Oxley, a Findlay native whose district included Mansfield and Lima, was elected in 1981 after the district’s congressman, Tennyson Guyer, died of a heart attack. He was re-elected 12 times after that, eventually taking the helm of the financial services committee in 2001. He retired from the House in 2006.
Oxley, a close golfing friend of former House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, was well-liked by Democrats and Republicans, known throughout the House for his ever-present smile and clever quips. In 1997, when Republican Bob Dole loaned then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich $300,000 to pay a penalty for House ethics’ rules, Oxley joked, “Hey, is that banking window still open?”
On another occasion he approached a reporter who was writing a profile of then-Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Upper Arlington, who earlier in her career had been a Franklin County municipal judge. “Hey, you’re not going to drop one on the judge are you,” he asked, his way of lobbying the reporter to write a favorable story on Pryce.
Even after leaving the House, he stayed deeply involved in Republican politics. Earlier this year over dinner in Washington with Republican Gov. John Kasich, Oxley urged the Ohio governor to skip the Iowa Caucuses and focus on the New Hampshire primary because “Iowa is a dead-end. It’s a killer of candidates. It’s a fraud.”
Kasich on Friday called Oxley a “great public servant.”
“Throughout my time in Congress, Mike Oxley was always there to help me, support me and encourage me,” Kasich said. “There will always be a special place in my heart for him. He dedicated his career to making our state and nation stronger through his work with the FBI, Ohio House of Representatives and his many years in Congress. His family should be very proud of his legacy.”
Although conservative in outlook, he was a pragmatic lawmaker who preferred accomplishments to loud arguments. He displayed that in 2002 when he team up with Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland to usher through the House a bill overhauling the nation’s public accounting laws.
The sweeping law was designed to make corporate executives accountable to shareholders and was a direct consequence of a series of corporate and accounting scandals, including Enron and Worldcom. Critics said it was too costly for many companies.
Ironically, Oxley became one of those critics. He told Fortune Magazine years later that he wished the law had treated smaller companies differently from larger, Fortune 500 companies. Still, he defended the overall impact of the law, arguing it helped restore investors’ confidence in the markets. “No law is perfect,” he said.
He also spearheaded the passage of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which helped improve credit report accuracy and gave consumers additional identity theft protections. He worked to reform the nation’s deposit insurance system and modernize the check clearing process. And he worked on a series of voluntary ratings for the television industry.
He became chairman of the Financial Services Committee as the result of an entrenched battle with Rep. W.R. Tauzin, R-La., to head the House Commerce Committee. The battle became so hard-fought that House Republicans ultimately reorganized the committee, taking the committee’s oversight of insurance and securities from the Commerce Committee and putting it in the former House Banking Committee. They renamed the panel the Financial Services Committee and put Oxley in charge. Tauzin became chairman of the House Commerce Committee.
That was the second battle between the two lawmakers; In 1996, Tauzin and Oxley fought over who could head a key subcommittee overseeing telecommunications and finance. Republican leaders ultimately split the two jurisdictions; Oxley oversaw finance and Tauzin oversaw telecommunications.
Affable and jovial – he was often known as “Ox,” Oxley went on to serve as a lobbyist for Baker, Hostetler after he retired from Congress, where he focused on corporate governance and government policy issues. He also served as senior advisor to the Board of Directors of NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
Former House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, who was friends with Oxley for more than 30 years, called Oxley “a model statesman and an Ohio original.”
“He served his constituents and country with honor and courage, always with twinkle in his eye and a heart full of love,” he said. “He was as skilled as a legislator as he was quick with a smile. He loved to serve, and he loved those he served, and it was reflected in his work.”
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called Oxley “a true policymaker, passionate about the intricacies of his work and always driven by what he believed was best for the country and his district. Yet for all his accomplishments, I will always remember Mike for being, above all, a genuinely good and decent man. Ox set an example for all of us, and he will be missed.”
Oxley got along with Democrats and Republicans alike. When he decided not to seek re-election in 2006, Republican Spencer Bachus of Alabama said the Financial Services Committee “enjoyed an unprecedented level of collegiality and comity that permitted us all to work together and get things done.”
“He was one of the most well-liked guys in Congress,” said former Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, who reminisced fondly about the trash-talking between Boehner and then Rep. John Kasich over who was the best golfer. “He was just well-liked by everyone.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, who succeeded Oxley in the House called him “friend, a mentor, and one of the finest public servants I’ve ever met.”
“We should all be thankful that decent people like Mike Oxley are willing to commit their lives to public service. Polly and I send our prayers and condolences to Pat, Chadd, and the entire Oxley family,” Jordan said.
For years, Oxley managed the Republicans during the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. He played every position except pitcher and catcher. He managed the Republican team for eight years, winning seven of the eight games and raising more than a half million for charities during that time.
During the 1994 game as Oxley played first base, then-Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, accidentally broke Oxley’s left arm as he tried to beat out a ground ball to first.
“Mike was a tireless advocate for his constituents and a loyal colleague,” Brown said Friday. “Knowing him for many years, I not only worked with him in Columbus and Washington, but used to play basketball with him and baseball against him. It was always better to be on the same side. He was a competitive and decent man who believed in fair play.”
Oxley entered politics after serving as student body president of Miami University and after receiving a law degree from the Ohio State University. He worked on the staffs of U.S. Rep. Jackson Betts, Attorney General William Saxbe and Lt. Gov. John Brown. After graduating from law school, he served as a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based in Boston and New York.
He was elected to the Ohio General Assembly in 1972, and served there until heading to Congress in 1981.
He is survived by his wife, Pat, a son, Michael Chadd and a grandson.
(Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jack Torry contributed to this story.)
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