toledoblade.com --

The two Republican frontrunners agree that sharp right turns mark the path to Congress in Ohio's 5th District.

State Sen. Steve Buehrer (R., Delta) and State Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) each hold career "Watchdog of the Treasury" designations from the United Conservatives of Ohio for their work in the General Assembly.

Both have 100 percent ratings from Ohio Right to Life. And when it comes to American troop levels in Iraq, both advocate trusting the recommendations of generals.

But going into the Nov. 6 primary election, the intense competition to succeed the late Paul Gillmor has magnified a few degrees of difference between Mr. Buehrer and Mr. Latta. As a result, the race is veering toward past votes about Ohio's budget and mandatory chicken pox vaccinations.

Also competing in the Republican primary are Mark Hollenbaugh of Bowling Green, Fred Pieper of Paulding, and Mike Smitley of Van Wert.

Mr. Latta has campaigned hard against the estate tax and frequently references the legacy of Ronald Reagan, but a TV advertisement paid for by a Washington-based PAC supporting Mr. Buehrer attacks him as a "tax-and-spend" politician.

The charge made by the Club for Growth originated in 2003, when Mr. Latta voted to increase the state sales tax to 6 percent from 5 percent - raising an additional $2.9 billion - as part of the budget proposed by then-Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican.

"Sometimes you have to make tough votes, but you have to own up to it," Mr. Latta said.

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Mr. Buehrer crossed party lines to vote against it. As a penalty, the Republican majority removed him from committee posts. He based his vote on a devotion to his constituents and a belief that government consumes rather than creates wealth.

Mr. Latta said he supported the sales tax because of growth in public education expenses mandated by a string of Ohio Supreme Court decisions and a statewide recession that hit government revenues with an oppressive force that still lingers today.

As Mr. Latta outlined the fiscal challenges facing the state at that time, he asked: "Do you want an organization in Washington with no ties to the 5th Congressional District dictating who will be the next congressman?"

Mr. Latta acknowledged that he screened for the Club for Growth's endorsement but said he was skeptical about receiving it because of the organization's history. The Federal Elections Commission last month fined the club $350,000 for not reporting its contributions and expenditures.

Mr. Buehrer sees the club's endorsement as reflecting the philosophies within the 5th District, which has been served by a Republican congressman for more than 70 years, including Mr. Latta's father, Delbert, between 1959 and 1989.

"This is a very conservative part of the state," Mr. Buehrer said. "They value family. They value faith. They value strengthening their community."

Mr. Buehrer said Mr. Latta has "some conservative views," explaining that the real discrepancy is between someone who is a leader and someone who is a participant in the right-wing movement.

Since joining the Ohio House of Representatives in 1999 and winning election to the state Senate last year, Mr. Buehrer has an average rating of 87 percent from the United Conservatives of Ohio. Mr. Latta, who served a term in the state Senate before shifting to the House in 2001, has an 80.4 percent rating.

"At that point, that's not a great difference," said Dale Van Vyven, the group's chairman. "They're both pretty solid conservative folks."

The difference in those ratings boils down to votes such as a 2004 law requiring kindergartners to be immunized from chicken pox. Mr. Latta said supporters contacted him about negative telephone push polls, in which the caller indicated that Mr. Latta's vote in favor of vaccination was evidence of him not being pro-life.

A push poll uses leading questions to influence the outcome of a survey, making it more of a campaign tool than a scientific collection of data.

"Push polling is one of those things to drive wedges in people's beliefs and philosophies and thoughts before they get to the ballot box," Mr. Latta said.

Mr. Buehrer denies any connection to push polls.

He voted against mandatory chicken pox vaccination because, at the time, the bill did not make exemptions for children whose parents might have religious or good-conscience objections to the immunization.

Also shaping Mr. Buehrer's vote was an understanding that the vaccine, Varivax, came from the "tissue of an aborted fetus."

In a product description, Merck, the pharmaceutical company that developed Varivax, said the virus was isolated from a Japanese child and then introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures.

Citing the potential health benefits, the Catholic Conference of Ohio and Ohio Right to Life did not oppose mandatory vaccinations, according to a 2000 letter.

Disputes over these sorts of issues help show why three other 5th District Republicans are running, hoping to break the perceived monopoly of politics as usual. A fourth candidate, Michael Reynolds, failed to gather enough signatures.

"My thought is there is a lot of pandering going on," said Mr. Smitley, a consultant for the automotive industry. "My stance has been not to pander to the base but to be transparent and let the voters see what I'm about."

Mr. Hollenbaugh, a high school social studies teacher, said candidates should focus on what is achievable rather than pontificate on abortion policies where the level of passion in both camps stops any real legislative progress.

"Any politician that tells people that if they're elected they're going to resolve this issue in Washington, D.C., they're lying," Mr. Hollenbaugh said. "They can legislate all day and nothing is going to happen."

Mr. Pieper, a lineman for an electric utility, said the positions taken on the campaign trail do not necessarily follow a congressman to Capitol Hill.

"Any time more than one Republican is in a race," Mr. Pieper said, "they try to out-conservative each other, but that doesn't mean that once they get into office they're going to perform as they promised."

Contact Joshua Boak at:
jboak@theblade.com
or 419-724-6728.