Senate candidate Brown focuses on job issues

From Dayton Daily News: 

The Democrat accuses his GOP opponent, incumbent Sen. DeWine, of failing to do enough to stem losses.

in a parking lot outside a closed Monument Avenue factory, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown criticized U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine on Sunday for what Brown said was a failure to support American workers.

"Issue after issue after issue, this crowd in Washington and this crowd in Columbus has sold out workers," he said, chastising Republican office holders including DeWine, his opponent in the November U.S. Senate race.

DeWine, a Cedarville resident, has said jobs are a key issue. He has argued that President Bush's trade policies have helped Ohio.

DeWine and his staff could not be reached for comment.

Blocks from an Independence Day weekend celebration at the Cityfolk Festival, Brown condemned sweatshops, declaring independence from special interests he said maintain a stranglehold over the government.

Flanked by about 20 supporters Sunday, Brown noted the Friday loss of 2,600 Miami Valley jobs.

United Parcel Service Inc. closed its airfreight at Dayton International Airport. General Motors Corp.'s Moraine Assembly plant will not bring back its third shift. Three smaller employers also will see jobs cut.

In touting his proposed ban on items produced by sweatshop, child and forced labor, Brown said DeWine has supported policies that allow corporations to ship jobs overseas.

Brown and other Democrats last week backed the Patriot Corporations for American Act, which supporters say will reward U.S. companies that invest in jobs in this country.

"Instead of allowing companies to take unfair advantage of weak labor standards abroad and tax loopholes at home, we should recognize and reward companies that do the right thing," Brown said in press release.

07/03/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Independence Tour, Jobs, Southwest Ohio, (all tags)

Dewine’s Pay-To-Play Policies Hurt Ohio Workers

Sherrod Brown's "Independence from Special Interests Tour" Comes to Dayton
 
DAYTON - Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County) brought his Independence from Special Interests Tour to Dayton today with a call to end policies that expose Ohio workers to unfair competition and instead reward companies that create jobs in Ohio. Brown was joined by a group of area workers.
 
2,600 workers in the Miami Valley area were laid off on Friday.
 
"Mike DeWine has embraced the pay to play culture in Washington instead of supporting middle-class Ohio families," said Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County). "It is time to stand up for workers and for businesses that create jobs here in Ohio. It is time to declare independence from special interests."

07/02/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Independence Tour, Jobs, Southwest Ohio, (all tags)

Senate candidate Brown says government betrayed values

From Cincinnati Enquirer:

U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown says the state and federal government has betrayed the values of its residents.

It's time for a new direction, he said.

At a press conference Sunday at the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce, the 53-year-old Lorain County resident outlined his plans to spur economic growth while retaining jobs and residents.

It was part of his Road to Change tour highlighting business development and job growth.

"People want a change because they want to see their government on the side of average Americans," Brown said after the press conference. "Whether it's small business or gas prices, people think the government has betrayed their values."

Brown is running for against Republican incumbent Mike DeWine.

A seven-term Democratic congressman from northern Ohio, Brown also faces opposition in the May 2 primary from Merrill Samuel Keiser Jr., a truck driver from Fremont.

Brown has criticized the state and federal governments for giving tax incentives to big companies but doing little for small businesses.

Click here to read the full article.

04/24/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Southwest Ohio, (all tags)

Candidate Brown outlines his plan for Ohio

From Dayton Daily News:

Small businesses loom large in the economy advocated by a Democratic candidate for a senate bid.

U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown said during a campaign stop here Sunday that the economic policy decisions of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress "have come down on the side of wealthy corporate special interests in almost every case."

...Brown was surrounded by supporters as he spoke at the Entrepreneur Center, a business incubator that has helped dozens of successful small businesses get their start.

Places like the Entrepreneur Center are critical to the American economy because 75 percent of all jobs are created by small businesses, he said.

More federal funds should be directed to small-business loans, but the Small Business Administration has stagnated on the Bush administration's watch, Brown charged.

He outlined an economic "Road to Change" he said would lead to the growth of jobs and the development of new business in the state.

If elected to the Senate, Brown said he would advocate renegotiating trade agreements, emphasize support for small businesses, focus on making Ohio the "Silicon Valley" for alternative energy businesses and work on making it less expensive to attend college in the state.

