Buckeye RINO

When it comes to the bailout, Bob Latta gets it.

Bob Latta was in Sandusky yesterday aboard the Straight Talk Express with John McCain, and I spoke with him after the event concluded.

Latta is the Republican incumbent in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District, and he’s being challenged by Democrat George Mays.

Latta voted twice against the bailout bill.  He correctly sees that our economy relied too heavily on unwise borrowing and spending, at the individual level, at the corporate level, and at the government level.  There is a risk that comes with borrowing, and that risk has become reality as a critical mass of entities found themselves unable to pay the piper as repayments became due.  He knows that the solution is not socialism, and that the power now granted to the Secretary of the Treasury isn’t accompanied by sufficient checks and balances.

He doesn’t want to take chances on our national security.  That’s why he feels the election of John McCain is so important.  He wants to make sure our borders are secure, and that we get a handle on illegal immigration.  Those two members of the Border Patrol that were tossed into prison after firing their weapons on a Mexican drug smuggler?  Latta wants them released.  The drug smuggler is the one in need of punishment.

Latta does not try to juggle time between private practice as an attorney and being a legislator.  While in the General Assembly, Latta set aside the private practice and devoted all his occupational attention to legislating.  Congress is his full-time occupation now.

Latta is conservative in virtually any way you wish to measure the term.  Most of his constituents are, too, and that makes him a better fit for representing the district than George Mays.