COLUMBUS – The first debate of the long race for the 15th Congressional district was a quieter version of the vociferous back-and-forth between campaigns in the press, but largely sounded the same themes.

Franklin Co. Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus), state Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and Donald Eckhart (I-Madison Co.) attended the AARP debate broadcast by NBC 4 Tuesday night.

Kilroy fashioned herself as an involved county commissioner and practical Democrat, while Stivers painted himself as a bipartisan reformer and moderate Republican. Stivers spoke positively of Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and expressed disagreements with Congress and President Bush.

Eckhart sounded a few conservative themes such as opposing abortion and paying down the national debt, as well as not accepting campaign donations from lobbyists.

Notably absent from the tit-for-tat between Kilroy and Stivers was the near-daily accusation from Kilroy and her allies that Stivers is a career lobbyist. Neither Kilroy nor Eckhart said Stivers was a lobbyist, though they did heap scorn on lobbyists as a group. Stivers himself tried to get out ahead of the expected charge during his opening statement.

“During this campaign you’re going to hear some attacks on my job at Bank One but I’m proud to be part of a good local company that created 15,000 jobs right here in Central Ohio,” Stivers said.

Stivers worked for Bank One as a vice president for 7 years, during which time he was a registered lobbyist in Ohio. 

Instead of knocking Stivers as a lobbyist, she mostly targeted him on the issue of energy. Twice she said Stivers’ energy plan would create a “petroleum bureaucracy” and took a veiled swipe at him by saying he is supported by Exxon and Halliburton, whose political action committees have donated $4,500 to his campaign.

Stivers countered by saying he would vote to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling if elected, while he said Kilroy didn’t know whether she would lift it or not. Kilroy’s campaign has said she doesn’t have a position on lifting the moratorium but would support offshore drilling if it proves environmentally safe.

Kilroy accused Stivers of trying to take credit for work she did with a constituent.

“I’ll work together with people across the aisle, not just take credit Steve for ideas that other people have....” she said.

Stivers indirectly knocked Kilroy, saying she was running a negative campaign this year as she did in 2006 for the same congressional seat.

CORRECTION: Exxon and Halliburton donated $4,500 to Stivers campaign, not $9,500 as previously stated. That included a contribution from an oil-related PAC.