By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Hillary Clinton made her pitch to the blue collar crowd in Toledo Monday – to people who pay their taxes and expect their elected officials to do the same.
Clinton hit hard on the latest news that her opponent Donald Trump has likely not paid federal taxes for nearly two decades.
She looked at her supporters gathered in the Amtrak station in downtown Toledo, and told them she understands them. “We believe in honest pay for honest work,” she said, mentioning her dad who printed drapery for a living. “He believed in hard work. He passed that on to me.”
Those in the crowd appreciated her steady dedication to family and worker causes. Jennifer Rogers, of Toledo, said she likes how Clinton relies on her experience and her heart. “I think Hillary knows more about the world situation than any president we’ve ever had. I think the Republican party has done a real witch hunt and she’s stood her ground.”
Larry Robinson, of Bowling Green, admitted he was not a huge Hillary fan. “I’m against Donald Trump,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t trust him to stick to his word.”
So Clinton will likely win with Robinson by default. “When it comes time to vote, I’ll probably pull the lever for Hillary,” he said.
Andrew Heller, of Toledo, had no doubts. “I think she’s obviously the only candidate qualified for the job.” He then looked at his two young daughters to explain another reason why he wouldn’t support Trump. “It’s despicable how he talks about women.”
One speaker suggested it would be fitting for the Glass City to help Clinton shatter the “glass ceiling.”
U.S. Rep Marcy Kaptur speaks about Clinton.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, joined in heaping praise onto Clinton.
“No matter what gets thrown her way, she keeps chugging along,” Kaptur said. “She gets things done.” One of those things was very meaningful to Toledo, when Clinton voted to save the auto industry.
Clinton talked about those tough times, when people were losing their jobs, their homes, their savings. “In 2009, you were in the eye of the storm,” she said to the Toledoans.
She used Trump’s words against him, reminding the crowd that he didn’t stand for the auto industry bailout. “He would have let you twist and fall,” she said.
“But you never gave up,” she said to the crowd, many of them UAW members. And “America came to the rescue” – not Trump, she added.
And now, Chrysler has announced that it will be building the next generation of Jeep Wranglers in Toledo.
“I will always stand up and fight for you,” she promised.
Like the crowd, Clinton said she wants to focus on “kitchen table” issues. “The ones that keep you up at night,” she said. Like the cost of prescription drugs, the affordability of college, and how to get ahead with hard work. The American Dream, she said, “should be big enough for everybody.”
She promised to fight against the powerful protecting only their self interests. She vowed to plug the loopholes that help the rich get richer and allow them to send jobs overseas.
“We will rebuild the working class,” she said.
Companies should feel responsibility to their workers, customers and their country – not just to their shareholders, Clinton said.
“We should not and we will not respect those who get rich by cheating everyone else,” she said. To businesses that scam their customers, cheat their workers and pollute the environment, she added, “We will find ways to hold you accountable.”
She pointed out the latest company – Wells Fargo – accused of committing fraud against unsuspecting customers. And of course, she noted Trump’s refusal to release his taxes, and evidence that he may have not paid federal income tax for the last 20 years.
That means no money for veterans, for the military, for Pell college grants, Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton greets supporters after speaking.
“He has been dissing America the whole campaign,” but says he wants to fix the country’s tax code. “That’s letting the fox guard the henhouse,” Clinton said. “His plan would raise taxes on middle class families,” while benefitting the wealthy, she added. “It’s Trump first and everyone else last.”
“A Wall Street money manager should not be able to pay a lower tax rate than a teacher or a nurse,” she said.
Clinton repeated Trump’s line from last week’s televised debate, when he referred to himself as being “smart” by avoiding the federal taxes after losing nearly $1 billion in a single year.
“What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a year?”
She accused Trump of “taking tax breaks with one hand, and handing out pink slips with the other.” She called him the “poster boy of bullying” by refusing to pay small business owners when they performed work for him. “He stiffed them all,” not because he couldn’t pay, but because he didn’t want to, she said.
Clinton spent much of her speech outlining her plans to improve the economy, such as:
- Adopt the Buffett rule, which ensures that multi-millionaires don’t pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.
- Create an exit tax, which would require companies that leave the country or outsource jobs to return every tax break ever granted to them.
- Defend the Consumer Protection Bureau, which has returned more than $11 billion to ripped off Americans, she said.
- Go further to regulate Wall Street so those businesses can’t escape accountability.
- Oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she described as one-sided and unfair.
- Slap penalties on pharmaceutical companies that are jacking up prices on lifesaving drugs.
- Import safe drug alternatives from Canada, to get cheaper options.
- Bring costs down for Medicare recipients. “No one should have to choose between rent and paying for their prescriptions,” she said.
- Establish tough anti-trust rules, “so the big don’t keep getting bigger and bigger.”
- Defend workers’ right to organize, realizing that “Right to Work” is wrong for America, she said.
- Raise minimum wages and treat workers as assets.
- Provide family leave and child care.
- “Let’s finally guarantee equal pay for women,” which caused the crowd to erupt into a chant of “Hillary.”
- Create a “Make it in America Partnership,” with $10 billion for small businesses.
Crowd lined up along Amtrak tracks to see Hillary Clinton.
Clinton also asked the crowd to help her. She asked that everyone make sure they are registered to vote and urge others to do the same by the Oct. 11 deadline. Then when early voting starts on Oct. 12, head to the polls, she said.
