Oxley to retire from office

For now, he is working to have the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act renewed.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Mike Oxley, who wrote legislation to improve investor confidence after corporate scandals, said Tuesday he will retire from Congress at the end of his term after serving 25 years.
Republicans currently outnumber Democrats by 231-202 in the House. There's one independent.
Term limits will force Oxley to give up his chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee at the end of 2006, and the 61-year-old said that was a leading factor in his decision.
"I've always been an intuitive politician, and it just made sense after 25 years in Congress and nine years in the [Ohio] Legislature," he told The Associated Press. "I've paid my dues."
Financial philosophy
Oxley became chairman of the Financial Services Committee when it was formed out of the House Banking Committee in 2000. It oversees banking, insurance and securities issues.
He led a House probe into failed energy giant Enron Corp., and the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act put in place new accounting requirements.
"I think that will be first and foremost in my obituary," Oxley said.
"What the law really does is enshrine the principles of honesty and accountability that I learned growing up in Ohio."
Oxley, a former FBI agent, said his work on the committee has led him to believe insurance is the underpinning of the entire economy. He is intent on renewing legislation he spearheaded after the 9-11 attacks called the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. It provided a government backup for insurance companies when large properties are destroyed by terrorism, but it expires Dec. 31.
"I'm not dead yet," Oxley said, noting he was speaking by telephone with Treasury Secretary John Snow about renewing the act even as he traveled in his Ohio district where he announced his retirement in his hometown of Findlay. The Bush administration has strong reservations about renewing the program, saying it was a one-time response to 9-11, but Oxley believes it's critical to give large developers confidence to keep building.
Optimistic outlook
Oxley was elected to Congress in 1981. He became a prolific fund-raiser during the last half of his tenure in Congress and gave much of that away to other GOP candidates. He said he wasn't overly concerned about scandals plaguing state and national Republican officials, such as the conviction of Gov. Bob Taft on ethics violations.
"Every party has its ups and downs, and at the end of the day, we've accomplished great things for the American people," he said. "I'm optimistic for the party's future and for the country's."
Oxley's 4th District is considered a Republican stronghold, but he said he hasn't been involved in recruiting a successor. It stretches from Lima in the northwest to Mansfield about halfway across the state. He said he was most proud of obtaining nearly $20 million in federal funding for the expansion of U.S. Route 30, which crosses the district.