DeWine, Brown trade barbs

Both men campaigned in the Valley on Thursday.
THE VINDICATOR
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With gas prices hitting record highs, incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine and U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, his Democratic opponent in the November general election, said they have plans to ease the country's dependence on foreign oil.
But there is no quick solution, they say.
The Mahoning Valley was ground zero for the Senate race Thursday with DeWine, a Cedarville Republican seeking his third six-year term, in Cortland, and Brown, of Avon, in Youngstown. The two face each other in the Nov. 7 general election.
DeWine said a bill he re-introduced in the Senate would permit the U.S. Department of Justice to sue foreign oil producers for price fixing. The bill passed the Senate two years ago, but died in the U.S. House.
"We need to get off our overdependence on foreign oil from unfriendly countries," DeWine said. "We're feeding these people who want to destroy us."
Brown agrees, but says DeWine is making empty promises because he's taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies.
Elected officials need to look at alternative fuel sources, both men said.
Brown mentioned ethanol fuel, solar and wind energy. DeWine talked of clean coal and encouraging the development of fuel cells in Ohio.
DeWine visited the Cortland Fire Department to tout the success of a federal fire grant program he helped develop in 1999. Fire departments in Mahoning and Trumbull counties have received nearly $4 million for equipment through the program, DeWine said.
Imports and exports
An hour later, Brown was in the parking lot of the former Weatherbee Coat Co. on East Federal Street in Youngstown promoting legislation he's introduced in the U.S. House to ban the import, export or sale of products made overseas with sweatshop or prison labor.
Brown also criticized DeWine for his vote supporting the Central America Free Trade Agreement, and for favoring the North America Free Trade Agreement. DeWine wasn't in the Senate when NAFTA passed, but approves of the agreement. Brown voted against both.
"Ohio doubled our exports through NAFTA," DeWine said.
DeWine said CAFTA makes it easy for the United States to sell items to Central American countries, and the agreement already is a success.
In response, Brown said Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2001 when President Bush, a Republican, took office, with NAFTA and CAFTA playing key roles in the job losses.
DeWine also said lobbying of Bush by him and a few other U.S. senators convinced the president to impose tariffs on foreign steel in 2001 because of illegal dumping of the product from some countries. The tariff lasted for about 18 months.
Dumping is a term used to describe a product sold at a price below production costs that forces domestic producers to lower their price to compete and causes them financial hardships.
DeWine said without him, the steel industry would have been severely damaged.
"Any elected official of any consequence pushed for the steel tariffs," Brown said.
skolnick@vindy.com