[CTC] Fwd: New Chapter 11 case against Canada

[James Ploeser]

Nice work to Karen, who got the ball rolling on this . . . 

 

Labor, trade reps criticize Portman  

Friday, 19 March 2010  

http://www.wapakdailynews.com/content/view/150800/1/

 

By WILLIAM LANEY

Managing Editor

 

Ohio labor and trade leaders criticized the Republican candidate for the
U.S. Senate on the anniversary of his appointment as a trade representative,
while the Republican's campaign press secretary dismissed the event as a
manufactured anniversary to distract voters.

 

In a media teleconference, labor and trade advocates attacked the resume of
former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, who is seeking to fill the Senate seat being
vacated by Republican U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. Portman is running against
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Democratic challenger.

 

In 2005, President George Bush appointed Portman as his U.S. trade
representative after serving as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from 1993 to 2005.

 

Cincinnati AFL-CIO Executive Secre-tary-Treasurer Doug Sizemore said Bush
chose Portman for a reason and that his record in the House show he
"betrayed Ohio workers time and time again."

 

"Portman voted repeatedly to fast-track international trade agreements and
also voted against helping workers who lost their jobs due to outsourcing,"
Sizemore said. "Portman also supported NAFTA (North American Free Trade
Agreement) and still thinks it created jobs. I can tell you there are 50,000
Ohio workers who would disagree with him on that.

 

"This anniversary is important because as we weather this recession, we
can't forget how we got here," he said. "Portman's job killing trade
policies were a recipe for disaster five years ago, and they are not the way
out of this crisis ... and we can't afford to have him represent our voice
in the Senate."

 

Ohio Conference on Fair Trade Director Karen Hanson blasted Portman and said
the number regarding trade and loss of jobs speaks for his work.  "It's
unthinkable for Portman to receive anything but failing marks for his record
as Bush's U.S. trade representative," Hanson said.

 

She claimed 17,000 Ohio workers had their jobs shipped overseas on his watch
and the U.S. trade deficit rose nearly 6.5 percent "slowing economic growth
and impeding job creation." She also claimed the trade imbalance with China
eclipsed $200 billion for the first time in U.S. history.

 

"These are just statistical numbers and they don't begin to reveal all the
collateral damage to Ohio families and communities by this decimation of our
manufacturing base in this state," Hanson said. "Ohio workers, businesses
and middle class families deserve better than Portman's agenda in
Washington."

 

Joe Logan, director of Agricultural Programs for the Ohio Environmental
Council and agricultural co-chair for the Coalition for a Prosperous
America, criticized Portman for his policies affecting agriculture.

 

He cited wheat exports declined to 20 percent of the global export market in
2009 from 45.7 percent in 1980, with corn declining to 10.6 percent from
19.6 percent and soybeans dropping to 30 percent from 60 percent during the
same period.

 

"Traditionally the U.S. agriculture has been a very robust net exporter of
agricultural commodities and agricultural products," Logan said. "Exports
and trade continues to be a very important to the agricultural economy here
in Ohio and across the country.

 

"We have gone from being a very robust net exporter of food to a
near-break-even point," Logan said. "We are on the cusp of being a net food
importer for the first time since 1959."

 

Portman's Senate Press Secretary Jessica Towhey defended Portman and his
record. She also criticized the Democrats for creating an anniversary in an
effort to show their support for Fisher.

 

"Manufacturing a meaningless anniversary is the Democrats' latest attempt to
distract voters from Ohio Job Czar Lee Fisher's failed leadership resulting
in record job loss," Towhey told the Wapakoneta Daily News. "Ohio voters
should begin a countdown to see when Job Czar Lee Fisher will emerge from
the secret location where he's been hiding from the massively unpopular
healthcare debate and take responsibility for his failure to help Ohio
working families."

 

Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics recently revised unemployment numbers
going back to 1990, Towhey noted revised numbers are even worse for Ohio,
where the unemployment rate is 10.8 percent:

She noted Ohio has lost nearly 450,000 jobs since Fisher became job czar in
2007, Ohio has lost nearly 195,000 jobs since the Democrats' stimulus was
enacted in February and Ohio has lost nearly 222,000 jobs in the last 12
months.

 

She also cited that in January 2005, Ohio's unemployment was 5.9 percent. In
January 2007, when the Strickland-Fisher administration came in, Ohio's
unemployment was 5.3 percent. Just three years later in January 2010, Ohio's
unemployment had risen to 10.8 percent.  

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 22 March 2010 )  

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