By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com

By the number of local elected officials in the basement conference room at the county courthouse, one might have understandably come to the wrong conclusion that it was election night and not Wednesday morning. County, city and township officials from all over the Crawford County were present to meet with Congressman Jim Jordan who represents Ohio’s 4th District.

The Q and A with the congressman who has been a regular visitor to Crawford County ranged from issues of local interest to those of national and even international importance.

Jordan and Ruth Leuthold, the director for the Crawford County Board of Elections, briefly discussed the impact of the president’s executive order on amnesty for illegal immigrants and the possibility it could very easily open the door to non-citizens voting, some innocently and some not so innocent.

“We don’t think any of your tax dollars should be used to support that,” Jordan said.

Jordan noted the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted had recently pointed out that last year 291 noncitizens were on Ohio voter registration rolls. At the same time, 70 elections were decided by one vote or tied. “That can be a pretty big impact,” Jordan said.

Bucyrus City Council President Sis Love asked about financial help with infrastructure projects, noting Bucyrus is currently dealing with a huge sewer separation project mandated by the EPA. She said a $50 million bill passed on to 12,000 is pretty staggering.

Jordan said he and his office would do what they could to help Bucyrus and cities like it secure existing grants. However, he said providing new money for such projects in this economy “is pretty tough to do.”

Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser noted two recent catastrophic train derailments involving trains transporting crude oil and the amount of similar trains that pass through Bucyrus on a daily basis. Jordan said that in his opinion those situations were all the more reason for pipeline projects like Keystone.

“This president has said he’s not going to sign it,” Jordan said, adding that he thought the issue was being driven by the environmental left which has seized Keystone as a symbol.

Outgoing county Auditor Robin Hildebrand brought up what she called the “handout mentality” regarding federal aid programs. Jordan repeatedly emphasized he believes there needs to be a work component requirement for any able-bodied adult to get aid of any kind.

Jordan said tax-paying families trying to get by are getting upset supporting others who will not support themselves.

“We had better start representing real middle class families,” Jordan said of his Republican party.

Other items of discussion were the drug problem, transportation and even ISIL terrorism in the Middle East.

“There’s an anxiousness out there I’ve never seen,” Jordan said and predicted a tense debate over the president’s request for troops to deal with the spreading threat.