Brown Outlines Vision for New Direction to Ohio

Defensive DeWine defends status quo, offers no new plans
 
DAYTON, OH - During the first in-state debate of the campaign, Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) strongly highlighted the fundamental differences between him and his opponent, Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine.  DeWine defended the status quo and tried to justify the dismal state of Ohio's economy and the President's failed stay-the-course Iraq strategy, while Brown presented voters with a new direction for Ohio.
 
The majority of Ohioans believe the state is on the wrong track and are ready for new leadership.
 
"Tonight's debate presented Ohioans with a clear choice - whether they want six more years of lost jobs, higher costs, and dead end war strategies or a new direction that puts middle class families first," said Brown spokesman Ben LaBolt . "Senator DeWine sided with special interests like the drug and oil companies and betrayed the middle class.  He is more concerned about saving his own job than the jobs of the nearly 200,000 manufacturing workers who have lost theirs under his leadership.  Sherrod Brown is a fighter who stands up to powerful interests on behalf of Ohio families.  Ohio is ready for change, and tonight Sherrod Brown offered a vision to restore opportunity to the state."

In tonight's debate Senator DeWine asked Ohioans to judge people by what they do. A look at that record reveals a Senator who has folded for special interests and a Congressman who has fought for middle class families.  DeWine also repeated his use of distortions when he tried to smear Brown's legislation record. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brown sponsored 119 pieces of legislation. DeWine, as a House member, sponsored a total of 10.
 
Brown made it clear that the U.S. must renegotiate unfair trade agreements and innovate to create new jobs while DeWine attempted to make the case that Ohio was on the right track.  Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Dayton rank among the poorest cities in the nation.  DeWine voted for every job-killing trade agreement President Bush brought before Congress.   
 
Tuition costs at four-year public universities in Ohio have more than doubled since 2000, but DeWine opposed more than $11 billion for higher education and voted against funding for Pell Grants, student loans, work study, technology training, and college assistance programs.  Ohio leads the nation in the number of young people leaving the state.
 
DeWine took more than $300,000 from the drug industry, and voted for a bill that left seniors with gaps in prescription drug coverage of more than $2,000 and prohibited Medicare from negotiating with the drug companies for lower prices.
 
Newspapers across Ohio noted DeWine's ineffectiveness and right-wing partisanship as a member of the House of Representatives.  According to the Columbus Dispatch, "DeWine sponsored only 10 pieces of legislation over eight years, kept a relatively low profile and voted a strong Republican line" [10/17/94].  Just this Congressional session, Brown sponsored 29.  The Dayton Daily News said DeWine "does not have the bold willingness to cross his party's leaders," and a Plain Dealer column said "Mike DeWine's accomplishments in Congress would fit on a 3-by-5 card with room to spare for the grocery list" [10/30/00, 5/29/94].
 
As the cost-of-living skyrocketed, DeWine supported the Bush tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefited the richest 1 percent of Americans.  The Toledo Blade reported today that DeWine reaped nearly $75,000 from the Bush tax cuts, but donates less to charity than Brown.  After voting for tax cuts at least 33 times, Sherrod Brown introduced a tax cut plan that would provide relief for middle class families at every stage of their lives.
 
Sherrod Brown is an effective leader who fights to lower the cost-of-living for middle class families, create jobs, and secure our nation.
 
And Sherrod Brown has been the lead Democrat on at least 83 health-related bills during his tenure in Congress, including the first bill in the House to go after HMOs when they tried to block patients from seeing the doctors they trusted and the first bill in the House to close loopholes the drug industry used to block lower priced competitors from the market.
 
Brown is a leader in the fight for fair trade, standing up to a president of his own party in opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement and a job-killing trade agreement with China, and leading the bi-partisan coalition that nearly defeated the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).  The Akron Beacon Journal said Brown "has been passionate in his opposition to trade agreements and in his support of lowering the cost of prescription drugs.  Brown has been an effective voice on children's health issues and on speeding up the process for getting generic drugs to the market" [10/18/04].
 
DeWine could not explain away his failed oversight on the Senate Intelligence Committee.  DeWine voted to go to war with Iraq over non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and against investigating the false intelligence that led U.S. troops into war.  He missed nearly 50 percent of public hearings of the Committee, and according to Committee sources, had a similarly poor attendance record for classified briefings.  He recently shelved for months and then dismissed an intelligence report in which 16 of the administration's intelligence agencies concluded the war in Iraq had increased the terrorist threat to our nation.
 
While DeWine recently switched his position on troop drawdowns, he still refused to call for a winning exit strategy from Iraq.  He did not call for Secretary Rumsfeld to step down or for President Bush to appoint a new Defense Secretary.  He did not deny that our troops may be left indefinitely in Iraq under the current stay-the-course strategy.  He defended the status quo in Iraq, which has broken out into civil war.
 
"Senator DeWine abdicated his responsibilities on the Intelligence Committee, voting against investigating intelligence failures, dismissing critical reports, and failing to show up to nearly half of the public meetings," said LaBolt.  "Sherrod Brown has called time and again for a winning exit strategy that would allow our military leaders to hand security of Iraq back to the Iraqis.  Senator DeWine supports the failed stay-the-course strategy, and would leave our troops in Iraq indefinitely if the circumstances on the ground continue to deteriorate.  Sherrod Brown believes it is time for a new direction in Ohio, and a winning exit strategy from Iraq."
 
While Sherrod Brown has introduced concrete plans to lead the state in a new direction during the campaign, including a middle class tax cut plan, a plan to make Ohio into the Silicon Valley of alternative energy, and to fix the Medicare Part D plan to make it work for seniors.  The Toledo Blade reported DeWine has not introduced any new plans.  Instead, DeWine said "If you want to see what we're going to do in the next term, I think people need to look at the long list of things I've done in the past,' Mr. DeWine, from Cedarville, said.  ‘I think that's a pretty good indication of what I'll do in the future" [9/24/06].
 
DeWine's record of lost jobs, failed war strategies, and higher costs for middle class families is the reason Ohioans will vote for change in November.

10/13/2006 / Permalink / (all tags)