A Pair Of Lightweights

This excellent Guest Opinion from Daniel Deagler appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times on Saturday (the author hails from Plumsteadville, Pa.).

Lynn Swann has no prior political experience. He has never served on a school board or been a township supervisor. He has never run for state representative, sheriff or borough council. He has never spent a weekend knocking on doors, collecting petitions or working the polls. He has never gone to bed after 2 A.M. because he was presiding over a zoning hearing. He has missed (voting in) 20 of the last 36 elections. He is now by acclamation the Republican Party’s candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.

His vision on how to improve Pennsylvania is thin and is as modest as his political resume. His web site, Lynn Swann for Governor, lists three goals: 1) Creating Economic Opportunities: the greatest challenge of the next governor is to put Pennsylvania’s economy back on track; 2) Preparing Our Children To Compete: The most basic job of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is to provide an education that will lead to opportunity for our children; 3) Pennsylvania Values: Pennsylvania values have always been about hard work, determination, and the will to succeed.

That’s it.

He has offered no opinion on gaming in Pennsylvania, property tax reform, or health care for seniors. If he has any feelings on environmental initiatives, early intervention, biomedical research funding, the Liquor Control Board system, or business research and development tax credits he is keeping his own counsel.

He does have a dazzling smile.

In fairness, he has shown a great eagerness to make abortion illegal. In an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week With George Stephanopolous,” when Swann was asked by Stephanopolous his feeling on Roe v. Wade, he said, “Well, if the Supreme Court overturned (Roe v. Wade), then they’ve basically said that, you know, you can’t have an abortion.”

When informed by Stephanopolous that a high court vote overturning Roe would leave it up to individual states to determine abortion law, Swann replied: “Well if they send it to the states to decide, as opposed to making a decision that abortions are illegal, then I would sign (legislation) making abortions illegal.”

OH, yes: Mr. Swann has come out against increasing the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.25, for more than 430,000 working families.

By contract, Gov. Ed Rendell is seeking re-election on his first term accomplishments, among them:

1) Making historic investments in education with focus on what works

2) Property tax relief and rent rebate programs for seniors

3) Growing Greener II – a $625 million environmental initiative
4) Continued reduction of business taxes especially the capital stock and franchise tax

5) Expansion of research and development tax credits and net operating loss carry-forward provisions

6) The governor’s $2.3 billion economic development stimulus package

7) Increasing the number of eligible seniors in the state’s prescription drug program PACE

8) Expansion of the children’s health program (CHIP)

9) Saving money for taxpayers by rooting out waste and streamlining government which has reduced state spending by $841 million (projected to over $1 billion by the end of the year) and which has achieved a net reduction in the number of state employees by more than four thousand since the governor took office.

It is true that few of the above-mentioned accomplishments would fit well on a bumper sticker. They are mostly dry and unglamorous. But government is mostly dry and unglamorous. Jesse Ventura discovered that. Arnold Schwarzenegger is discovering that now.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party has now cleared the field for their own gimmick candidate. The Swann campaign is unencumbered by any challengers, any debate, and, practically speaking, any proposals. Their candidate is certainly unencumbered by by experience. But one has to wonder how having no other Republican challengers can ultimately help him when he’s face to face with a political professional of national reputation who has been in high elected office for the better part of the last 30 years.

Lynn Swann has basically skipped training camp, the pre-season, the season, and the first three rounds of the playoffs. Good luck in the Super Bowl, Lynn. Bring your towel.

You can read more here if you're inclined to do so.