With Brown so close, ads will grow

Cleveland Plain Dealer

With less than seven weeks left, Democrat Sherrod Brown has Ohio's senior U.S. senator, Mike DeWine, locked neck-and-neck in a tough election race -- and the intensity, dueling messages and millions of dollars for ads will only grow, political professionals say.

DeWine, a Republican, still can win, but considering his 12 years as a senator and his previous service as Ohio lieutenant governor, his current challenge strikes some as remarkable.

"Certainly the surprise in the poll is that you would have an incumbent United States senator in danger or in jeopardy of losing his seat," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati's Ohio poll.

That poll, surveying 671 likely voters by phone from Sept. 7 through Sept. 17, showed Brown, a congressman from Avon, leading DeWine by four percentage points. The margin of error was 3.8 points

Click here to read the full article. 

09/21/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, 2006, (all tags)

DeWine Left Holes In Nation’s Security

While DeWine's Swift Boat supporters attack, nation weakened by false intelligence, failure to implement 9/11 Commission recommendations
 
AMHERST, OH -- An extremist special interest group founded with the express purpose of defending "the Bush agenda" is running advertisements supporting Ohio Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine's re-election campaign.
 
Distortions are nothing new for DeWine.  Earlier this year, he hired the firm that produced the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads using false images of the burning Twin Towers in an attack against Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-OH).  A loyal supporter of Bush's policies now rejected by the majority of Ohio voters, DeWine has not seen his approval rating rise above 42% in a public poll since June.
 
"Mike DeWine and Republicans in Washington know their policies have failed Ohio families," said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Brown.  "Mike DeWine slept through Intelligence Committee hearings and failed to question the false intelligence that led our country to war in Iraq, and he stands by the Bush administration's failed stay-the-course strategy today.  He voted to sign the security of our nation's ports away to foreign countries and corporations, and he and the GOP Congressional leadership have still not implemented the 9/11 Commission recommendations two years after their release.  Sherrod Brown has fought for a national security policy that is both tough and smart, focused on winning the War on Terror by securing the homeland and beating al Qaeda."

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09/19/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, Homeland Security, (all tags)

Two New Health Care TV Ads

FAMILY DOCTOR:

 

VOTED WITH THEM:

 

Click here to read more.

09/15/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, Health Care, Video, (all tags)

New TV Spot: “Cost”

Click here to read more.

09/15/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, Jobs, Trade, Video, (all tags)

New TV Spots:  Sherrod Brown Fought to Strengthen America

Campaign rolls out three new spots highlighting record on jobs, health care

AMHERST, OH – The Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate Campaign today introduced three new television spots that will air in major markets throughout Ohio.  Brown serves as the lead Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, where he fought drug companies to lower prescription drug costs and to strengthen health care coverage.  Brown also led the fight in Congress against unfair trade agreements that have eliminated jobs and created new security threats.

The spots can be viewed here:

http://sherrodbrown.com/pages/cost

http://sherrodbrown.com/pages/health_care_families_can_afford

DeWine consistently voted to support special interests like multinational corporations and drug and insurance companies at the expense of the economic vitality and safety of Ohio families. Special interests like the drug companies have even funded campaign ads thanking DeWine for his votes in their favor.

“Senator Mike DeWine supported special interests at a high cost to Ohio families – lost jobs, stagnant wages, and a cost-of-living straining too many family budgets,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Representative Brown.  “Sherrod Brown learned from his father, a small town doctor, that everyone has a right to affordable health care, and he led the fight in Congress to lower prescription drug costs and improve health care coverage.  While Mike DeWine supported every unfair trade agreement that threatened the jobs of Ohio workers and our nation’s security, Sherrod Brown fought to keep America strong.”

Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since Senator DeWine began his second term in office.  DeWine supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and voted to grant Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China and last summer he voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).  DeWine has accepted more than $1 million in campaign contributions from companies that outsourced U.S. jobs.

Mike DeWine voted for a Medicare drug bill that provided $100 billion in subsidies to the drug industry but left seniors with gaps in coverage totaling more than $2,000, and banned the agency from negotiating for lower drug prices like the Department of Veterans Affairs does.  He voted against an initiative that would have guaranteed 90 days of continued care for HMO patients.  DeWine also voted against an initiative that would have kept HMOs from interfering in decisions between doctors and patients.

Ohio ranks among the top states in the country for the number of companies that have outsourced jobs and the number of companies that laid off workers due to the impact of trade agreements. Ohio lost more than 52,000 jobs because of NAFTA alone.

