test post 21oct2016

Politics

Strickland campaign rips Portman for 'stop-and-frisk' bill 22 years ago

Republican incumbent's campaign says attack is sign of desperation

ByTom Troy | BLADE POLITICS WRITER

Published on Oct. 21, 2016 | Updated 4:54 p.m.

The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ted Strickland today said his opponent’s co-sponsorship of a “stop-and-frisk” bill from 22 years ago shows he is out-of-touch with Ohio’s black communities.

Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman’s campaign said the attack is a sign of desperation from Mr. Strickland.

Rebecca Pearcey, manager of Mr. Strickland’s campaign, said “stop-and-frisk promotes racial profiling and has left African-American men and women to be discriminated against and targeted by police based on the color of their skin. It is truly shameful that Senator Portman could support this practice, and he should answer for his role in championing these terrible policies.”

Mr. Strickland broached the issue in a televised debate in Cleveland on Thursday.

“That’s not the approach we need. We need to pull communities together not use issues that drive them apart,” Mr. Strickland said in the debate. Mr. Portman did not respond.

The bill was introduced by Mr. Portman when he was a congressman in 1994 from the Cincinnati area. It was co-sponsored with Democrat Gary Condit of California. At the time it was a policy used as part of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s zero tolerance of crime policy. Stop-and-frisk has been curtailed in New York since 2011 under protests that it targeted racial minorities.

The Portman bill would have deemed that there is sufficient evidence for a constitutional stop and frisk if a police officer knows that there is reasonable belief that an individual is in a street gang and that the street gang engaged in criminal activity.

Congressional records show that it never came out of the House Judiciary Committee.

"This is just another desperate attack from a desperate politician whose 40-year political career is coming to a sad end," said Portman campaign spokesperson Michawn Rich.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

RELATED ITEMS: TED STRICKLAND ,U.S. SEN. ROB PORTMAN ,ROB PORTMAN ,REBECCA PEARCEY ,RUDY GIULIANI ,GARY CONDIT ,MICHAWN RICH ,U.S. SENATE