John Stroup for Congress

For Immediate Release
March 3, 2008

John Stroup Meets with OOIDA and Federal Highway Administration

John Stroup, candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s Fifth Congressional District, last week traveled to Washington to meet with officials at the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). The only topic on the agenda was stopping the scheme to toll Interstate 80.

“I would like to thank the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) for setting up a meeting with FHA’s new chief counsel,” stated Stroup. "Having the support of small business truckers on this issue has been instrumental."

With the active support of the OOIDA, John Stroup has been a key organizer of the I-80 Toll resistance movement that first swept across the I-80 corridor eight months ago and has since become a state-wide movement.

“I appreciate the time the FHWA gave me to discuss this critical economic issue and I am confident we can work together when I am serving in Washington to stop this and any other ill-advised schemes designed to shut down the economy of rural Pennsylvania.”

“From the beginning of my campaign, I have said that this election is about jobs, jobs, and jobs. The tolling of Interstate 80 is an initiative designed to eliminate jobs, to send them to other states and to other countries. This is exactly the kind of government incompetence that I stand firmly against.”

Stroup, from his position as elected mayor of Clarion, has, with the exception of current Congressman John Peterson, been the single strongest voice against the tolling scheme.

“John Peterson is right. Tolling I-80 will destroy our communities. Diverted traffic will tear up our secondary roads. Diverted tractor trailers on Route 6 will render pointless millions of dollars in tourism initiatives. I regret the retirement of Congressman Peterson, but I promise him and the citizens of the Fifth District that I will not rest until the last shred Act 44, the Tolling Act of 2007, is buried six feet under, and the shovel along with it.”

With his network of grassroots support, John Stroup is widely seen as the next strong voice for rural Pennsylvania. “I appreciate the many people and groups, like the OOIDA, who have stood beside me through this fight. I hope they will join me now to see this fight through to completion in the halls of our nation’s capitol.”

Stroup also thanked the other candidates in the race for the Fifth Congressional seat who have lately issued statements supporting Stroup’s position on Interstate 80.

Contact:
Brian Sowa
814-316-6761