Stivers burns Kilroy with past in final ad

The last ad from 15th Congressional District candidate Steve Stivers is accusing Mary Jo Kilroy of burning through taxpayers’ money if she’s elected to Congress.

Stivers’ (R-Columbus) ad builds the case against Kilroy’s (D-Columbus) future in Congress by citing her past as a Franklin County commissioner and Columbus school board member – all the while showing money burning behind Kilroy’s picture.

Kilroy is accused of losing $1 million worth of school money while on its board and raising taxes by $200 million on Franklin County residents as commissioner.

The Kilroy campaign said $1 million was not lost from Columbus City Schools, but was unaccounted by the treasurer, who kept books out of balance. In addition, Kilroy praised the call for an internal auditor, the campaign said.

As for the tax hike charge, the campaign said State Sen. Stivers voted to raise income taxes by $2 billion.

"This over the top ad, with its scary imagery of money burning is meant to frighten voters,” said Brad Bauman, Kilroy’s communications director. "There was an accounting error that caused the books to be wrong at the school board. When Mary Jo found out about it, she moved to fire the person responsible for that error and they are outright lying about her stance on healthcare.”

The campaign said Kilroy’s health care plan would calls for “affordable and accessible healthcare for all Americans which would include choice of physicians.” As for the charge Kilroy wants to add $1 trillion in new federal spending, the campaign said Stivers’ citation doesn’t mention Kilroy but Obama’s spending plan.

Finally, Kilroy wants to give middle-class tax cuts, the campaign said.