Brown is one of Congress' leading proponents of fair trade policy. Last year he led the bipartisan opposition in Congress against CAFTA, and in 1994 he stood up to a president of his own party in opposing NAFTA.  He has introduced legislation that would ban the importation of goods produced in sweatshops.  Brown is also an original co-sponsor of the Patriot Corporations for America Act, which would use tax cuts and federal contracts to reward corporations that create jobs in the United States.

Click here to read the facts behind "The Cost"

Click here to read the facts behind "Family Doctor"

Click here to read the facts behind "Voted With Them" 

09/15/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, (all tags)

Dewine Trying To Draw Attention From His Record Of Being Beholden to Special Interests

Mike DeWine has sold out Ohio families to the highest bidders in Washington D.C.

For 12 years in Congress, Mike DeWine has helped his campaign contributors and special interest friends use our government as their piggy bank. He has taken millions in campaign cash from big oil, prescription drug companies, and multinational corporations that ship jobs overseas.

Under Mike DeWine’s watch, Ohio families have seen their gas and home heating bills soar, their prescription drug costs rise, and more than 200,000 jobs leave the state.

And Mike DeWine wants more of the same for Ohio families.

He hides behind attack ads that distort the truth -- but the facts are clear. Mike DeWine has betrayed Ohio’s middle class.

While DeWine voted for the Bush tax cuts for billionaires to reward his special interests friends, Sherrod Brown fought for middle class tax cuts to help Ohio families.

It’s time to take the “For Sale” sign off Ohio. It’s time for a new direction.

Change is coming.

WHO HAD PAID FOR DEWINE’S LOYALTY? 

Outsourcers

DeWine Has Taken $1 Million From Outsourcers. Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001, and DeWine has taken more than $1 million from companies that outsource U.S. jobs; more than $330,000 of that was from companies who outsourced jobs from Ohio specifically. [www.policymattersohio.org; www.opensecrets.org; www.cnn.com]

DeWine Voted to Keep Tax Incentives for Offshore Companies. In March 2005, DeWine voted against repealing tax incentives for domestic companies that move their manufacturing plants to offshore. [S Con Res 18, 3/17/05, #63]

DeWine Favored Shipping American Jobs Overseas.  In March 2004, DeWine voted against prohibiting American tax dollars from being used to ship jobs outside the country.  The amendment DeWine voted against would have: limited the ability of civilian agencies to award contracts to companies that would use offshore workers, prohibited the privatization of jobs when contractors would take the work overseas, and require states to certify that they will not use federal funds for services performed outside the United States, eliminated tax advantages for companies that move factories overseas to make goods that are shipped back to the U.S. market, and prohibited companies from deferring taxes on income earned from these “runaway” manufacturing plants.  [S Con Res 95, #41, 3/11/04] 

DeWine Voted to Keep Tax Breaks for Companies that Operate Overseas; Opposed Tax Cuts for Domestic Manufacturers.  In May 2004, DeWine voted against an amendment that would strike $39 billion in tax breaks on overseas income from the bill. The amendment would provide for an immediate 9 percent tax deduction for domestic manufacturers. [S 1637, 5/11/04, #90]

Banking Industry

Banking Special Interests Gave DeWine More Than Half Million Dollars.  Since 1989, banking special interests have given DeWine $581,777 in campaign cash.  In fact, three of DeWine’s top five lifetime donors are banks.  They include National City Corp ($70,650), American Financial Group ($69,780) and MBNA Corp ($63,800). [www.opensecrets.org]

DeWine Took Maximum $10,000 Contributions from “Major Player” ABA; Bankers Supported DeWine.  According to American Banker in 1994, “In the race to succeed Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, Ohio's lieutenant governor, Mike DeWine, picked up a $10,000 check from the American Bankers Association -- mainly because of the man he's running against. ‘He [DeWine] has a good record in Ohio, and bankers are supportive of him,’ said Edward L. Yingling, executive director of government relations for the ABA. …’We have a different way of doing things, since we have such a large PAC,’ Mr. Yingling said. ‘We have the ability to be a major player and contribute the maximum in a number of races.’”  [Thomson Financial Information - American Banker, 10/28/94]

