Brown Issues Statement on Oman Free Trade Agreement

The Oman Free Trade Agreement was narrowly forced through the House Thursday. Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County), a leader on fair trade policy, issued the following statement:

The free trade agreement with Oman makes America less secure. It compromises our homeland security and it compromises our economic security.

Mike DeWine remained silent on the Dubai Ports World deal, and remained silent on this matter of national security. Once again, he served as a rubber stamp for the president’s failed policies when he voted to support the Oman FTA.

Ohio families need leadership that speaks out and acts on their behalf.

This agreement includes provisions allowing companies from Oman to take over "landside" port activities -- operating the piers and loading and unloading cargo -- exactly the sort of things Dubai Ports World had sought to do earlier this year.

If we tried to block an Omani company’s control over critical port infrastructure, the Omani government -- or really, any company with a branch in Oman -- could sue us for violating the trade agreement.

And that case would not be heard by a US court with judges confirmed by US elected officials and charged with balancing the needs of trade and the imperative of security under US law.

It would be heard instead by an unelected, unaccountable international tribunal whose mission is trade promotion, not security enhancement.

We needed to reject the Oman FTA yesterday and its dangerous ports language. And we need to pass the TRANSEA ACT requiring systematic homeland security reviews of trade agreements.

The other problem with the Oman deal is that it extends the flawed NAFTA/CAFTA model. It protects multinational corporations by requiring that Oman maintain investment and intellectual property protections comparable to those in US law.

But for labor and environmental protection, it does not require that Oman adopt standards comparable to the US. In fact, it doesn’t require Oman to adopt any standards at all.

And like NAFTA and CAFTA before it, the Oman agreement gives us no real remedy if – and in my opinion, when -- Oman abuses the rights of its workers.

Again, violations of multinational corporations’ investments and intellectual property provisions are punishable by trade sanctions. But no such effective remedies are available to enforce labor and environmental standards.

These fatal flaws of the NAFTA/CAFTA model cost American jobs, cost Ohio more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs.

The American people deserve better than a trade deal that opens our infrastructure to new threats and subjects our workers to old ones.

07/21/2006 / Permalink / Homeland Security, Trade, (all tags)

DeWine sticks with firm that bungled 9/11 ad

From U.S. News & World Report: 

Ohio Republican Sen. Mike DeWine is sticking with the political advertising firm that doctored images of the World Trade Center to make it appear as though the footage came from the September 11 attacks. The video was used in a 30-second campaign spot that has aired throughout Ohio since last Friday, accusing his opponent, Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown, of being weak on national security. An investigation by U.S. News revealed that the images, which show the south tower ablaze and the north tower untouched – contradicting the chronology of the day's events – were bogus.

The firm that produced the commercial has been the subject of controversy before. Alexandria-based Stevens, Reed, Curcio & Potholm produced the famous "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads that challenged the war record of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004. Still, the DeWine campaign has no plans to ax the ad agency. "Stevens, Reed, Curcio & Potholm is a nationally recognized firm, and they will continue to do media consulting for the campaign," said DeWine spokesman Brian Seitchik.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/21/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine Hides Truth from Ohio Voters

Continuing a long history of distorting the facts, Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine was caught this week having doctored 9/11 images of the burning Twin Towers in an attack ad against Congressman Sherrod Brown.

It was not the first time DeWine misled Ohioans.

In 1977, DeWine was found guilty by the Ohio Election Commission for making false statements regarding conviction rates of his opponent during his campaign for Greene County Prosecutor. Even after the event, he felt he'd done nothing wrong, made public statements reiterating his innocence and appealed the decision. His repeal was rejected.

During his failed bid against American hero and astronaut Senator John Glenn an Ohio newspaper reported the DeWine campaign claiming, "…if Glenn had his way the Berlin Wall still would be standing and former Soviet republics still would be enslaved." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/27/92]

"It's disappointing that Mike DeWine already is engaging in gutter-style politics. To distort images sacred to so many Americans is just shameful." Brown said. "He's resorting to using gimmicks to hide his record of supporting policies that hurt Ohio families."

Mike DeWine helped force through Congress the president's Medicare Part D bill, the energy bill, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, voted for the war in Iraq, and this week voted with the president in opposing stem cell research.

"Senator DeWine is out of the mainstream with Ohio voters," Brown said. "But instead of telling the truth, and standing by his record, he is misleading Ohio families."

The ad firm hired by DeWine, Stevens, Reed, Curcio, & Co is same firm that created the now infamous "Swift Boat" attack ads, and was fired by Republican Virginia Senator John Warner for doctoring images during his 1996 re-election campaign.

