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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><a
href="http://business-journal.com/clients/business-journal/democrats-blast-portmans-record-on-trade-p15987.htm?twindow=Default&smenu=1&mad=No">The
Business Journal </a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>March 18, 2010 By
George Nelson<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>(Key Excerpts)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:125%'><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:125%;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'>YOUNGSTOWN</span></font></st1:City><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:125%;font-family:
"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>, <st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font
size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
line-height:125%;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'> -- U.S. Senate
candidate Rob Portman’s performance as the Bush Administration’s
trade representative came under fire Wednesday as <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>labor and trade advocates</span></b> commemorated the five-year
“anniversary” of his appointment.<br>
<br>
Portman served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from
1993 until 2005, when then-President George W. Bush named him <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> trade representative. He later
served as director of the Office of Budget and Management under Bush as well. <br>
<br>
“George Bush chose him for a reason. His votes in the House betrayed <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:place> workers time and
time again,” said Doug Sizemore, executive secretary-treasurer of the
Cincinnati AFL-CIO. Portman voted repeatedly to fast-track international trade
agreements, voted against helping workers who had lost their jobs due to
outsourcing, and voted against banning taxpayer dollars from being used to
outsource jobs, he said. Portman also supported the North American Free Trade
Agreement “and still thinks that it created jobs,” he added.
“I can tell you there are 50,000 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:place>
workers who would disagree with him on that.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:125%'><b><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:125%;font-family:
"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333;font-weight:bold'>Trade-related job losses and the
U.S. trade deficit “skyrocketed under Portman’s watch,“ said
Karen Hanson, director of the Ohio Conference on Fair Trade. In <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:place>, more than 17,000
workers had their jobs shipped overseas during Portman’s tenure as trade
representative, and the trade deficit rose by nearly 6.5%. “It’s
unthinkable for Portman to receive anything but failing marks for his record as
Bush’s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
trade representative,” she said. <br>
<br>
Further, the trade imbalance with <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>
spiked to more than $200 billion for the first time in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> history under Portman, she continued, and
what she described as Portman’s failure to address <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s currency manipulation
only exacerbated the imbalance. The statistics “don’t begin to
reveal all the collateral damage to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:place>
families and communities by this decimation of our manufacturing base in this
state,” Hanson remarked. <br>
<br>
</span></font></b><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:125%;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Donnie
Blatt, rapid response coordinator for the United Steel Workers of America,
District 1, blamed Portman’s work as trade representative and his votes
in Congress for the loss of more than 100,000 steelworker jobs nationwide,
including 30,000 in Ohio, and disputed his claims of helping to create millions
of jobs. If that‘s the case, “Why do we have 35 out of 50 states
that their unemployment funds are bankrupt?” he questioned. “I can
only assume that those millions of jobs were created in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>Posted at <a
href="http://www.tradereform.org/content/view/2456/49/">http://www.tradereform.org/content/view/2456/49/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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