Wildwood Congressman Addresses 'Protest'

The group "Missouri Jobs with Justice" met late Wednesday afternoon at a Ballwin-area union hall to address Congressional legislation affecting job creation.

Julie Terbrock, a representative for the non-profit group, said the meeting in part is a response to the support U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R—Wildwood) gave to the federal budget proposal by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R—Wisconsin), which includes decreased spending on medicaid, medicare and social security.

“And we really feel like right now, what (Akin) needs to be focused on is job creation and not those cuts to the budget," Terbrock said.

Steve Taylor, a spokesperson for Akin, said the congressman did not attend Wednesday's meeting but still values efforts to create more jobs.

“Congressman Todd Akin ... agrees that jobs and the security of American families should be the number one priority in Washington, which is why he has worked assiduously to reduce wasteful government spending and eliminate needless and burdensome regulations on job creators," Taylor said in a written statement, which referred to the meeting as a "protest."

The group met at 4 p.m. Wednesday at UFCW655 at 300 Weidman Rd.

Taylor said he met with four representatives of this group after the "rally."

"Congressman Akin agrees that jobs are important; he just has a different approach to supporting the generation of them. He believes government spending should be decreased and that red tape for businesses should be eliminated," said Taylor, referring to ways to help with job creation efforts.

Eureka-Wildwood Patch editor Julie Brown Patton contributed to this article.