DeWine Voted for the Bankruptcy Overhaul in 2005.  In 2005, Senator DeWine voted for a major overhaul of bankruptcy.  The bill created a means test “to determine whether personal bankruptcy filers were able to repay some or all of their debts.”  Those with sufficient assets would have to repay their debts.  DeWine voted along with every other Republican for the bill.  [Vote 44, 3/10/2005, Passed, 74 – 25 (R 55 – 0, 18 – 25, I 1 – 0)]

• “This is the most special-interest-invested bill I have ever dealt with in my career in Congress. It massively tilts the field for credit-card companies and banks and against working families.  We should all be truly embarrassed about this.  This bill is opposed by every consumer group, all of organized labor, by civil rights groups, by bar associations, by bankruptcy judges.”  -- Representative John Conyers commenting on the Senate Bankruptcy Overhaul bill.  [Pittsburg Post Gazette, 4/15/2005]

• “There’s nothing good in this legislation.  This legislation hurts working families who suffer terrible emergencies by ripping the safety net of bankruptcy out from under them.”  -- Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of U.S. Public Interest Research Group, commenting on the Senate Bankruptcy Overhaul bill.  [Houston Chronicle, 3/9/2005]

DeWine Cast Crucial Vote, Voted Against Protecting Borrowers from Predatory Lenders.  In 2005, DeWine cast the deciding vote to kill an amendment that would invalidate claims against borrowers if the creditor has committed material violations of the Truth in Lending Act.  The amendment failed on a 50-49 vote.  [S. 420, 3/8/01, #18]

DeWine Opposed Preventing Predatory Lending.  DeWine, on March 13, 2001, voted against an amendment to prevent predatory lenders who have violated the Truth in Lending Act from filing for bankruptcy to escape claims against them. [S 420, 3/13/01, #24]

The Pharmaceutical Industry

DeWine Has Taken More Than $400,000 From Pharmaceutical Industry.  Over his career, DeWine has taken 426,671.00 from drug companies. [www.opensecrets.org; http://www.politicalmoneyline.com]

DeWine Voted for Sham Republican Drug Plan, Giving Billions in New Profits to Drug Makers. In 2003, DeWine voted for the Republican Medicare bill.  According to a study by Alan Sanger of the Boston University School of Health, this legislation would result in $139 billion in new profits for drug makers. The bill “restricts importing less expensive drugs from Canada and other countries, prohibits beneficiaries from buying supplemental insurance to meet the cost of drugs not covered by Medicare, prevents the government from negotiating drug prices with manufacturers and reduces coverage for some poor people whose drug costs are now paid by Medicaid.” The Republican Medicare bill will also lead to annual increases in premiums and deductibles and a growing gap in coverage for prescription drugs.

[Vote 459, 11/25/2003, Passed, 54 – 44 (R 42 – 9, D 11 – 35, I 1 – 0); Alan Sanger, Boston University School of Public Health, 10/31/03; New York Times, 12/9/03; New York Times, 3/20/04; Associated Press, 11/26/03]

Bill PROHIBITED Government From Negotiating Lower Prices.  The Medicare prescription drug benefit will make pharmaceutical companies $139 billion richer while lavishing $46 billion on HMOs.  It will also prohibit the government from negotiation for lower drug prices for seniors, a move that costs taxpayers an estimated $332 billion, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. [Boston Globe, 10/5/04; Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 2006

DeWine Voted Against Allowing Government to Negotiate with Drug Manufacturers.  In 2005, DeWine voted against an amendment to allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower drug prices under Medicare with drug manufacturers.  The amendment failed by only one vote.  This cost taxpayers an estimated $332 billion, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research [Vote 60, 3/17/2005, Failed, 49 – 50 (R 6 – 48, D 42 – 2, I 1 – 0); Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 2006]

DeWine One of Only 21 Senators to Vote Against Reimporting Safe Rx Drugs From Canada.  In 2002, DeWine, was one of 21 senators who voted against a bill to “change patent laws to make it more difficult for brand-name drug manufacturers to obstruct competition from lower-priced generic medicines. The bill also would allow U.S.-made drugs to be imported back from Canada, where the government controls drug prices.” More specifically, this bill would allow for a single 30-month stay against Food and Drug Administration approval of a generic drug patent when a brand-name company’s patent is challenged. It would authorize the secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations permitting pharmacists and wholesalers to import prescription drugs from Canada into the United States, and it would allow individuals to import prescription drugs from Canada if the medication is for personal use and is less than a 90-day supply. [S 812, 7/31/02, #201; The Washington Post, 08/01/02]

