This month I've been talking with Fred Kundrata, the Democratic candidate running for the Cincinnati-based seat that Steve Chabot lost in 2008 to Steve Driehaus, who ran as a progressive, and then regained 2 years later after Driehaus had amassed a conservative record at the behest of the DCCC. OH-01 was gerrymandered in 2010 to make the district much less hospitable to Democrats. Parts of Cincinnati were shaved off and wealthy, deep red Warren County was grafted onto the district. The PVI went from R+1 to R+6, a skewer rarely within the grasp of a Democrat. Fred, however, is undaunted and feels that voters in the district are ready to replace Chabot again.I asked him to introduce himself with a guest post and he penned one about the issue set that he feels is working magic for him in southwest Ohio: the area's crumbling infrastructure.Building Bridges-- Community Outreach and Investing in Infrastructureby Fred KundrataI love Cincinnati. This is where I live and work, I have property in the heart of downtown and in communities around the city. The Queen City, as it was coined by Wadsworth-Longfellow, is beautiful and filled with history. The first major inland city in the nation, Cincinnati has a rich history of industry and organized labor. That history of commerce however is fading in favor of a future ushered in by stagnant leadership more concerned about their own job security and the pocketbooks of their corporate sponsors than caring for Cincinnati.For 17 years, Steve Chabot has walked into his congressional office and walked away from his constituents. He has turned down federal funding to rebuild his city. His trickle-down economics are sending floods of money into the pockets of his corporate sponsors while everyday Ohioans are struggling to stay above water.When I look at the roads and bridges of Cincinnati, I see opportunities for those everyday Ohioans. Opportunity to bring fair-wage jobs to the city, to attract commerce to invest here, and the chance to clear up the congested traffic and polluted air.I’m not interested in the partisan rhetoric and biased sound bites that surround Steve Chabot while he neglects our infrastructure. That is why I’m laying out a clear plan to cut through the red tape and partisan extremism, and reaching out to Ohioans to hear their ideas on how to rebuild our infrastructure and expand the opportunities of the Queen City.I will create a Jobs Leadership Team that will bring together Labor, Business, Elected Officials, and Community Leaders to focus on job creation and reinvesting in America’s infrastructure. Ultimately this collaborativeeffort coupled with effective action, expands the middle class, attracts more business to the Cincinnati region, and strengthens labor unions.Labor Unions were the backbone of the worker's rights revolution that created the middle class. I believe we must strengthen Labor Unions that will in turn help restore the middle class-- a win-win for our communities, businesses, Labor, working families and America!I will sponsor legislation to cut through the red tape for approving public works projects, and work with local, state, and national elected officials to bring a state of the art, clean-energy powered, mass transit system to Cincinnati, built with Union labor. I will work to expand our streetcar program and to build bus terminals with dedicated lanes on our highways to create public transportation arteries in and out of the city. We must prevent our infrastructure from flat-lining, and start pumping life into our “channels of commerce” in and around the heart of this great city. This will create short-term and long-term employment opportunities, improve highway safety, cut down on pollution, and provide our economy with a solid base of infrastructure support to last for the next 50-100 years.This election will be about infrastructure verses neglect, grassroots communication verses corporate greed. Above all, it will be about bold, progressive action verses stale partisan extremism.I’m spending every day reaching out to my community, listening to their stories of overcoming odds and day-to-day struggles. It’s my favorite part of being the Democratic nominee for Congress-- hearing these stories and working with my community to turn them into stories of action.Be a part of the action: Stand with me in my campaign, help me serve the people of Ohio’s 1st District and bring real change to the U.S. Congress. Please learn more about our campaign at FredKundrata.com.
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