In U.S. House districts that encompass most of Columbus and the surrounding area, The Dispatch endorses state Sen. Steve Stivers in the 15th and Congressional District and incumbent Rep. Pat Tiberi in the 12th Congressional District.

Stivers and Tiberi are moderate Republicans, reasonable in their approaches to policy issues and capable of the nitty-gritty legislative work that's required. Stivers, an effective state senator, is running to succeed Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce of Upper Arlington, who is retiring after 16 years. Tiberi was first elected in 2000. Both candidates have earned voters' support.

• In the 15th District, covering western Franklin and Madison and Union counties, Steve Stivers of Columbus is the best choice. He was appointed to the state Senate in 2003 to replace Priscilla Mead and then was elected to his current term. Stivers has built a solid legislative record. While a senator, he served in Iraq as a lieutenant colonel with the Ohio Army National Guard and received the Bronze Star.

He promises to push for a balanced federal budget, noting he's ready to make the tough choices to accomplish that. He favors a two-year federal budgeting process, similar to Ohio's system, a law mandating balanced budgets and line-item veto powers for the president.

Stivers' reasonability, affability and willingness to work in a bipartisan way stand in contrast to Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, his Democratic opponent.

Kilroy, who lost a race for the 15th District seat two years ago, lacks Stivers' legislative experience, but perhaps even more important, she has shown that personal political ambition is more important to her than the public interest. This is demonstrated by her use of the county's Quality Contracting Standards to reject nonunion bidders on county construction projects and to steer contracts to union contractors to reward her labor supporters. In one case, Kilroy rejected an Ohio low-bidder in favor of an out-of-state union contractor that previously had been fined $23,000 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for four serious safety violations related to an accident that killed a worker in 2006. The same company also failed to pay an employee's pension while he served in Iraq, and the company's former president was sent to jail for tax evasion.

This is the kind of bad judgment that Kilroy offers residents of the 15th District.

• In the 12th District, which covers part of Franklin County, all of Delaware County and western Licking County, Pat Tiberi of Genoa Township has worked hard to address the needs of constituents. He gets the job done without a lot of self-promotion.

Tiberi, protege of former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, vows to fight two legislative efforts in the Democrat-controlled Congress, both of which he correctly described as job-killers. One is a national law on mandated paid sick leave for the private sector. The other is commonly called the card-check act, which would deny workers the right to vote by secret ballot for or against a union-organizing effort. Tiberi says the answer to adequately funding federal entitlements is a panel similar to the military-base-closing commission, which would take politics out of decisions on how entitlement spending and expenses can be brought into balance.

A return to fiscal responsibility will be a major challenge for the next president and members of Congress. All can see the deficit-spending land mine, but national leaders have lacked the political courage to deal with it. Most candidates are fiscal conservatives during the campaign season; the proof is what happens when they get to Capitol Hill.

Tiberi and Stivers offer their districts experience, moderation and good judgment