Sunday, December 12, 2010

DCCC: Democrats Can't Comprehend Columbus

The Democrats just don't get it. Only slightly more than a month since taking an electoral thumping of historic proportions the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has gone negative with their first attack (of the 2012 election, that is) against Congressman-Elect Steve Stivers. The attack itself is neither noteworthy nor memorable as it's just more of the same "former bank lobbyist" rubbish that resonated so poorly in the 2010 campaign (the Democrats are fond of repeating failed strategies). This time the old attack is aimed at Congressman-Elect Stivers's assignment to the House Financial Services Committee.

Stivers's assignment to the Financial Services Committee is one of the most logical and intelligent committee assignments that could be made in the 112th Congress. The only thing the Democrats demonstrate by attacking it is how out of touch and totally disconnected from reality they remain.

Stivers has an MBA (that's Master of Business Administration for any Democrat readers), worked as a Vice President for Bank One, worked for the civic-minded investment firm The Ohio Company, and served in the Ohio Senate as Chair of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee and Vice Chair of the Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. His professional background is a veritable checklist of desired qualifications for a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Congressman-Elect Stivers

Where leftist ideologues see a "former bank lobbyist" the American people see someone who understands banking. The Columbus Dispatch explained this very clearly in their endorsement of Stivers: "Kilroy has vilified Stivers for his work in the banking industry, but this background ensures that Stivers understands something that Kilroy does not: that ledgers must balance and that red ink is destructive."

The Democrats don't understand the intelligence of the American people; we're not simple rubes who fall for sound bytes and cynical narratives about all bankers being evil incarnate. If we were, then maybe Stivers wouldn't have dominated incumbent Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy by 13 percentage points and nearly 30,000 votes--actually at that margin, rubes or not rubes, Kilroy was toast!

We voted for Stivers because he understands us. He promised he would view legislation through the lens of our number one issue: jobs. In this district you can't talk about jobs without talking about bank jobs.

The OH-15 is home to almost 60,000 financial and insurance industry jobs. Huntington Bancshares Inc. is headquartered in the district, as are Nationwide Insurance, Grange Insurance, Motorists Insurance, Safe Auto Insurance, and State Auto Insurance. J.P Morgan Chase & Co., which acquired Stivers's former employer Bank One, also maintains a major presence in the district, as do PNC Bank, KeyBank, U.S. Bank, Citigroup, and Fifth Third Bank.

The Ohio 15th District is a major banking and insurance hub, and it is only fitting that our representative should sit on the House Financial Services Committee. Historically, this has been the case with Congressman-Elect Stivers's three most immediate predecessors serving on the Financial Services Committee or its ancestor, the House Banking Committee. That the Democrats would seek to deny us this representation only further demonstrates that they don't understand our needs or share our values.

Of course, after they voted Nancy Pelosi back in as their leader was there really any doubt as to if they shared our values?