OH-05 Dem Weirauch: Flawed Trade Policies Allowed Toxic Toys

TOLEDO (TDB) -- Democratic congressional candidate Robin Weirauch chose a crowded shopping area near a Toys R Store to denounce trade policies that have delivered "a lethal bill of goods" to U.S. stores and consumers. Weirauch spoke on Black Friday, the first day of the Christmas shopping season, and said too many imports -- including toys from cheap-labor Asian factories -- are shoddy, dangerous and have been made with toxic substances like lead. She said officials in Washington have either ignored the problem or looked the other way.

Weirauch wants consumer products safety to become a major issue and also urges families to shop for American-made goods whenever possible.

"Our manufacturing jobs have been shipped to places like China and India, and what do we get in return? Shoddy, unsafe toys that pose life-threatening consequences for our children. In fact, 80 percent of the toys bought in the United States are imported from China, and the vast majority of these toys are never being inspected."

Weirauch is trying to capture a traditional GOP seat in a conservative district. She faces Republican Bob Latta in a Dec. 11 special election to fill Ohio's vacant 5th Congressional District seat. It was held by Paul Gillmor, an entrenched and popular GOP veteran who died in a household accident last September. She pulled 43% of the vote against him in 2006. Weirauch has begun hammering on the trade issue across the NW Ohio district. The criticism plays well in Ohio, where more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost this decade. She contends trade agreements such as NAFTA have undercut the state's economic base while flooding U.S. markets with toxic goods.

"I know one thing for sure, when these products were made in America, we didn't have to worry about toxic toys. When our toys were made right here in Ohio, our kids were safe. Washington is broken, and the way this crisis has been handled is all the proof we need. Like Ohioans, I was absolutely stunned to learn that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has only one person testing toys being shipped to the U.S. Washington put a single person in charge of making sure that toxic toys never made it to the shelves . . ."

Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown: Republicans Shifting His Way On Trade

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown put trade policy at the heart of his campaign last year. He even wrote a book titled Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed. Now there is evidence from a major new poll that Republicans have moved dramatically in the Ohio Democrat's direction, joining him as a skeptic on the benefits of trade agreements that are seen as killing U.S. jobs.

Brown predicted last January in an NPR interview that "I am certain that we will see a very different Democratic Party, and a very different Republican Party, when it comes to trade."

His prediction appears to have come true. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal survey of Republican primary voters shows that two-thirds see foreign trade as damaging the U.S. economy, a major shift in the past eight years. Here is the question and answer portion from the poll:

"Now I am going to read you two statements about foreign trade, please tell me which statement comes closer to your point of view.

"Statement A: Foreign trade has been good for the U.S. economy, because demand for U.S. products abroad has resulted in economic growth and jobs for Americans at home and provided more choices for consumers.

"Statement B: Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, because imports from abroad have reduced demand for America-made goods, cost jobs here at home, and produced potentially unsafe products.

"Statement A/foreign trade has been good -- 32%

"Statement B/foreign trade has been bad -- 59%

"Some of both -- 6%

"Neither -- 1%

"Not Sure -- 2%"

The entire poll by Hart/Newhouse is available at WSJ online. John Harwood, a Washington reporter and political analyst for the Wall Street Journal, writes that the poll clearly reveals increasing concern and resistance about globalization. That is exactly what Sherrod Brown predicted.

Harwood wrote:

"While rank-and-file Democrats have long blasted the impact of trade on American jobs, slipping support among Republicans represents a fresh warning sign for free-market conservatives and American companies such as manufacturers and financial firms that benefit from markets opening abroad."

There is plenty of analysis by Harwood, who noted the poll "reflects a substantial shift in sentiment from eight years ago." Sen. Brown, who comes from a state where the manufacturing economy has been walloped as jobs moved offshore, correctly sensed the public angst. Last January, around the time he was moving into his Senate office on Capitol Hill, he said, "The voters in both parties understand our trade policy really has betrayed the middle class."