PENNSYLVANIA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
2006 General Election
Candidate Interviews
Lynn Swann (R)
What qualities do you think the Commonwealth needs in its governor?
I think we need real leadership and integrity in Pennsylvania.
As Governor, one of the primary issues I will address is property tax reform. Jim Matthews and I are going to work on reforming our property tax system. We are not going to talk about it as a campaign issue just to get elected and then not follow up. That’s not leadership.
I think most people want to see our government transformed. Pennsylvania is a wonderful place to live, it has great qualities. Sometimes we find safety and security in never changing anything, but Pennsylvania government has to change. The current administration continues to put band-aids on problems instead of providing real long term reform and change in Pennsylvania. I think people in the Commonwealth are looking for long term solutions. They don’t want to continue to hear that we have the same problems that we’ve had for the last 30 years.
Our elected leaders ought to govern with integrity. Being elected to office is a tremendous responsibility, and I think that our leaders must govern in a way that embraces our shared morality.
How would you characterize your political philosophy as it relates to the role of religion in public life?
I’m really not trying to define myself within one particular box. From a personal position, I’m Baptist. I grew up in a Baptist family. My mother enrolled me in a Catholic high school. And my faith and my religion have always been a foundation of my life. Religion serves in our country as a moral compass in how people respond to certain situations and how they respond to other people. It dictates a course of action in their lives and creates a framework.
I have often said to the young kids I’ve worked with for 26 years in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America that your faith and your religious background create the framework around your life. Religion is important for a lot of reasons, but one of the most important reasons is for people to be able to know when they have crossed the line. Many people don’t have that framework; they don’t have the guidelines or don’t have the boundary lines. They have no idea when they have crossed a societal boundary or moral boundary. Faith is a guide so that people know where the boundaries should be. It guides me in that way.
I think in a leadership position in government, although there is a separation between state and religion, my faith will guide me on a moral basis, on an ethical basis, and help me in terms of my integrity.
Which statement most closely reflects your opinion and why?
* Government officials should maintain a strict separation between personal religious beliefs and public leadership.
OR
* Government officials should seek to integrate their faith life with their public life.
Faith plays an important role daily, constantly, in the decisions you make. It guides you morally and ethically. But when you are governing a state, or even a nation, that is made up of many religions, you can not dictate to a Jewish community your beliefs in Jesus Christ. You can not dictate your customs and traditions if you are Islamic to someone who is Baptist. Those are things of which I think we have to be very careful. But, I think faith should guide us in terms of morality and our integrity.
Would you support legislation that would protect religious institutions and individuals from being required to provide, pay for or refer for products or services contrary to their conscience and moral teachings?
It would be the same as with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. We have Catholic Big Brothers/Big Sisters, we have Jewish Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and a part of what they are attempting to do is to make sure they establish a mentoring relationship between adults of that faith with kids of that faith. So, in addition to providing mentorship and leadership they are providing religious foundation that they want to perpetuate and continue in each of those kids. I believe that faith based institutions have an ability to change people’s lives and I believe we should welcome them in fighting social ills. It is important that these institutions have the freedom to abide by the tenors of their religions, but they must also let the residents of the communities they serve know that certain services may not be provided.
Please comment on the following issues or initiatives:
* Expanding protection and support for unborn children and their mothers in Pennsylvania.
I am a pro-life candidate. There are three exceptions that I do have, which are relevant to the life of the mother, rape and/or incest. I do not believe in late term abortions and I would not support anything that would allow late term abortions.
We spend so much of our time polarizing ourselves about positions on abortion as opposed to trying to find a common ground to try to make sure that people make better decisions in how they conduct their lives. Decisions they make that might lead to a pregnancy, thus forcing them to make that decision about whether or not to have an abortion. I haven’t seen or found a woman yet who wants to have to make a decision as to whether she should keep or not keep a child. So for me there has to be more of an educational process of trying to get people to make better decisions. I would place a lot of energy and time trying to get people to move in that direction so that we can stop polarizing ourselves on certain positions but rather work for the common good.
How do you envision that education process?
I think we have to sit down and talk that process through in terms of what we teach in our schools and don’t teach in our schools. The reason we discuss these issues is because there can be some advantages to working together, as opposed to just saying ‘here is my fixed position.’ People who believe in abortion want to have a choice. They don’t, necessarily, want to have to make that choice. We have to spend more time ensuring that we don’t have to make that decision in the first place. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule. But we need to engage in a dialogue that moves us forward and to help people, as opposed to just being adversarial, in to order to be more beneficial to everybody involved in the long run.
* Amending the Pennsylvania or US Constitution to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman and prevent civil unions or other functionally equivalent legal relationships.
I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I think that certainly if people want to live together that is their choice. If they want to share financial responsibilities, there are legal remedies and ways in which they can do that. But marriage is between a man and a woman.
* What is your position on the death penalty?
I am in favor of the death penalty. I think that there needs to be a very strong deterrent for crime and I believe those who are found guilty, after exhausting every opportunity and option through a rigorous appeals process, have chosen their own fate.
* Expanding the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) by allocating more money for tax credits to businesses donating to approved scholarship.
