Cincinnati Enquirer Highlights Portman's Focus on Job Creation and Economic Recovery

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sen. Rob Portman promotes jobs issue on all fronts

By Malia Rulon

July 17, 2011

WASHINGTON -- Keeping up with Sen. Rob Portman isn't easy, and it's not just because the newly elected senator walks fast.

Portman is always on the move, filling his days with meetings, conference calls, news events, committee hearings and speeches on the Senate floor, each task chipping away at the promise the Terrace Park Republican made to voters: "Jobs for Ohio."

That promise was painted on the side of a white RV that Portman used to crisscross the state during his 2010 campaign. Now, a toy replica of that truck with the same mantra painted on it sits on the mantle in his Senate office, beside a small bust of William Howard Taft, a fellow Cincinnati lawyer who served as president and, later, chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The truck and Taft are reminders, Portman says, of why he's here.

"I believe we're at a turning point in our state and in our country that if we don't make certain changes to our regulations or tax policy, our energy policy, our health care system, our legal system, that we won't be able to have the economic opportunities for future generations of Ohioans that we have enjoyed," Portman says.

"So that was what I focused on in the campaign. That's what I have focused on since I have arrived here."

But keeping that promise hasn't been easy; there are no obvious markers for whether, six months into his first term, Portman is succeeding or falling short.

'We're planting seeds'

Last year, before Portman took office, Ohio's unemployment rate hovered around a record high of 10.6 percent. The latest data from the U.S. Labor Department show that unemployment rate in the state has dropped to 8.6 percent.

But many in Ohio are still struggling to make ends meet. And Ohio is far from the 4 percent unemployment rate the state boasted a decade ago.

Portman says he isn't measuring his success by unemployment rates, anyway.

"For us, the metrics are really twofold: One is the progress we are making on specific economic development initiatives, and the second ... is the more traditional role of a senator in promoting pro-jobs legislation," he said.

But even on those fronts, success has been slow in coming, measured more in incremental terms than in sweeping victories:

In April, Portman praised the announcement by PAS Technologies that they had signed a long-term contract with Pratt Whitney to refurbish aircraft engines in Hillsboro. The deal means between 40 and 200 new jobs. Portman had visited the plant and been in frequent contact with PAS Technologies CEO Phil Milazzo to encourage the deal.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Portman also has tried repeatedly to make the case for allowing GE Aviation of Evendale to continue the joint strike fighter alternate engine program on the company's own dime. Congress has blocked further federal funding for the second engine for the new F-35 jet fighter. In March, Portman spoke with a top defense official about the program. He argued on behalf of the program to other officials at a hearing in May and to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta during Panetta's nomination hearing in June. The alternate engine program remains in limbo.

Also in April, Portman visited Lincoln Electric and Eaton Aerospace, both headquartered in Cleveland, to talk with company leadership and workers about economic development and bringing jobs back to Ohio.

"Each week, I talk to a CEO somehow. It doesn't always result in something specific but we're planting seeds," Portman says. "We are aggressively trying to play a different role than a traditional senator."

Part of playing a different role involves having a staff member devoted to jobs. Kevin Hoggatt is Portman's director of economic development and special projects, a position that Portman believes is unique among senators.

Hoggatt, a native of Wilmington and graduate of Xavier University, is charged with juggling the progress on about 15 economic development projects, keeping in touch with private sector businesses, working with the Ohio governor's office and with the local chambers of commerce.

"I wanted someone here in Washington focused like a laser on the job creation side of things," Portman explained.

Among those "projects" are Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, GE Aviation in Evendale, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Chiquita Brands in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky.

"I came into this job knowing the key players and issues, but not to the degree that I knew Piketon," says Portman, a former congressman who represented southern Ohio in the U.S. House from 1993 to 2005. "There's been a lot to catch up on."

Little legislation to show

On the legislative front, progress has also been slow; little has passed the Senate this year, where partisan wrangling over budget issues have taken center stage. Plus, Portman is in the minority in the Senate.

"I'll feel better when we can get some of this partisan gridlock behind us and begin to pass legislation," Portman said. "There's literally nothing getting passed these days, which frustrates me. But we've got the Senate moving in the right direction in a sense of jobs being the focus and some consensus being built around the regulatory relief effort, tax reform, trade agreements and energy policy."

Portman spearheaded the Senate Republican Jobs Agenda, a four-page outline that lists his party's budget, tax, regulatory, workforce, trade, energy and health care proposals. All 47 GOP senators have signed off on the document, which Portman keeps in a stack in his office. His staff hand out copies at every media event.

The plan resembles the Jobs Agenda that Portman promoted during his campaign, modified to get all GOP senators, from tea party-backed Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to moderate Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine, on board.

"Point is we have one," Portman says. "Now, we're pulling out different pieces and trying to get them passed."

Among the legislation Portman is pushing are bills that would:

Require new regulations issued by independent agencies - such as the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission - to undergo the same scrutiny under the unfunded mandates law as those issued by executive agencies. Currently, independent agencies are exempt from the law, which makes sure the federal government doesn't pass new regulations that force unnecessary spending by local government or the private sector.

Create a national energy efficiency strategy, which would expand the Energy Department's loan guarantee program, help states establish their own loan programs to finance efficiency upgrades, create standards on outdoor lighting and residential appliances, and require the federal government to adopt energy-saving techniques and building standards, among other things.

"There's a long list of things that I'd like to see get done. But some of it is not within my control because the House and Senate are not moving much legislation these days," Portman said. "But I'm continuing to promote those ideas and try to get as many of them enacted as possible and in the meantime moving ahead on the other economic development projects."

'Tenacious follow-through'

Back home, businesses and economic development officials praised Portman's efforts, pointing out that many of the pro-growth policies and development projects he's pushing for take time.

"While I certainly believe in reducing marginal tax rates and getting a handle on our fiscal house ... those things are not going to work overnight," said Mark Policinski, executive director of the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana (OKI) Regional Partnership.

Still, Policinski, who previously worked in Washington as a senior economist for The Joint Economic Committee, said having a staff member devoted to economic development is a good first step.

"It's unique. It's proactive. It's exactly what an economy with really weak job performance needs," Policinski said. "It can't do anything but help."

Matt Davis, who is vice president of government affairs for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, agreed.

"Having that dedicated staff member willing to be our access point and interested in what's going on on the ground is extremely valuable to us back here in Cincinnati," he said, adding that Portman's office has been very open to doing whatever it can to help the chamber promote Ohio.

"The more champions that we can have out there in Washington talking to companies, talking to CEOs, getting a sense of what they need in order to grow existing businesses or create new ones, that's resources well spent by the senator," he said.

Ed Loyd, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands, said the company has been pleased with how Portman has listened to their concerns and pushed for additional flights to key business destinations from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

"What's unique about Rob is his ability to bring multiple stakeholders to try to achieve a consensus or solution to the intractable issues that others would just shy away from," Loyd said. "He projects integrity and depth and tenacious follow-through."

Rick Kennedy of GE Aviation said Portman has been a critical supporter of the joint strike fighter alternate engine program in the Senate, where the company faces its biggest foes. GE Aviation has committed to using its own money to continue the project -- not government funds -- but it needs congressional authorization.

"Portman has done a very nice job of defining what we're trying to do," Kennedy said. "His is a very important voice to have in the Senate."