Fisher gains endorsements during stop in Toledo

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher said he would focus on "jobs, jobs, jobs" for Ohio and said the current administration isn't being aggressive enough in that department.

The lieutenant governor was in Toledo to collect endorsements from some of Toledo's top elected Democrats, as well as one political independent, in his quest for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R., Ohio).

He said President Obama and Congress saved the economy from going over a financial cliff, but need to step up the effort to save and create jobs.

"It took us eight years to get into this economic crisis; it will take more than eight or nine months to get out," Mr. Fisher said.

"I think we should be much more aggressive in saving, creating, and attracting jobs," Mr. Fisher said.

He called for spending more of the stimulus fund on job creation, making a more aggressive effort to avert home foreclosure, and enacting a job creation tax credit.
He also called for changes in the "cap and trade" carbon emissions bill that Republicans say will harm Ohio's coal-dependent manufacturing economy with massive taxes on the utilities that supply electricity.

"While global warming and climate change are real problems, we're not going to solve those problems on the backs of Ohioans and particularly on the backs of those in the manufacturing economy," Mr. Fisher said.

Jessica Towhey, a spokesman for Rob Portman, the leading Republican candidate to replace Senator Voinovich, said Mr. Portman's position is that cap-and-trade is a "job killer" that will put Ohio at a disadvantage with other states that aren't as reliant on coal.

Mr. Portman is a former congressman from the Cincinnati area and former White House budget director.

In response to Mr. Fisher's campaign swing through Toledo, Ms. Towhey said, "While Lt. Gov. Fisher is busy collecting endorsements and campaigning for his next job, more and more Ohioans are scared that they will be the next to lose their jobs." She said Mr. Fisher presided over "record unemployment" as Ohio's "job czar" and supports "Washington policies that will cause more and more Ohioans to lose their jobs."

Mr. Fisher resigned as director of development in February to begin his Senate run.

He was endorsed in person by Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, City Council President Joe McNamara, Lucas County Commission President Pete Gerken, Lucas County Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz, and Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez, all Democrats, along with political independent Mayor-elect Mike Bell.