Click here to read the full article.

04/24/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Southwest Ohio, (all tags)

Sherrod Rallies Clinton County Democrats at Spring Dinner

Sherrod at Clinton Co. Democratic Dinner

Democrats from across Southwest Ohio gathered for Clinton County Dinner

Sherrod traveled to Wilmington on Sunday to speak at the Clinton County Spring Dinner.  Sherrod was the keynote speaker at the event, which also included speeches by candidates for the 3rd Congressional District, County Commissioner and State Representative.

Sherrod was reunited with old friends, and supporters who backed him in earlier statewide campaigns for Secretary of State, including a few life-long Republicans.

Democrats are optimistic about candidates up and down the ballot this year, even in this southwest part of the state, where Republicans have run up big margins in recent years.

Republican corruption in Washington, and Columbus, and and the Democratic plan for jobs, health care, and education has built a broad base of support for change across Ohio.

The crowd responded enthusiastically to Sherrod's reform proposals, and vowed to do all they could to elect Democrats this November.

04/08/2006 / Permalink / Southwest Ohio, Volunteer, (all tags)

Plain Dealer Covers Sherrod On the Road in Southern Ohio

Sherrod visits his Marietta HQ.

Sherrod chats with patrons in local coffee shop.

In the first of an occasional series of multimedia slideshows, the Plain Dealer's political website OPEN covers Sherrod's campaign swing through southern Ohio.

The slideshow was produced by Dale Omori of the Plain Dealer and includes audio and text throughout the presentation.

Click here to see "Brown Looks South for Votes."

The slideshow is an up-close look at Sherrod's personality and campaign style.

The Plain Dealer also posted a lengthy profile of Sherrod on Sunday, "Brown Foraging for Votes in GOP Bastions."

The gravel-voiced politico with curly flyaway hair is doing all he can to become the first Ohio Democrat to win a statewide nonjudicial office in more than a decade. Instead of relying on Democratic strongholds such as Northeast Ohio for victory, Brown is already foraging for votes all over the state.

"I am writing off nowhere," he promises during a week in Ohio's hinterlands in late February to find volunteers, develop a field organization and raise money.

The nation is watching Brown's progress. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid believes low approval ratings for President Bush and Republicans could return the Senate to Democratic control in November. A Brown victory in Ohio is key to his plan.

Democrats say Brown can defeat GOP incumbent Mike DeWine because Brown is a strong fund-raiser who has statewide name recognition from serving two terms in the 1980s as Ohio secretary of state. They hope DeWine will be stung by voter backlash against Republicans even though he hasn't been personally linked to the GOP scandals roiling Washington and Columbus.

Click here to read "Brown foraging for votes in GOP bastions."

03/02/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod Press, Southeast Ohio, Southwest Ohio, (all tags)

Candidate for U.S. Senate stresses key issues in Marietta

From Marietta Times:

...On Tuesday, four campaign workers in downtown Marietta sat at makeshift desks, their ears plastered to phones, nearly oblivious to the candidate for U.S. Senate who just walked into the Putnam Street headquarters. It was Brown's second visit to Marietta in about a month.

Flanked by campaign staffers and a reporter and photographer from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Brown, of Avon, said he liked to see the work. In between campaign phone calls, he'd stoop down on his knees and rest his upper body on the tables to talk to phone workers about education, health care and whether they worked for Kerry's campaign.

...After talking to one campaign worker, Brown said he was amazed when the woman told him her daughter had to go to Kentucky for college because the tuition was less expensive than in-state schools.

The rest of the Marietta visit, which included stops at the Inn at Marietta, 150 Browns Road, his campaign's headquarters and a few downtown businesses, focused on healthcare coverage -- and, particularly, the cost of prescription drugs.

Brown told Melinda Nugent, a healthcare administrator at Marietta Healthcare Physicians Inc., of 4181/2 Colegate Drive, and about four elderly women at the same table, that a new Medicare prescription drug bill does nothing to bring prescription costs down because it was written by drug companies.

"The president might as well have given them a legal pad and said write your own bill," Brown said of the prescription drug companies.

Click here to read full article.

02/22/2006 / Permalink / Southwest Ohio, (all tags)