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Congressional campaigns use the financial crisis as ammunition against rivals
By By Joe Milicia|
Associated Press|
Published on Saturday, Sep 27, 2008
CLEVELAND: The proposed multibillion-dollar bailout of the nation's financial institutions has provided some sizzle to Ohio's congressional races.
Challengers like Democrat Bill O'Neill are scolding incumbents like Republican Steve LaTourette of Northeast Ohio for taking campaign contributions from investment firms and helping create the mess. Even Democrats running for open seats have made the financial meltdown a focus of their campaigns.
LaTourette fired back Friday, saying that O'Neill, a former state appeals court judge, has conveniently forgotten that Democrats blocked past attempts to regulate institutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
''There's plenty of blame to go around,'' LaTourette said. ''This isn't a time to be partisan. It's time to solve a huge crisis in the country.''
LaTourette's congressional office has received at least 1,000 e-mails and hundreds of phone calls this week regarding the $700 billion bailout, spokeswoman Deb Setliff said. The majority opposed helping out Wall Street.
''There really hasn't been an issue like this in a while that people are so engaged in, and the public response is just so clear,'' Setliff said.
LaTourette said he won't support the bailout. He was working on an alternative House Republican proposal that doesn't involve buying up bad debt and won't give executives who made bad decisions golden parachutes.
''The people in my district would be proud of the fact that we stood up to the (Bush) administration, to Wall Street, and said here's a way forward without taxpayer money,'' LaTourette said.
In the competitive race for the retiring Ralph Regula's congressional seat in Canton, Democrat John Boccieri this week accused Republican Kirk Schuring of blocking crackdowns on predatory lenders in the state legislature. Both are state senators.
''He has not once, since this crisis has exploded, talked about relief for the middle-class Americans and finding a way to have middle-class families stay in their homes,'' Boccieri said.
Schuring noted that he was the lead co-sponsor of Ohio's predatory lending law passed in early 2006.
''Those are outlandish attacks,'' Schuring said. ''He's strong on the attacks and weak on the solutions.''
Schuring supports the House Republicans' plan to loan money to financial institutions, adding that it's essential for people to be able to secure home, car or business loans.
House Minority Leader John Boehner demanded Friday that consideration be given to the proposal, which would have banks, financial firms and other investors that hold bad assets pay the Treasury to insure them.
Bill Binning, a retired professor of political science at Youngstown State University who is writing a paper on the Boccieri-Schuring race, said it's natural for tight congressional campaigns to take up the issue of the day and for the candidates to side with their parties. He said voters will put much weight on Congress' eventual decision.
''It's going to be a tough vote for incumbents if they're in a competitive race,'' Binning said.
Republican Bob Latta of Toledo said his office has received about 400 phone calls and e-mails regarding the bailout.
''It's overwhelming that people do not want the bailout,'' Latta said. ''They've scrimped and saved to make sure they've paid their mortgages on time; they don't want to see their dollars used to reinforce bad behavior.''
CLEVELAND: The proposed multibillion-dollar bailout of the nation's financial institutions has provided some sizzle to Ohio's congressional races.
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Posted 04:45 PM, 09/27/2008
''It's overwhelming that people do not want the bailout,'' Latta said. ''They've scrimped and saved to make sure they've paid their mortgages on time; they don't want to see their dollars used to reinforce bad behavior and I agree it is only going to make it tough for those of us have managed to stay out of trouble trying to pay and keep our homes and why should we pay millions to CEO'S and they have more money than they know what to do with.
