C.S. & T's Candidates' Questionnaire

While the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference's "PA-Statewide-2010-Bulletin-Insert" was made available early, it only looked at candidates for the statewide positions of governor and the U.S. senate. In its current issue, the Catholic Standard & Times looks at candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives (including the two candidates from our own 8th congressional district), as well as the Pennsylvania House & the Pennsylvania Senate.

In our own race for the U.S. House of Representatives, an examination of the Catholic Standard & Times "Candidates Questionnaire" quickly reveals that Mike Fitzpatrick shares the Catholic positions on those absolutely essential issues of opposing federal funding of abortion, supporting conscience protections, opposing embryonic stem cell research, & defending marriage/family. Congressman Patrick Murphy did not even bother to answer the questions!

Individuals represented in the U.S. Congress’ 8th Congressional district are also represented in the Pennsylvania House (18th, 29th, 31st, 140th, 141st, 142nd , 143rd, 144th, 145th, or 178th districts ) & the Pennsylvania Senate (6th, 10th, 12th, or 24th districts.)....

With regard to candidates (from the 8th Congressional District) for the Pennsylvania House, only DiGirolamo (unopposed in the 18th), Burger & Galloway (140th), Clymer (145th), and Petri (178th) responded. Feinberg & O’Neill (29th), Ciervo & Santarsiero (31st), Davis & Glasson (141st), Farry & Toth (142nd), McQuarrie & Quinn (143rd), Watson & her opponent??? (144th), Whitesell (145th), and Apfelbaum (178th) did not respond.

• Of those who did respond, only Rep John Galloway (140th) consistently answered in manners consistent with Catholic positions on the sanctity of human life, conscience protection, & marriage/family. While others are identified elsewhere as Pro Life - Rep DiGirolamo (18th) & Rep Clymer (145th) (cf., Pennsylvania Pro Life Federation & Pro Life Union of Southeast Pennsylvania), they may just be more Pro Life than their opponents. In addition to those three, non-responder Rob Ciervo (31st) has been identified as being in the Pro Life camp (cf., Pennsylvania Pro Life Federation & Pro Life Union of Southeast Pennsylvania).

With regard to candidates (from the 8th Congressional District) for the Pennsylvania Senate, only Allen (6th), Greenleaf (12th), & Mensch (24th) responded. Tomlinson (6th), McIlhinney (10th), Philo (10th), Damsker (12th), & Wallace (24th) did not respond.

• Of those who did respond, only Sen Bob Mensch (24th) consistently answered in manners consistent with Catholic positions on the sanctity of human life, conscience protection, and marriage/family. In addition, non-responder Sen Tomlinson (6th) has been identified as being in the Pro Life camp. It may be the case that he is just more Pro Life than his opponent Bryan Allen (cf., Pennsylvania Pro Life Federation & Pro Life Union of Southeast Pennsylvania).

CST Candidates' Questionnaire