Driehaus makes his case for change in Ohio’s 1st

CINCINNATI -- State Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) is keeping a busy schedule in the final weekend of his campaign for Ohio's 1st Congressional District. He's out on the trail doing retail politics, making contact with as many people as possible before voters head to the polls on Tuesday.

Driehaus said that many people he talks to are happy to tell him they've already voted for him.

"It's amazing to me the number of people who've already voted," Driehaus said. "It's tremendous, and we're seeing that all over the place."

Driehaus said the economy is still the dominant issue on voters mind and said change is what voters are looking for this election season.

With the economy on people's mind, and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 having been passed by Congress, Driehaus said the next step would be looking into reasonable regulation of Wall Street to prevent any similar future calamities.

"We need to return to some reasonable regulation so that we don't find ourselves in this type of situation again," Driehaus said. "I talk to people all the time about the fact that this could have been prevented. A lot of us saw that mortgage-backed securities were causing some very odd risks, and we were pushing against that."

Driehaus said that the battle has been fought for six years on the West side of Cincinnati, when it comes to foreclosures.

"It's critically important that the folks in Washington understand the price we've been paying at the local level for quite a long time," Driehaus said. "And so following that up would mean cracking down the various risky behaviors on Wall Street, because that's what caused this to happen."

When asked whether he would be in favor of reestablishing something like the Glass-Steagall Act, which put a wall between commercial and investment banking, Driehaus said this may be a reasonable road to take.

"Whether it can put the genie back in the bottle, I don't know," Driehaus said. "But I think it's certainly worth taking a look at. And I think it's important to dissect every piece of this and understand how we got to where we are - how we advocated risk, how these various instruments lacked transparency and how we can return transparency to the system and make sure that the folks who are taking all the profits on Wall Street aren't causing great harm at the neighborhood level."

Driehaus called this critically important.

"My job is to protect the voters back home, the neighborhoods that I represent," Driehaus said. "It's not to make profits for multi-billionaires on Wall Street."

When it comes to helping small businesses provide good benefit packages to employees, Driehaus said the number one thing to do was to make it more affordable to do so.

"I think when you look at healthcare you have to make it more affordable so if someone in your employment has a pre-existing condition, you can actually purchase a healthcare plan," Driehaus said. "Right now it's very difficult."

Driehaus spoke of the worker's compensation laws in Ohio, saying that if a small business has one or two injuries they're kicked out of group.

"That just doesn't make any sense," Driehaus said. "You have to be able to provide small businesses with affordable, quality healthcare, just like you have to provide the individual with the ability to purchase affordable, quality healthcare."

Driehaus said it was incumbent on Congress to work on plans to provide for that.

"That means focusing on prevention," Driehaus said. "It means focusing on plans that will allow for pre-existing conditions. That's what I hear when I talk to small businesses. It's not so much the regulatory burden. They'll play by the rules. They'll deal with the regulations that are already in place. But they want to be right by their employees."

This means providing healthcare when they can, and if they can some kind of pension system, Driehaus said. Driehaus said that right now the vast majority of small businesses simply can't.

Driehaus spoke of his own experience as constituent services director for former U.S. Rep. Charlie Luken (D-Cincinnati) as guiding what he said his office would do for constituents.

"I think constituent services are absolutely critical," Driehaus said. "I think you will find my constituent services are top notch. I will demand that of my staff. I will demand that of myself."

On the issue of earmarks, and bringing federal dollars back to the 1st, Driehaus suggested earmark reform and an earmark cap he called the lack of a cap a problem.

"I think what you need to do within any budget bill is cap the dollar amount of the earmarks, provide objective criteria by which one can compete for earmarks and then if a member wants to compete within that scenario, fine," Driehaus said. "Otherwise, get rid of earmarks altogether. But make it an even playing field."

Driehaus said projects should be made sure to be worthwhile, and should meet objective criteria.

Driehaus said that the role of a Congressman is not just getting funds, but leading on issues close to the district. Driehaus called this the biggest difference between himself and U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Westwood).

"He's been there 14 years and I challenge you to go up to any constituent in the district and find the issue that the Congressman has led on here in the city of Cincinnati, and here in Southwest Ohio," Driehaus said. "There's a clear difference. As a minority member of the Ohio legislature, I have clearly led on the issue most critical to my district, which is housing and foreclosure. I'm the one that pushed Gov. Strickland to create a foreclosure task force. I pushed for predatory lending legislation in the state of Ohio."

In closing, Driehaus said that Chabot was a nice guy, but the district needs more than that - a leader.

"The Congressman likes to brag about the fact that he drives an old Buick," Driehaus said. "Well, I drive a Buick too. It's just a little newer. And it's okay to update your model every once in a while. And that's what I'm trying to get out there. It's change but it's safe change, and it's okay to update."