cheney '04 -- the region includes Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky -- said she cannot see how anyone can make such huge promises, particularly Kerry.
That's because, Davidson said in a telephone interview, Kerry's votes in the U.S. Senate have been counterproductive toward Ohio's key industries, including auto, coal and defense.
"People need to look at the policies, and [Kerry's] are harmful," said Davidson, a former Ohio House speaker.
She acknowledged that Ohio has "had a tough time with manufacturing jobs" under Bush's watch, but that the president is enacting policies to stop that trend.
"Look at what the president did with imposing steel tariffs, cutting taxes and lowering regulations on small businesses," she said. "Surely we're concerned with what's happened in Ohio. But we have to look at what policies are productive and counterproductive."
Kerry's argument
Kerry said Bush allowed manufacturing jobs to leave this country, and the only thing he did was provide tax cuts, particularly to the rich, which didn't stimulate the economy. Kerry also called Bush the worst "jobs president since Herbert Hoover," who ran the country during the Great Depression.
Kerry visited Youngstown as part of a three-day "Jobs First Express" through four states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. It ends today.
Ohio is seen as a key battleground state in the presidential election, with a recent poll showing the race between Bush and Kerry as a dead heat.
rgsmith@vindy.comskolnick@vindy.com