The Case of Bob Casey Jr.

This is a guest column.

The Case of Bob Casey Jr.

By Kirk Wentzel

I’ve been rolling the idea of Bob Casey Jr. around in my head of late. I was wondering if he is the best choice for U.S. Senate. Now don’t get me wrong, Santorum is certainly the worst choice. He has brought shame to Pennsylvania and made us laughable with his antics.

But the question remains…should we be trying to get rid of Santorum at any cost?

I looked at Bob Casey’s website and the issues section of the website lists the topics of National Security, Economic Growth, Fiscal Responsibility, Ethics Reform, Better Health Care, Cleaner Environment, Secure Retirement and Veterans. Like most politicians with more than 2 grams of brains he says all the right things about these national political issues. What I don’t see is how Mr. Casey the younger stands on social issues.

So I thought that I would take a moment and look at his stand on 3 social issues hotly debated in recent times. Gun Control, Abortion, Gay & Lesbian Issues.

Before we begin, readers should know that I emailed the Casey Campaign on June 24, 2006 and asked about Mr. Casey’s stand on each of these three issues. I received a single reply two days later referring me to the Human Rights Campaign (a gay & lesbian rights organization) website for Mr. Casey. They did not address gun control or abortion rights.

Gun Control

In an article written by Andy Barniskis for KeepAndBearArms.com, Andy discusses the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial race in PA and notes that:

On one hand was former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, a strident supporter of gun control in all its forms, and the author of the strategy intended to bankrupt gun manufacturers by having cities file multiple, frivolous liability suits against them. On the other hand was state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr., making comforting promises of "no new gun laws" and "enforcing the laws we already have."

In another article, Brett Lieberman’s February 2006 article for the Patriot-news on PennLive.com says:

He [Casey], like Santorum, opposes gun-control laws, including the 10-year ban on 19 types of assault weapons that expired in 2004.

He vowed to aggressively court sportsmen's support by emphasizing his character, his long support for gun owners' rights and his record in state government.

"I've been a strong supporter of the second amendment, the right to bear arms. That's evidenced not just by what I've said but the support I've gotten over the last decade from sportsmen's groups, including the NRA," Casey said.

There are many other sites that quote essentially the same thing. It appears that Mr. Casey is not a fan of gun control laws. My personal opinion is that hunters don’t need assault rifles and handguns. Handguns, in my opinion, are specifically meant to kill humans. Deer and bear and other wild game do not wear Kevlar vests and therefore hunters do not need armor piercing bullets. That, however, does not mean that I believe people should not be allowed to own guns.

If you are a hunter I think you should be able to buy a rifle to hunt with. But I also think you should learn how to use it.

There are already restrictions on the “right to bear arms”. Case in point, you cannot own a nuclear weapon. The government frowns on the personal possession of a rocket propelled grenade launcher. If you go walking down the street with a bazooka, the police are likely to shoot you. You cannot drive a tank around without causing panic.

Sorry but there is no reason for assault weapons and handguns and armor piercing bullets and all that craziness.

So if you’ve ever been the victim of a gun crime or know someone who has, it appears that neither Santorum nor Casey is the man for you.

Abortion Rights

Mr. Casey is clearly against abortion rights. In 2002 the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference sent questionnaires to the gubernatorial candidate and asked them about several issues including abortion. They sent similar questionnaires for other races including the Treasurer’s Race Primary and General Election. Here are Mr. Casey’s responses on the abortion issue:

2002 Governor Primary Election:

1. What is your position on providing legal protection for unborn children from the moment of conception if Roe v. Wade is overturned?

• (G) Casey: Support

1a. If support, what exceptions, if any, would you require?
a) life of the mother
b) life of the mother, rape and incest
c) life of the mother, rape, incest, and fetal deformity

• (G) Casey: (a) If the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade and the issue was returned to the states, and if the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an abortion bill, that bill would contain exceptions for rape, for incest, and for the life of the mother. I would sign that bill because it would have the effect of reducing the number of abortions in Pennsylvania.

2. What is your position on legislation that would attempt to weaken or repeal the PA Abortion Control Act?

• (G) Casey: Oppose

3. What is your position on public funding of abortion?

• (G) Casey: Oppose

5. What is your position on a provision in the state's budget to fund contraceptive services?

• (G) Casey: Support. I oppose any funds being used to provide abortion counseling or to promote, refer for, or perform abortions.