The Oil & Gas Industry

Oil & Gas Have Given DeWine More Than $400,000.  Over his career, DeWine has taken $410,512 from oil and gas companies. Ohio consumers are paying more than $3 a gallon in September 2006. [www.www.opensecrets.org; www.politicalmoneyline.com; http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/OHmetro.asp

DeWine Voted Twice For the 2005 Energy Bill – Included $6 Billion in Oil & Gas Subsidies.  In 2005, DeWine voted twice for the final version of the Energy Bill.  The bill included a 7.5 billion gallon Renewable Fuels Standard, and lacked the controversial liability shield for producers of MTBE.  The bill also contained $6 billion in oil and gas subsidies. [HR 6, 7/29/05, #212; HR 6, 7/29/05, #213; http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/energybill/2005/articles.cfm?ID=13980]

DeWine Voted for Energy Tax Breaks; Mostly for Fossil Fuels.   In 2003, Senator DeWine voted to invoke cloture, and limit debate, on a conference report for energy policy.  The policy would have created $25.7 billion in tax breaks.  The tax breaks would have provided $11.9 billion for oil and gas production, $2.5 billion for coal programs, $2.2 billion for alternative motor vehicles, $1.8 billion for the electric power industry.  The bill also would have created $18 billion in loan guarantees for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska.  The three fifths total necessary for cloture was not reached.  [Vote 456, 11/21/2003, Failed, 57 – 40 (R 44 – 7, D 13 – 32, I 0 – 1)]

Energy Companies Are Raking in Record Profits.While consumers and businesses are struggling to cover their transportation costs, oil companies are raking in extraordinary profits. In 2005, the top six oil companies made an astonishing $113 billion in profits.  ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded energy company, announced record profits in 2005 of $36 billion, an increase of 43 percent over 2004 and the most ever for any corporation.  In 2005, oil and gas company CEOs had the largest compensations compared with CEOs from other sectors—and ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond walked away with a retirement package totaling nearly $400 million at the end of last year.  [AP, 1/30/06; New York Times, 4/13/06]

And the tax cut he's so proud of?  That would be the Bush tax cut for the wealthiest Americans that gave the average Ohioan only 50 dollars,

and racked up the largest deficit in history.

DeWine Voted For  Bush’s $1.2 Trillion Tax Cut.  In 2001, DeWine voted for the FY 2002 budget resolution, which included a $1.188 trillion tax cut over the next 10 years.  The legislation also included a Democratic plan for $85 billion in immediate tax rebates.  The resolution fell short of Bush’s proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut.  It also budgeted $2.624 trillion for debt reduction, as well as substantial increases in appropriated and mandatory spending, and a 7 percent increase in FY 2002 discretionary spending.  Under Bush’s plan, the richest one percent of taxpayers get more than 1,000 times more tax relief than do the poorest taxpayers (a $46,072 annual tax cut for the top one percent, compared to only $42 for the lowest 20 percent of earners.).  In fact, 59.4 percent of the tax cuts in Bush’s plan go to the top 10 percent of taxpayers, while the bottom 60 percent get only 12.6 percent of the tax cut.  For most taxpayers, the Bush tax cuts amounts to only $227 a year-- 62 cents a day. [Citizens for Tax Justice analysis, 8/31/00; internal calculations] [H Con Res 83, 4/7/01, #86]

The tax cuts supported by DeWine overwhelmingly benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the middle class here in Ohio.

Tax Cuts for the Super-Rich…

In 2003, 48 percent of Ohio taxpayers (2.5 million) got less than $100 from the 2003 tax bill.

In 2005, 75 percent of Ohio taxpayers (4.2 million) got less than $100 from the 2003 tax bill.

In 2006, the top 1% of Ohio taxpayers (average income of $638,000) will receive 28.7% of the cuts.

The bottom 60% (earning less than $35,000) will receive 20.5% of the cuts.

In 2003, the top 1% of Ohio taxpayers (average income of $638,000) received 22.1% of the cuts.

The bottom 60% (earning less than $35,000) received 18.1% of the cuts.

More than 289,000 Ohio families—with 499,000 children under 17—will get zero benefit from the 2003 boost in the child credit. These families represent 19 percent of Ohio families with children under 17.

