Dayton leaders in D.C. to push local issues

Two former Ohio congressmen Tuesday expressed grave concern about President Donald Trump’s handling of North Korea, saying they worry that a diplomatic misstep could provoke North Korea to attack South Korea.

Speaking before the Dayton Development Coalition Tuesday, former Reps. David Hobson, a Springfield Republican and Tony Hall, a Dayton Democrat, both expressed concern that a diplomatic misstep by the could provoke North Korea to attack South Korea.

“What he’s doing in North Korea scares me,” said Hall of President Donald Trump, saying he has visited North Korea multiple times and the regime is unpredictable.

“They told me when I was in North Korea, ‘we’ve got nothing to lose and we’re starving to death, and if you don’t feed us and keep messing with us, we’ll attack South Korea,” he said. He said that the culture in many of those countries puts great value on saving face. “You can’t bully them,” he said. “You have to be very, very careful.”

Hall said while he likes the fact that Trump “breaks the mold” and “is not afraid to do things a little bit differently,” “he concerns me.”

“He’s so unpredictable and he’s so spontaneous,” Hall said of Trump.

Hobson, meanwhile, said he is similarly concerned about the unpredictability of North Korea . He said China may have to “step up and figure out how in the world to deal with North Korea.” While less critical of Trump, he still expressed dismay that Trump has mentioned nuclear weapons in his discussions of foreign policy.

“When somebody talks the way he did about the nuclear arsenal and nuclear weapons, that’s stuff I really get nervous about,” he said. “Because once you use one of those suckers, there’s no retreat.”

If North Korea were to attack South Korea, “there’d be a huge loss of life there. I pray that it never happens. If it does happen, there’s going to be a huge conflict.”

The two spoke during the first day of the Dayton Development Coalition’s annual fly-in – its 33rd. While the trip has become a routine, this year’s trip has become far from it.

Looming before Congress is a threat of a government shutdown if Congress can’t reach an agreement on its spending bill by the end of the week. Trump eased worries somewhat Tuesday when he appeared to back off threats to shut down the government if he does not get federal dollars to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Still, a shutdown is a worry.

The federal government has “ a tremendous impact on our workforce,” said Dayton Development Coalition President and CEO Jeff Hoagland, who said the crowd is one of the largest in fly-in history.

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“You can’t take it for granted,” he said. “When things are going well, it’s easy to sit back and get comfortable. But we don’t.”

It was into that to that environment Tuesday Hall and Hobson spoke of a time when they said it was easier to get things done.

Hall said when he and Hobson were in office, they, along with then-Reps. Mike Oxley and John Boehner “had this thing between us, a pact that was unwritten, not to put money against each other, not to say anything unkind about one another, not to run anybody against each other, and we felt that was bad manners to do it, and it was wrong to do it.

“Because not only were we friends, but we had to do business with each other when we got elected. We had to work with each other,” Hall said. “I tell you this because it’s the way it ought to be. It’s not the way it is.”

Hobson said the 24-hour news cycle has created a lot of anger that has fueled some of the partisanship. He said when constituents call his office and cursed at his staff, Hobson himself would call the constituent back and tell them not to curse at his staff. “Things are more pointed today than, I think, they were in the past,” he said.

“For me I’m a little dissatisfied with the Congress right now,” Hobson said. “It’s got to find its way. Each political party needs to become within itself better. And then they need to figure out how to work with each other better.”

A key part of the coalition’s agenda in D.C. is forwarding a list of community priorities to the region’s congressional district. The list is culled into key priorities thanks to review panels that evaluate a long list of submitted projects. The projects are posted on the coalition’s website and subjected to public review and comment before the coalition makes a list of key priorities. This year, the region’s priorities include projects at Sinclair Community College, the University of Dayton, GE Aviation, and Wright-Dunbar, Inc., among others.

In the early evening, the Dayton officials held a reception on the top floor of a Senate office building where Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, spoke briefly.

Other lawmakers attending the reception included Republican House members Jim Renacci of Wadsworth, Mike Turner of Dayton, Steve Chabot of Cincinnati, and Warren Davidson of Troy.

Jack Torry contributed to this story

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