Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

Steve Chabot and Rob Portman are tall, mild-mannered, conservative Republicans from Cincinnati.

But on three of the most important votes of the last session of Congress, they were anything but twins.

That's not just a curiosity. It's a potential problem for Portman. The Terrace Park Republican is the White House liaison for the House. That means it's his job to get the GOP to back Bush's agenda.

In October, defying White House wishes, Chabot voted to turn aid to Iraq into a loan, rather than a taxpayer-financed grant - and Chabot was the only Republican to vote with the Democrats on a procedural motion to kill the bill.

Last month the Westwood Republican voted against the Medicare prescription drug bill, defying his party leadership and pleas from President Bush.

This month he voted against a giant spending bill, backed by GOP leadership, to pay for government operations for fiscal 2004.

"I'm being loyal to my constituents, the people I represent in Congress. I don't represent the president, and I don't represent the Republican leadership," Chabot said. "I represent the people of the 1st Congressional District."

Portman said he understands that Chabot is not always going to agree with the president and has to represent his district.

"By the same token, it is critical to the president that the Republican House stick together with him as a team when we can in order to get things done," Portman said. "That's been the only way we've been able to make progress."

He said Chabot would suffer no repercussions from his votes. Portman's side, after all, won on all three votes.

In a column, Akron-area Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown wrote that on the night of the Medicare vote, he had seen Republicans desperate to win the vote looking for "stray Republicans to bully."

"I watched them surround Cincinnati's Steve Chabot, trying first a carrot, then a stick. But he remained defiant," Brown wrote.

Chabot said Brown was half right: He did remain defiant. But he said he saw no carrots or sticks, just cajoling and a lot of talk about teamwork.

"Nobody threatened me in any way," Chabot said. "They were trying to wear me down to a considerable degree."

Said Brown: "He's not on their good list. But I respect him. I saw him stand tough."

TURNER'S TURN: House Speaker Dennis Hastert named freshman Rep. Mike Turner, a former Dayton mayor, as chairman of a new Republican task force to "Save America's Cities." Turner, who represents northern Warren County, will study how to fix economic barriers like former industrial sites dubbed "brownfields" that hinder city growth, streamline government programs that serve inner cities, and improve public or low-income housing.

Turner, a self-described "urban Republican," said the appointment shows the GOP is committed to cities.

ILLEGAL ALIEN: "I understand my friend Rob Portman has snuck across the border from the state of Ohio."

That was President Bush at a Dec. 2 fund-raiser in Pittsburgh. He went on to praise Portman as "one of the rising stars in the United States House of Representatives and a strong ally."

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Carl Weiser covers Washington news. E-mail cweiser@gannett.com