…And Debt For the Rest of Us

Between 2001 and 2006, Ohio taxpayers will receive $35.6 billion in tax cuts—but will face $145.7 billion in added federal debt, for a net added burden of $110.1 billion. This means that the net impact of the Bush fiscal policies so far is an added burden of $9,641 per Ohio resident—or $38,563 for an Ohio family of four. [Citizens for Tax Justice analysis: The Bush Tax Cuts in Ohio]

DeWine Voted for 2006 Tax Cuts, Voinovich Called Them “Immoral.”  In 2006, DeWine voted to extend Bush’s tax cuts for the richest Americans, and let college tuition credits expire.  GOP Ohio Senator Voinovich voted against the cuts.  “Extending tax cuts that President Bush wants to make permanent would place an immoral burden on future generations of Americans, a defiant Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio warned yesterday. ‘It's time to put the tax-cut medicine back on the shelf,’ he said, pointing out that the federal government is spending billions to stabilize Iraq, protect the country against terrorism and rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. ‘We've got to make some tough choices around here,’ Voinovich said, adding that it would be‘immoral to bequeath trillions of dollars in debt to our children and grandchildren. … This will not be politically easy, as I understand,’ Voinovich said. ‘The simple, undeniable fact is that we can't have it all.’” [Columbus Dispatch, 2/2/06]

In 2006, DeWine voted for Bush’s tax cut for the richest Americans that even GOP Ohio Senator Voinovich called “irresponsible and intellectually dishonest.” The estate tax repeal included in the bill would cost Ohio $40 million. The estate tax repeal would benefit only the richest .1% of Ohioans.  “Sen. George Voinovich put the argument simply and forcefully: Repealing the federal estate tax is ‘incredibly irresponsible and intellectually dishonest.’ The Ohioan proved true to his reputation as a budget deficit hawk, and he did so with uncommon bravery. Just two members of the Republican majority stood against shutting down debate and moving to a repeal vote. Voinovich was one. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was the other.” [Akron Beacon Journal, 6/12/06; Coalition for America’s Priorities; Columbus Dispatch, 6/22/01]

DeWine’s Tax Votes Did Not Address Payroll Taxes, Which Affect Middle Class More than Income Taxes. According to the Washington Post, “No matter how the data is sliced in the upcoming debate in Congress and the country, most of the tax cut dollars go to wealthier Americans who in fact pay the majority of income taxes.  The bigger problem for middle-income Americans since the Reagan tax cuts in the 1980s has been the payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare, which actually eats up much more of a worker’s paycheck.  Payroll taxes are not addressed by Bush’s 10-year $1.6 trillion tax cut.”  In fact, over the last 20 years, while income taxes have fallen for many Americans, payroll taxes have increased.  The Congressional Budget Office reported that 80 percent of working Americans pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes. [Washington Post, 2/6/01]

09/08/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, (all tags)

Rhyming Is Cute, Making the U.S. Less Safe Isn’t

AD CLAIM: This member of Congress let us down. Sherrod Brown voted four times against additional border patrols to control illegal immigration. Sherrod Brown let us down.

FACTS:

DeWine Voted Against Border Security Funding.  In 2005, DeWine voted against an amendment that would appropriate approximately $200 million in additional funding for immigration and customs enforcement to add 5,760 detention beds and for new hires. It would be offset by a reduction for state and local programs.  [HR 2360, 7/14/05, #182]

DeWine Voted Against Increased Border Security Funding.  In 2005, DeWine voted against an amendment that would transfer of $367.6 million to Customs and Border Protection to for an additional 1,000 border agents and to cover related expenses.  [HR 2360, 7/14/05, #179]

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09/07/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, (all tags)

New TV Spot: As Brown fought outsourcing, OH lost 195,000 jobs under DeWine

Watch the new ad here:  http://sherrodbrown.com/pages/the_standard

AMHERST, OH – The Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate campaign today released a new television advertisement in which U.S. Representative Brown (D-OH) vows to fight against trade agreements that eliminate American jobs.  Ohio has lost more than 195,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001.  Ohio Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China.  DeWine received more than $1 million from companies that outsourced U.S. jobs and voted to reward companies that ship jobs overseas.
 
“Senator DeWine rubber-stamped every job-killing trade agreement President Bush put in front of him,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Rep. Sherrod Brown.  “Mike DeWine put the profits of multinational corporations ahead of Ohio workers and businesses. Sherrod Brown stood up to presidents of both parties against the trade agreements that shuttered steel mills and auto plants in Ohio.  He supports fair trade agreements that create jobs in Ohio and put Americans first.”

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09/07/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, Trade, (all tags)