Improving the local and national economy and controlling government spending are key issues for the four men running for the first congressional district seat, which represents all of Warren County and the western portion of Hamilton County.

Libertarian candidate Jim Berns said his primary goal is to reign in spending.

“Democrats and republicans have colluded to trash our great country,” Berns said. “The federal reserve has been printing money to such an extent that the U.S. dollar is becoming worthless.”

Berns said he wants to cut government by 75 percent.

“Anything that isn’t specifically mentioned in the Constitution should be cut,” Berns said. “Education, the corps of engineers, the post office. If we get the government out of it, the private sector will run it much more efficiently. In the private sector, if you have a business with too much overhead, that business will fail. We are vastly overburdened with the overhead of government.”

As a Libertarian, Berns said he favors cutting the government out of most aspects of a person’s private lives.

“We have a right to run our own lives and not have the government micromanaging every aspect of it,” Berns said. “The free market provides the best service at the least cost.”

Republican incumbent Steve Chabot has served on Congress in 16 of the last 18 sessions, chairing the foreign affairs committee on the Middle East and South Asia and also sponsored bills to ban partial birth abortions and strengthen the rights of victims in crimes.

“There are too many regulations coming out of Washington that are stifling the growth of business,” Chabot said, citing Obama-care as one of the worst culprits.

“A lot of small businesses have said they aren’t hiring because of the additional costs of Obama-care. It’s like a wet blanket over the economy,” Chabot said. “Obama also favors allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire, which I’m strongly opposed to allowing.”

Chabot said he wants to reign in federal spending by passing a balanced budget amendment that would “require congress to live within their means, just like the families of Southwest Ohio have to do.”

Democratic candidate Jeff Sinnard said he would fight for the rights of the middle class and not force them to pay for tax breaks to the rich.

“Republicans favor wealth, Democrats favor work, it’s as simple as that,” Sinnard said. “What the Republicans are proposing now is lowering taxes on the rich, getting rid of the capital gains tax and basically removing the tax burden on the rich. That leaves middle class to pick up the slack and that doesn’t seem right.”

Sinnard said he would bring his civil engineering background to Washington in order to work with fellow congressmen on both sides of the aisle and also “get things done.”

“Congress needs to be open to anything and everything to get the economy back on track,” Sinnard said. “There are critical and important problems but right now Congress is only looking at them in a certain manner. We need people who will look at the problem from a variety of aspects.”

Sinnard said he is pessimistic about his chances of winning and is running more as a protest against the redrawn congressional district lines, which he said have been “jerry-rigged” to favor Republicans.

“Choice in this election is somewhat of a fallacy,” Sinnard said. “My election was done when the Republicans drew the lines. I live in a congressional district drawn by Republicans for Republicans.”

For Green party candidate Rich Stevenson, the election is about clearing Wall Street influence out of Congress.

“Right now political campaigns are bought and politicians are owned by Wall Street CEOs,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson said he would reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, a regulation on Wall Street first introduced during the Great Depression that separated commercial and financial banks and toned down on the financial speculation allowed on Wall Street.

Stevenson also promotes a constitutional amendment that would specifically eliminate the ability of corporations to fund political campaigns and would give voters exclusive rights to give money to candidates.

“Any legal entity would be barred from giving money to campaigns,” Stevens said. “If you can’t vote (as a person), then you shouldn’t be able to contribute.”

Stevenson said he is to only candidate who will responsibly advocate for financial stability and balancing the budget.