I am for it. If you visit my website, www.swannforgovernor.com, you will see that my plan for education includes doubling the Educational Improvement Tax Credit. I want to be able to use it as intended, but also as a tool to help those schools who are underperforming in our school districts. There are a lot of great programs and there should be money spent for them. I am appreciative of the corporations who are involved and obviously it is a great incentive for these companies to do more. There are so many kids who are failing when it comes to percentages in reading, in math, and in science. I would like to target that next increase more in those areas to make sure kids are improving and getting better target scores.
* Expanding or changing programs to grant greater access to health care for low income citizens such as children’s health insurance, Medicaid and Medicare.
When it comes to looking at universal health care, there have been several programs around the United States that tried it and every one of them has failed. The people I talk to have looked at the Canadian Health Care System that provides for everyone. They tend to say that it is not very good coverage. Even people from Europe who come to the United States and talk about it are not happy with the quality of their health care. So I haven’t seen an example where it is working. There are others that we can improve upon.
We must make sure the dollars are there to provide good care for more people so that they don’t fall through the government safety net. But in order to do that we must have fiscal responsibility in state government. In a $26 billion budget this year we should be able to find the dollars to help those people who need it the most. We must look at things we can put in place to help us lower the cost of medical care and coverage.
One way to help is to improve the medical care facilities we have. About a year and a half ago there was an article in a paper that said that Pennsylvania spent $2 billion a year on taking care of patients who come into the hospital and get an infection or an illness they didn’t have when they came in. Some of that can’t be blamed on the hospitals because people are in a very weakened state when they come in and are highly susceptible. But there are things we can do to fix some of those problems so that we can keep cost down and provide better quality care.
Where would you start in terms of working towards your goal?
I would probably start with economic growth and development. I think when you have a job with dignity, you are more likely to succeed and feel confident about yourself. When there are opportunities for jobs, and young people feel good about the opportunities, they stay in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Right now we are not keeping up with the rest of the nation when it comes to job creation. Many of our college graduates are being forced to look to other states for jobs after they graduate. If our state can create more jobs and create new industries of tomorrow, then we can keep those bright young minds here in Pennsylvania. That would help the Commonwealth grow, and that helps support families and better family values. I can’t tell you how many parents who tell me about their kids who get a college education in Pennsylvania and they are now living in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and other places. They would like to be in Pennsylvania, but they can’t find a job in their area of specialty.
Lawsuit abuse reform is going help us keep jobs and increase the doctors we keep in Pennsylvania. We are retaining a low percentage of doctors from our academic institutions. As of 2004, Pennsylvania only retains approximately 7.8% of the doctors who we educate and train in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That’s a critical shortage as we look forward, and as we look down the road. So I would look there to try and increase those jobs and opportunities. I think that goes a long way in helping the attitude in Pennsylvania, and the economy.
Then we start to move out from there. Fiscal tightening, putting a cap on government spending, is going to be something else that will have an impact. My analogy is to look at a problem in that there is going to be this big splash as you come up with a great solution, like when a boulder hits a pond. Everyone is watching the splash, but the long term effects are the waves that go out beyond that splash. Positive long term impacts are what we want to create. We want to see that wave continue to move out and head in a very positive manner all around the particular issue.
If you look at your favorite sports program, they are going to tell you that a lot of problems are solved through winning. I could tell you of the countless number of problems we have with a football team internally that never made the light of day because we were winning. And so when people are working, the economy’s going well and the state has more resources to help the people who need it the most and to move the Commonwealth forward.
* How would you address the concerns that are being raised right now by illegal immigration?
It is imperative that we secure our nation’s borders, while also maintaining the United State’s welcoming spirit for those who visit our country in search of new opportunities. However, I believe the solution for immigration reform must be addressed through a national program.
The issues from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida are very different because of the sheer numbers of people who come in those states. How those communities feel about how illegal immigrants affect their hospitals in terms of care, where it touches education and how you address language issues, all of those things become very important.
It’s not that there is not an issue in Pennsylvania; we do have an issue with migrant workers, so the policy is going to have an impact on us. But we have to have a solid national program before we start deciding what we should do in Pennsylvania.
We know you have a busy schedule to keep. Is there anything you would like to say, anything you would like to share about yourself with the Catholic public in general?
I have kidded and joked a little bit about the fact that I went to a Catholic high school, and I’m Baptist, and continue to be Baptist. One of the more interesting things that happened to me was realizing that both faiths believe in God, and believe in Jesus Christ. The differences in how we worship caused me to challenge myself in what I thought about my faith and religion. I have friends who are Jewish and we have had discussions in terms of their faith and what we believe. It has only caused me to reaffirm my faith in God and Jesus Christ. I don’t necessarily wear it on my sleeve, but I think if we are not challenged at some point in time with our faith then maybe we don’t know it well enough. I’m not saying you are less of a Catholic or less of a Christian if you are not challenged, but challenge deepens how you believe and confirms what you stand for. I’m comfortable with my faith and what I believe.
I am comfortable with the positions I take as I look forward to being a leader for a state of people, some who don’t necessarily believe as I believe. Yet I am confident that I will be able to provide the vision and leadership to help guide this state to be the very best it can be. That’s why when I talk to Pennsylvanians about whether they are pro life or pro choice, the idea is that we can challenge each other, but let’s have a meaningful discussion. Let’s work together towards those things so that we can resolve. The challenges will make us better, and reaffirm what we believe and what we do.
I am looking forward to the opportunity to govern in Pennsylvania. I will begin moving Pennsylvania in the right direction for the right reasons, making us stronger with integrity, and providing a good sense of values.
(c) 2006