MARIETTA - As a national bus tour targeting government spending rolled into Marietta Wednesday, a group of local residents had a chance to voice their frustration about the issue and put a message directly on the bus, which is traveling across the country.
The Spending Revolt National Bus Tour made a stop at Muskingum Park Wednesday afternoon, drawing about 25 people there to pick up literature, hear speakers and sign the bus, already full of comments about President Barack Obama and the national deficit.
"It's sort of a mobile petition," said Rebecca Heimlich, the Ohio director for Americans for Prosperity, which is a partner of Spending Revolt, a coalition of citizens, businesses and policy organizations aimed at educating citizens about federal spending. "We're telling big government that we need to stop the spending. We don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem."
Stephanie Lang, 41, of Lowell said she hadn't heard of the grassroots coalition before Wednesday but stopped by after getting a phone call about the event.
"I thought I needed to come by," she said. "I truly believe spending is out of control, and I think the government should operate the way my household does. We have to live within our means."
It's not just a federal problem, Ohio Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, told the crowd.
Stewart criticized Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland for not reducing the state's budget enough in tough times and for spending stimulus money the state received on programs that aren't long-term investments for the state.
"Ohio received over $8 billion in stimulus money and it would be one thing if our fearless governor invested this money in infrastructure ... but the vast majority was spent propping up the state's budget," he said. "It's one-time money so we should have been tightening our belts. It's one reason I voted against the last budget."
Governor's office spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said later Wednesday the criticism of Strickland was "flat-out wrong."
"As the economic crisis began, Gov. Strickland made tough decisions to reduce his original budget by more than $1.5 billion," she said. "He then cut spending by nearly $2 billion more in the current budget compared to the previous. He reduced the size of the state workforce by nearly 5,000 - smaller than it's been since the Reagan Administration- and shrunk the state payroll by about $48 million."
Wurst pointed out that state income taxes have been cut 17 percent since 2005 and that $774 million of federal stimulus funds were invested in Ohio's infrastructure.
Other money was used "to create thousands of jobs," she said.
