Columbiana County

Rob Portman (center): with Columbiana GOP chair David Johnson (left)Former Congressman and Bush cabinet member Rob Portman (R-Cincinnati) called for Republicans to get "back to basics" during the Columbiana County annual Republican finance dinner Thursday night at Salem Golf Club.

Speaking to the crowd of about 160, Portman said Republicans need to get back to being the party of fiscal responsibility, ethical behavior and results for taxpayers. Portman also promoted John McCain and spoke about Republican losses in 2006.

"Two-thousand six was a pretty tough year for Ohio Republicans," he said. Portman said when voters were asked why they switched from voting Republican to voting Democratic, the number one issue "wasn't Iraq, it wasn't health care, it wasn't education, it was spending."

"Voters punished Republicans because we were spending too much of their taxpayer dollars," he said. "Here we are, the party that should be standing for fiscal discipline, but we were the party punished for having spent too much."

He said the second issue that swung voters was ethics.

"Now, again, as a Republican, I am very proud of our party. I'm very proud of our tradition. I'm embarrassed by the fact that we're getting the reputation of being that party that doesn't care about those people elected enough to have ethical representatives in government to focus on the sacred trust of public service. That's what we stand for, don't we?"

Portman said 2006 was a tough year but could serve as a wake-up call that Republicans "need to get back to who we are."