His answers were the exactly the same on the 2004 Treasurer Primary Election with the following exception:

5. What is your position on a provision in the state's budget to fund contraceptive services?

• (G) Casey: Support

His answers on the 2004 Treasurer General Election questionnaire are exactly the same as they were on the Primary questionnaire.

Clearly Mr. Casey Jr. is not a supporter of reproductive rights for women. Not surprisingly the National Organization of Women, as well as virtually every other reproductive rights organization is not very happy with Mr. Casey.

Gay & Lesbian Rights

This topic got a bit more interesting because there appears to be some confusion over where Mr. Casey stands on GLBT issues.

Referring to the same Catholic Conference Questionnaires I referred to before. Mr. Casey answered this way on the 2004 Treasurer Primary Election document.

7. What is your position on government requiring that benefits be provided to same-sex partners?

• Casey (Treas - D): Oppose

8. What is your position on legislation allowing homosexual couples to adopt children?

• Casey (Treas - D): Oppose

But on the 2004 Treasurer General Election document he answered this way:

7. What is your position on government requiring that benefits be provided to same-sex partners?

• Casey (Treas - D): Employers should be permitted to extend domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples in committed, long-term relationships.

8. What is your position on legislation prohibiting homosexual couples from adopting children?

• Casey (Treas - D): Oppose

Notice that the framing of question 8 changed from allowing to prohibiting. In the Primary document Mr. Casey Opposes allowing gay couples to adopt. In the General election document he now supports allowing gay couples to adopt. Was this really a change in position or did his staff not notice the change in the framing of the question.

I looked for further clarification on this subject and I knew that PA-GALA, a Pennsylvania gay rights organization sent a questionnaire that Mr. Casey answered at the time he was running for Treasurer. I contacted PA-GALA and asked them for a copy of that questionnaire. PA-GALA did not respond to my request.

I continued to look and found this quotation attributed to Bob Casey Jr. at the PA State Democratic party Endorsement Convention in March 2006.

“I don’t support gay marriage, but I also don’t support a constitutional amendment banning it. That would be tremendously divisive. However, I do support same sex unions that would give gay couples all the rights, privileges and protections of marriage.”

So I next contacted the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest Gay and Lesbian Rights organizations in the country. Lennea Bower sent the following response:

Thank you for e-mailing us to express your concern about Bob Casey as a candidate for Senate from Pennsylvania.

Bob Casey supports equality for Pennsylvanians and all Americans, and has a public record in support of equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons. Casey is opposed to the so called Marriage Protection Amendment, or writing any discrimination into the U.S. Constitution. He supports employment fairness and hate crime prevention measures based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Further, he supports civil unions and domestic partnerships, as well as repeal of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. On health issues, Casey believes in an appropriate federal response to HIV/AIDS, including funding and education measures. Further, he believes in science-based prevention measures, and opposes abstinence teaching as a sole prevention measure.

She Continues:

Although Mr. Casey might not be the ideal candidate that HRC would like to see in Pennsylvania, he is Mr. Santorum’s opponent this year, and we will support him.

When pressed on the adoption issue, Mike Mings from HRC sent the following response:

I got your message regarding Bob Casey and his stands on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. He has evolved and gotten better on GLBT issues over the years, specifically including adoption and domestic partnerships. Further information is below:

Bob Casey supports fairness for Pennsylvanians and all Americans, and has a public record in support of equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.

Casey is opposed to the Federal Marriage Amendment, or writing any discrimination into the U.S. Constitution. On the state constitutional amendment in Pennsylvania, he’s said, “This is a ploy by Harrisburg politicians trying to score political points by creating division, hostility and intolerance.” He supports employment fairness and hate crime prevention measures based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Further, he supports civil unions and domestic partnerships, and treating our families fairly.

On health issues, Casey believes in an appropriate federal response to HIV/AIDS, including funding and education measures. Further, he believes in science-based prevention measures, and opposes abstinence teaching as a sole prevention measure.

Notice there’s still no direct answer on the adoption question. Let’s hope that since Mr. Casey says he supports civil unions for gays and lesbians giving us all the rights of marriage, he would include adoption rights too.

I’ve also heard, but to be fair I can’t find a specific reference, that Mr. Casey does not support the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) already exists and therefore the FMA is not necessary. If that’s true, then it would beg the question…would Mr. Casey support the FMA if DOMA did NOT exist?

In the end, on these three topics anyway, Mr. Casey appears to fail on the Gun Control and Abortion fronts. However, he is certainly better than Mr. Santorum on the GLBT rights questions. Although there still seem to be some question. If elected, time will tell if Mr. Casey is just pandering to certain constituencies.