As a longtime resident of Ohio's Second Congressional District, I get more than a little annoyed when certain political operatives spout off about which they do not know.
A few of the Internet blogs this week took some unnecessary, and inaccurate, potshots at former congressman Bob McEwen of Hillsboro.
For example, it's been wrongly reported that the only endorsements McEwen can garner are from inside the beltway around our nation's capital. Really?
Granted, he may have some well-known names making endorsements from Washington; people like Jack Kemp, Ed Meese and others. But let's get one thing straight: There are a lot of us in southern Ohio who remember that Bob McEwen served this region very well during his six terms in Congress.
To say no one outside of D.C. has endorsed McEwen is not only an outright lie, it is also a sorry attempt to divert attention from the questionable record of one of his significant primary election opponents. More on that in a moment.
But for those Second District voters unfamiliar with McEwen's service to southern Ohio, let's look at it. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1974 and served until 1980. He was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he represented southern Ohio until 1992.
For conservatives, McEwen's voting record is second to none.
It is not at all unlikely had he defeated Congressman Ted Strickland in 1992, that the largest federal tax increase in history would have been avoided. This tax
is worth mentioning again and again, for those with short memories, because it raised taxes on everything from income to fuel, and it did so with a very close House vote, a tie-breaking Senate vote by Al Gore, and was signed into law by Slick Willie, retroactive to his first inauguration.
As Sen. Cooper Snyder said during his 1994 campaign for Congress: "We were Gored in the Senate and we were Stricken in the House."
Yes, we were.
A lot has happened since McEwen lost his congressional seat to Strickland in November 1992. Against the advice of some in the Ohio GOP, McEwen jumped from his Sixth District home in Highland County south a few miles to run in a special primary election in the Second District. Despite winning three of four counties, McEwen lost to former Rep. Rob Portman of Terrace Park. (Portman won Hamilton County; McEwen won Clermont, Brown and Adams counties.)
Just prior to McEwen's defeat in the 1992 general election, much was made about what became known as the House banking (check-kiting) scandal. The Cincinnati Enquirer likely doomed his re-election with a 9th-inning editorial cartoon of McEwen above the words "Bouncin' Bob."
The Enquirer, as it has been prone to do, wanted to show its presumed impartiality by ripping a Republican in a rural, southern Ohio district. In so doing, it made it much easier to justify endorsements for its "chosen Republicans" in the Greater Cincinnati area.
The fallout of the House banking issue ultimately cost the Democrats as much – or more – than the Republicans. In 1992, 43 House members seeking re-election were defeated; another 52 retired. In 1994, 38 incumbents lost and 26 retired. Republicans then took control of the House for the first time in 40 years.
(That was also the year that Strickland's too-close alliance with the Clintons cost him in his first re-election bid. He moved a little closer to the center and has had voters' support each year since.)
McEwen was a casualty of the negative publicity from the Enquirer and others in the fall of '92. However, when he ran against Portman for Willis Gradison's seat the following spring, Cincinnati's WLW Radio hosted a political forum on Bill Cunningham's talk show. When the issue of the House bank scandal arose, McEwen asked Portman point-blank if he (McEwen) had been found guilty of any wrongdoing under the practices as they existed. Portman's answer? "No."
In fact, McEwen received a letter of exoneration from the Justice Department (as did former Congressman Mike DeWine).
McEwen hadn't done anything that wasn't routinely done by many prominent Republicans – and Democrats. So let's put that nonsense to rest. (It makes about as much sense as an area congressman crying about Enron, all the while accepting campaign money from Enron.)
Among McEwen's chief opponents in the June 14 primary are Pat DeWine and Jean Schmidt. Young Pat, who made headlines last week by distancing himself from his own father, Sen. Mike DeWine, over the judicial filibusters, has more than a few questionable checks in his political closet. (See Page A7 of the June 1 Enquirer.)
Schmidt is a former Ohio House ally of Larry Householder, possibly the only Ohio Republican with lower ratings than the liberal triumvirate of Taft, DeWine (the elder) and Voinovich.
So, what this Second District race ultimately comes down to for Republican voters has very little to do with current or past allegations. It comes down to this: Which candidate has the proven track record of representing conservative values in the United States Congress? The answer is all too obvious.
Bob McEwen is that candidate. He learned from statesmen like Joe Hiestand, Bill Harsha and Ronald Reagan. He will continue in the tradition of Congressman Portman's outstanding service to southern Ohio.
Pat DeWine says he's a Reagan Republican, even though he wasn't old enough to vote for Reagan in 1980 or 1984. DeWine was just elected to the Hamilton County Commission in November, an office he said he would not abandon in order to run for Congress.
Bob McEwen worked with President Reagan's administration. He, like Reagan, was a champion of smaller government and lower taxes.
Was the old Sixth District well-served by McEwen? Yes. Will the Second District be well-served by McEwen? You betcha.
There is not another candidate in this race who possesses McEwen's knowledge and experience in Congress. By far, he is the best choice for southern Ohio. And this endorsement is not from Washington or Columbus. It's straight from the heart of Adams County, in Ohio's Second Congres-sional District.
Bob McEwen has my vote on June 14.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Times-Gazette.
