Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Brown, Political, Business Leaders Assess Election Results
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who fended off a challenge from state Treasurer Josh Mandel and more than $40 million in contributions from outside groups, said Tuesday’s results “proved that Ohioans can’t be bought.”
Brown, speaking to reporters on a conference call Wednesday morning, remarked that Republican strategist Karl Rove, whose American Crossroads was among the groups targeting Brown for defeat, “doesn’t know Ohio as well as he thinks he does” and his brand of politics was “pretty discredited” in Ohio Tuesday.
Because of the large amount of special interest money and ads against him – at one point, he said, eight different groups were spending money to defeat him – the race was the most difficult campaign he has run, Brown said. Still, the $40 million in outside spending “did not distract” from his campaign’s message of standing up for the middle class and against China's currency manipulation, and his support for the federal government’s intervention on behalf of General Motors and Chrysler.
Brown recalled a conversation earlier in the week with President Obama, who he told the auto rescue was making a difference in his race. Obama reminded him how unpopular the bailout was at first, even in Ohio and Michigan.
“That’s what leadership is,” Brown said. Obama was seen as a stronger leader than Republican rival Mitt Romney as a result of actions such as the auto rescue, and “as somebody who cares about people like you and me." Romney's last-week ad implying that Chrysler was shifting Jeep production to China “really didn’t work” for the campaign, he added. “They badly misfired thinking Ohioans would be so gullible and stupid.”
Brown believes there is room for compromise with Republicans to avoid the approaching so-called fiscal cliff, a set of expiring tax breaks that economists fear could send the U.S. economy back into recession. He also believes the business community is going to put more pressure on “recalcitrant” members of the House of Representatives “who have not always done what is best” for business.
During a separate conference call Wednesday organized by business leaders, John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, warned that Obama and Congress need to address the fiscal situation, decide what is happening on taxes and determine “how we avoid sequestration and some of the very draconian defense cuts” that would result.
“I believe the president has won a mandate,” Engler said. “When you win, you have a mandate.”
Greg Casey, president and CEO of the Business Industry Political Action Committee, said the mandate was “to come together and solve these problems.”
Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, warned the impending fiscal cliff is already impacting the economy, and greater losses in jobs and real gross domestic product will be forthcoming if the nation’s finances are not addressed. Any discussions about increasing revenues must focus on encouraging job creation, he said.
Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, told reporters in another conference call that he is looking ahead to the races in 2014, when statewide officeholders including Gov. John Kasich will be up for reelection.
“This is a huge opportunity for us going into this budget cycle to continue to define John Kasich for who he is,” he said. “He is a champion for giveaways to corporate Ohio and corporate America. … He stood against the auto rescue, he stood with Mitt Romney and others who suggested that women shouldn’t have the right to control their own reproductive health-care choices, he is opposed to ObamaCare and believes that preexisting conditions should continue to keep people from adequate health care. The kind of issues that define Mitt Romney will continue to define John Kasich.”
Copyright 2012 The Busienss Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.