Assemblymember Olsen asks Senator Feinstein to encourage President Obama to visit Central Valley

SACRAMENTO ––  Following up on her repeated criticism of President Obama’s failure to ever visit California’s Central Valley during his presidency, Assemblymember Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, had a letter hand delivered to U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein during her visit to Modesto today, asking her to encourage President Obama to visit the area.

Senator Feinstein was in Modesto today for a luncheon hosted by the Modesto Chamber of Commerce.

In the letter, Olsen writes, “The president has made several fundraising trips to California, but he has refused to visit the Central Valley despite repeated invitations – even from members of his own party. If he was truly committed to revitalizing the economy, you would think he would take the time to see ground zero of the recession. Instead, he has maybe only peered at the aching Central Valley through the window of Air Force One as he jets to and from San Francisco and Beverly Hills.”

Olsen has been vocally critical of the president’s seeming complete disconnect with the plight of the Central Valley.

“The Central Valley has the highest unemployment in the nation, a severe water shortage, the nation’s highest number of foreclosures and entire cities declaring bankruptcy,” said Olsen. “As leader of our nation, I would expect that if President Obama was sincere about supporting economic improvement, he would take the time to see for himself the devastation here. But to my knowledge, he has failed to even acknowledge the extremely dire situation we continue to face.”