LaTourette, Kucinich work to save National City

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland area congressmen Steve LaTourette and Dennis Kucinich will turn up the pressure today (Tuesday) in hopes of saving National City Bank.

The two congressmen will meet with the Treasury Department and with federal banking regulators in Washington today and lay out a case for National City.

They will demand answers as to why the Cleveland bank was denied bailout money and ended up being sold to PNC Bank of Pittsburgh, which would get federal funds that National City was denied.

"This is about our community. This is really important to our town," Rep. Kucinich told Channel 3 News on Monday. "There's a lot of jobs at stake and the economic impact to our community is extraordinary. And we're not going to let this go without a fight."

Kucinich says if federal regulators took at realistic look at National City's financial picture, they would not reject bailout money. The Cleveland bank applied for help, but it's application was not considered.

"The numbers just don't add up as to how they tried to destroy National City," Kucinich stated, "when there's many other banks that National City has been in a position than.

"The story they tell about National City's demise isn't an honest story. We need to lay all the facts out to the people at Treasury and at the Comptroller of the Currency's office to get them to take another look at it.

"Steve LaTourette and I are going to be in the room appealing for those people to take a look at the numbers."