While Retread Ted Strickland spent his weekend trying to explain why he said Ohio taxpayers were being “raped” by charter schools and beating back reports of the DSCC completely its pulling advertising money from Ohio, Rob Portman raked in three endorsements from Ohio publications including The Columbus Dispatch, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and Crain’s Cleveland Business.
Strickland’s weekend:
Cleveland.com: Ted Strickland says he regrets saying for-profit charter schools have ‘raped’ taxpayers, but stands by criticism
Columbus Dispatch: Senate Democratic Committee Pulls Money from Strickland
Washington Free Beacon: Strickland: We’ve Seen Ohio Taxpayers ‘Raped’ by Charter Schools
Politico: Strickland: Ohio ‘raped’ by for-profit charter firms
Meanwhile, Rob Portman’s weekend:
The Columbus Dispatch
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Portman, a Republican seeking his second term, has established an impressive track record, having gotten 45 bills signed into law. Of particular note is his leadership in combatting human trafficking and opioid addiction.
He uncovered the failure of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fully vet people given custody of immigrant children, some of whom ended up as slave laborers for Ohio egg farms. He has led congressional action against Backpage.com, obtaining an order from the U.S. Supreme Court for documents that will allow prosecutors throughout the country to go after these modern-day slavers.
And as the scourge of opioid addiction hit Ohio particularly hard, Portman got his Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law. It authorizes $181 million in additional spending for community programs effective at prevention, treatment and recovery for a disease that Portman notes “has no zip code.”
Portman has also been instrumental in bringing federal dollars to central Ohio and in cutting through bureaucracy for crucial projects such as Columbus’ futuristic Smart Cities technology and transportation grant and the renovation of the Downtown Scioto Mile riverfront.
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The Cincinnati Enquirer
The majority of Americans are frustrated with Congress not because of what lawmakers are doing, but because of what they are not doing. People want the gridlock and partisan bickering to end. They want the representatives they elect to Washington, D.C., to get things done. The Enquirer editorial board believes Rob Portman has shown the ability to meet those expectations, and we endorse him for a second U.S. Senate term.
Portman, the Republican incumbent from Terrace Park, has a high-profile Democratic opponent in former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. However, in his first term as senator, Portman has been a hard-working public servant, often reaching across the aisle for the good of his Greater Cincinnati constituents and the country as a whole. He was the chief author of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act – a bill that received bipartisan support and authorizes $181 million in new federal money to address opioid and heroin abuse. He also has taken on the issue of human trafficking, fought for a level playing field for local steel companies on trade and advocated for federal support of The Banks and Smale Riverfront Park.
Portman helped get more than $50 million in federal funding for engineering and environmental impact studies for the replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge and authored an amendment to the transportation appropriations bill that ensures functionally obsolete bridges such as it will get priority consideration for federal money.
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Crain’s Cleveland Business
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Portman’s intelligence, steadiness and dedication to working hard on issues of importance to Ohioans — most notably on the heroin epidemic and the protection of Lake Erie — are why we believe he deserves another term in the U.S. Senate.
In this odd political year, one of the more striking spectacles has been the support that some labor unions, including the Teamsters, Mine Workers and International Union of Operating Engineers, have directed to Portman after backing Strickland in previous races.
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But it’s also a reflection of a belief that Portman, in polarized political times, is a pragmatist who can work with Democrats, as he has with Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri on measures related to detecting, reporting and addressing opioid abuse. Portman wrote the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act aimed at combating opioid abuse, which has struck hard at Ohio and other industrial Midwestern states.
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