"Mike DeWine has a history of not telling the truth, so it's no great surprise he hired a firm with a similar track record," Brown said. "Ohio families deserve better from their Senator. It is time for change."

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine blunder adds fuel to controversial Sept. 11

From U.S. News & World Report: 

The controversial video of the burning World Trade Center towers in a television campaign ad for Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine is doctored, U.S. News has learned. The television spot, which has been lambasted by critics as a political exploitation of the Sept. 11, attacks Democrat challenger Rep. Sherrod Brown for being weak on national security.

On the air in major Ohio markets since last Friday, the ad shows the towers, with the south building billowing smoke, which gradually drifts upward. In the video, the north tower, which was struck first on September 11, is undamaged.

"This particular image is impossible," says W. Gene Corley, a stuctural engineer who led FEMA's building performance study on the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. Corley reviewed the ad at http://www.brownvotes.com for U.S. News. "The north tower was hit first [so] the south tower could not be burning without the North Tower burning." Corley also says, "the smoke is all wrong." The day of the attacks, the plumes of ash were drifting to the southeast. "The smoke on 9/11 was never in a halo like that," Corley says.

DeWine's office acknowledged the error. "The Senator was unaware that the image of the towers was a graphic representation and has instructed the campaign to replace the footage with a picture of the

Twin Towers," his office said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

DeWine spokesman Brian Seitchik says the image of the burning towers in the ad is a still photo with computer-generated smoke added.

In a sign of how politically charged the issue of politicizing the Sept. 11 attacks has become, DeWine's camp promised a newly edited version would be produced immediately and released as early as Thursday.

The new ad will feature images of the World Trade Center before the Sept. 11 attacks – sans smoke. Despite the ongoing controversy, DeWine's campaign is standing by the TV spot. "The factual basis of the ad is well documented," Seitchik says. "There is a fundamental difference between Sherrod Brown and Mike DeWine on national secuirty issues, and this ad was about shining a spotlight on that."

The ad is "shameful," says Joanna Kuebler, Brown's campaign communication director. "Instead of being honest and engaged in discussion with voters and the media ... [DeWine's] exploiting an American tragedy and now we find out that even that's a distortion."

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine’s 9/11 TV ad video image is doctored

From Cleveland Plain Dealer: 

Sen. Mike DeWine’s latest re-election commercial uses a video image of smoke rising from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, while an announcer says that opponent Sherrod Brown is weak on national security.

The footage is haunting — and, it turns out, is fake.

The campaign of DeWine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged as much Wednesday night, saying its media consultant used gimmickery to create smoke billowing from the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The commercial shows the North Tower unaffected at that moment — even though it was the first to be struck by a hijacked jetliner.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine pulls anti-Brown ad because image was fake

From Dayton Daily News: 

Sen. Mike DeWine has pulled an image of a burning World Trade Center from a campaign commercial attacking Rep. Sherrod Brown's record on national security because the image was a fake, a campaign spokesman said Wednesday night.

Instead, the 30-second ad, which began airing Friday, will show a picture of the World Trade Center before the attacks, DeWine spokesman Brian Seitchik said.

The current ad shows a picture of the World Trade Center before the attacks, with smoke rising from one tower. The new ad will be sans the smoke.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine removes altered image from ad

From Toledo Blade: 

U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's campaign doctored an image in a televised attack ad to make the World Trade Center appear to be burning, the senator admitted yesterday.

Mr. DeWine, a Cedarville Republican, will not dismiss the advertising firm that added billowing smoke to the picture of New York's twin towers that was taken before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his spokesman said. The campaign plans to replace the image effective today.

Democrats had already criticized the ad, which paired the burning towers with photos of 9/11 hijackers in a national-security-themed attack on U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown (D., Avon), as "exploiting" tragedy for political gain. Their cries grew yesterday, after U.S. News & World Report discovered the fake smoke and the DeWine campaign called other reporters to admit it.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)

DeWine ad faked smoke in photo of World Trade Center

From Columbus Dispatch: 

Remember the controversial commercial aired last week by Sen. Mike DeWine that showed one of the towers of the World Trade Center burning after the Sept. 11 attack? Well, it turns out the photo isn’t quite what you think it is.

Apparently, the producers of the commercial did not have ready access to a photo of the towers burning after the attack. So they used a still photograph of the towers from before the attack and added smoke to one of the towers. A sharp-eyed reporter from U.S. News and World Report thought the smoke was blowing the wrong way and called the DeWine campaign.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/20/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Homeland Security, (all tags)