President Barack Obama’s campaign is expected in Akron tomorrow. The John S. Knight Center will be host as Akron leaders and workers of the “Ohio for Obama” campaign are doing all they can to prepare.

By JUDITH LYNN LEE

Staff Reporter

         Summit County Executive Russell Pry along with Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic and Council President Marco Sommerville addressed media Tuesday afternoon at the John S. Knight Center in Akron preparing for the president's visit tomorrow at the same location. As they spoke about our country’s concerns, Pry mentioned “We can expect President Obama to speak about the differences between him and his opponent and the choices Ohioans will make when heading to the polls in less than one-hundred [days].”  

     Before introducing the mayor, Pry issued more statements to the media. “In order to see the big difference between the candidates, look no further than the current tax policy debate.” He threw out several choices.

     “The president argues that to restore security to the middle class, something that millions of Americans have lost in over a decade…we need to return to the principals that built this nation and made us the envy of the world,” Pry said.

     According to the Executive, this starts with making sure that hard work and responsibility pay off. “It means rewarding work over wealth and asking the wealthiest among us to do their fair share like the rest of us.”

     Pry stated that President Obama is asking America to pay their fair-share. He explained that this is to end the Bush era tax cuts, for those making more than $250,000.00 per year. He has proposed closing tax loop-holes and eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies that don’t need them.

     He ended by saying, “President Obama has already passed a wide ranging tax levy for working families. But don’t get comfortable, there is still more to do.”

     Mayor Plusquellic told media that what they are trying to do in highlighting the president’s visit is to talk about some of the differences between the presidential candidates. “We have the Republican Party literally opposing everything and it has not been good for our country,” the mayor said. “Citizen’s lose respect when elected officials use their patricians for personal agendas rather than the nations.”

     Plusquellic told media that he hopes people will understand the real story behind what the president is trying to do. “Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they are really more about protecting the wealthy at all costs and that’s not what America was really all about from the beginning.”

     The mayor stated he was familiar with Mitt Romney as he had worked with the presidential candidate of part of Homeland Security Task Force that then President George Bush had created.

     “It is almost beyond belief for me to see what Romney has done personally and professionally; to back-track from issues that he took on as Governor of Massachusetts,” Plusquellic said. “Things that he did that he’s now retracted from those positions and declared he shouldn’t have done it like providing better health care to poor people and people who are under-served by the health care system.”

     The mayor claimed the tax issue is vitally important for us to understand saying “it’s like biting tooth and nail to provide tax breaks to those who really don’t need it.”

     Plusquellic asked the press to hold people accountable when they talk about high taxes. He insisted that Mitt Romney believes in going back to those failed policies that got us in this deep dark hole. “The thing that bothers me is people don’t have a good memory…they are still blaming President Obama for things that happened before he ever became president,” he said.

     He ended by saying that it’s a shame because “If people really understood how we got here, they would understand that they would never want to vote for someone who would take us back to those failed policies.”

     Sommerville spoke about our choice in selecting the next president. The Council President reminded media that when President Obama arrives in Akron, there are things to consider.

     Sommerville stated that American’s have to reclaim the security that the middle class has lost by restoring basic values that made our country great. “America prospers when we all do it together,” he said. “When power pays off, the responsibilities that come along with it is rewarding because when everyone from Main Street to Wall Street does its fair share and plays by the same rules, we all prosper.”

     President Obama will stop in Mansfield before coming to Akron. He will discuss the choice in this election between two fundamentally different visions of how to grow the economy, create middle-class jobs and pay down the debt.