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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Brown, Voinovich, White House in agreement on DHL
Sens. George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown met Thursday, July 24, with the man assigned by the Bush administration to be the point person on DHL’s proposal to consolidate air operations with UPS, a proposal that could cost the Wilmington area more than 8,000 jobs.
The senators met in Brown’s office with Sandy K. Baruah, assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, after asking White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to put someone in charge of the issue.
Brown, D-Ohio, said Baruah said the goal will be to coordinate actions to fight back to preserve the more than 8,000 jobs at risk and “if that doesn’t work, to make sure (the administration) has a full-time person on the ground to help the region move forward in case jobs are lost in that facility.”
“This is 8,000 jobs,” Brown said. “(Baruah) made it analogous to a base closing in terms of economic impact.”
Baruah is familiar with the region - Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, brought him to Wilmington over the July 4 recess, not long after the DHL proposal was announced to alert him of its seriousness.
Brown said should the jobs leave, the administration has promised it will send someone to the region to help find new jobs to replace those lost - the first time the Bush administration has done so. Still, with six months left in the Bush administration, it’s unclear if the proposal would come to fruition while the administration is still in office.
Still, Brown said he’s optimistic that the state and federal governments can keep the consolidation from happening. Both the state congressional delegation and state leaders have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the DHL proposal violates U.S. antritrust laws by reducing competition in the express package delivery market.
“We do need to prepare on the ‘what if,’” Brown said. “But the emphasis is on keeping jobs and I’m still optimistic that we can.”
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McCain goes German - in Columbus
While Democrat Barack Obama was traveling and speaking in Germany, Republican John McCain decided to go German himself - but in Columbus.
McCain had lunch in German Village on Thursday, July 24, at Schmidt’s Sausage House with five small business owners including two from the Dayton area - Rick James of Rick James Chevrolet in Piqua and Dan Young of Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, according to a pool report.
In remarks to pool reporters, McCain continued his criticism of Obama’s position on Iraq and the surge.
“It is very clear that Sen. Obama took the very far left position,”McCain said. “It is very clear that Sen. Obama does not understand what’s at stake here, what was at stake in Iraq, and his refusal to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded is again a graphic demonstration of his lack of understanding of national security issues.”
Later on Thursday, McCain was to attend a fundraiser and then a town hall meeting on cancer at Ohio State University at the LIVESTRONGSUMMIT, sponsored by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Meanwhile, Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, in a conference call, said the “vast majority of Ohioans” that he talks to believe the American “entry into Iraq was misguided….from the very start.”
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Cordray strikes back
Just a day after it started, the race for Ohio attorney general is heating up.
On Thursday, July 24, Democrat Richard Cordray sent a letter to his supporters that didn’t exactly have nice things to say about Cordray’s Republican opponent, Mike Crites, a former U.S. attorney for southern Ohio.
In declaring his candidacy on Wednesday, July 23, Crites referred to himself as a “prosecutor” and to Cordray as a “career politician.”
In his letter Cordray said that since leaving his job as U.S. attorney in 1993, Crites “has been sitting on the sidelines of public service.”
“His contributions to the quality of life, personal safety and economic well-being of Ohioans has been marginal at best, through sporadic part-time service, mostly as a village solicitor,” Cordray, now state treasurer, wrote.
Crites, in a prepared statement, said Cordray “has sadly sunk to the level of most career politicians” and that his rhetoric “sounds a lot like Cordray’s close ally, Marc Dann.” Democrat Dann, of course, resigned in May as attorney general in a sexual harassment scandal, setting up the battle between Cordray and Crites.
Here’s Cordray’s letter:
July 24, 2008
Dear Friend,
The race for Ohio Attorney General is now off and running with my opponent’s declaration for office yesterday. And since it’s up and running, I’d like to ask you for your endorsement.
As we are all used to seeing in political campaigns, my opponent made a number of claims about his record — and mine — that I would like to clarify for you.
A common political tactic is to compare and contrast experience. My opponent used that technique, with the curious twist of employing time travel. He spoke at length about his years of service as a political appointee, which ended more than fifteen years ago.
The most recent installment of my opponent’s history will show that, since entering private practice in 1993, he has been sitting on the sidelines of public service. His contribution to the quality of life, personal safety, and economic well-being of Ohioans has been marginal at best, through sporadic part-time service, mostly as a village solicitor.
Let me acquaint you with a more modern comparison of the relative preparation and qualifications of my opponent and myself:
Today I am writing you from Canton, Ohio, where I joined local leaders in my grassroots drive to get widespread public support for ending unfair credit card practices. On talk radio, the phone lines lit up with callers eager to share their stories.
My opponent has been nowhere in that fight.
Since being elected Ohio Treasurer in 2006, I testified and fought for credit freeze legislation, payday lending reform, foreclosure prevention, and to save taxpayer dollars by the millions.
My opponent has been nowhere on any of those issues.
In 2001, I was hired by the Justice Department under a Republican administration to argue successfully in the United States Supreme Courton behalf of America’s top foreign policy officials, including former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and former NSC head Tony Lake.
In that same year, my opponent was defending an embezzler who stole $10,000 from the Treasury and downplaying the theft from Ohio taxpayers as a “one-time thing.”
In 1997, I was representing Ohio bar associations and legal aid groups to defend the constitutionality of funding for legal services for the poor in the United States Supreme Court. This was a six year fight, and we were successful.
In that same year, my opponent was responding to an audit of the school district where he was President of the school board, which cited school officials for misuse of a credit card to run up improper charges.
In 1993, I persuaded the Attorney General to create a new job of State Solicitor, representing Ohioans in the toughest cases in the U.S. and Ohio Supreme Courts and working to keep convicted criminals behind bars.
In that same year, my opponent was leaving government service to go out and make money.
I regard public service as an opportunity for leadership and the rare chance to stand up for Ohioans and their families. What we need from our public officials is someone to be strongly and effectively on our side. I have done that throughout my time in public life, and I am glad to be running on my record this year.
So off we go. And I deeply appreciate your friendship, your voice, and your support on the road ahead.
Richard Cordray Candidate for Attorney General
