2012 PA Senatorial Conservative Ranking

Presented by the Pittsburgh 9.12 Project April 9, 2012

Questionnaires were sent out to all the candidates running for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate in the April 24, 2012 Primary. This report provides an assessment of their responses.

THE PITTSBURGH 9.12 PROJECT 2012 Senatorial Conservative Ranking

We sent questionnaires to each of the candidates running for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming primary on April 24th. Five of the seven candidates (listed alphabetically) responded in time to be included in our 2012 Senatorial Voters Guide. 2012 Senatorial Candidates Sam Rohrer (R) Marc Scaringi (R) Tom Smith (R) Joe Vodvarka (D) Steve Welch (R) *David Christian (R)
*Returned his questionnaire but too late to be included in our Conservative Ranking.

**Bob Casey (D)

**Did not respond

Prior to our last meeting on April 1st and based on these questionnaires, Bill Been ranked the five candidates from most conservative to progressive, and today we are sharing his summary with you. In addition to some information about Bill Been and how the ranking was done, we are also providing links to the candidates' questionnaires, websites, and videos, including videos from our own April 1st meeting. At the end of the summary, weve added links to the websites and videos of the other U.S. Congressional and PA State Congressional and Senatorial candidates who attended our event: Kathy Coder, Evan Feinberg, Hans Lessman, Sue Means and Keith Rothfus. We encourage you to take the time to learn about your choices before the April 24th Pennsylvania Primary.

Bill Been
Since our focus this year is on Progressivism - its history and the extent of its infiltration of and damage to our country and our culture - we enlisted Bill Been to draft our questionnaire for the candidates to complete. He is the noted author of the book Masters of Audacity & Deceit and most recently the booklet, Presidential Election Restoring and Preserving America. Bill has been on a mission to point out and rid our government of Progressives and as a result we consider Bill our unofficial expert on Progressivism. Bill is a strong supporter of the Pittsburgh 9.12 Project and has done presentations for our group in the past. He has appeared as a contributor in our newsletter Brush Fires providing information on this ideology. You can find a multitude of his articles on this subject on his website. The Conservative Ranking Report This report is not an endorsement of any of these candidates but rather a look at them through only one of many perspectives, the lens of Progressivism. If we looked at these candidates through the lens of business experience, governmental experience or endorsements, we would end up with different results. As you will see, there are little but subtle differences between the top three. After the questionnaires were completed, we removed the names and all answers that would have identified the candidates before giving them to Bill. Bill was then able to assess these candidates objectively and without prejudice. We worked very hard on our voters guide, our Meet & Greet on April 1st, and this report to provide objective information on all the candidates. Having said that, we will call out anyone whom we believe is part of the Progressive agenda. We have determined that Senator Bob Casey is a Progressive and Bill addresses this as well. Without further ado, here is Bills Ranking Assessment. Candidates are listed from #1 to #5. As we said at our meeting this past Sundayany one of these candidates will be a WONDERFUL replacement for Bob Casey. Enjoy!

MARC SCARINGI (R) Campaign Website Meet & Greet Video 9.12s Voters Guide with detailed information about Marc

Candidate Most Conservative : Marc Scaringi (R) - #1 Bill Been: This candidate had a perfect conservative rating consistent with that which one might expect from a Constitutionalist or Libertarian. The answers were direct and his arguments were convincing and well-constructed. This candidate would definitely be an anti-Progressivism voice working to defeat any further encroachment upon the Constitution and to stop any further intrusion into the lives of American citizens.

SAM ROHRER (R) Campaign Website 9.12s Voters Guide with detailed information about Sam

Candidate With Second Most Conservative Answers: Sam Rohrer (R) - #2 Bill Been: Candidate With Second Most Conservative Answers: The differences between this candidate and the Most Conservative are very small. Like the Most Conservative, he shows a strong respect for the Constitution and has no indication of Progressive tendencies in his answers. Answers were direct and supported with good narrative. Answers did not reflect the strict interpretation of the Most Conservative but this is emphasis more than substance.

TOM SMITH (R) Campaign Website Meet & Greet Video 9.12s Voters Guide with detailed information about Tom Candidate With Third Most Conservative Answers: Tom Smith (R) - #3 Bill Been: The differences between this candidate and the top two rated candidates are again relatively small. This candidate answered the questions directly and with well-structured responses. The primary difference involves his responses related to international considerations while being equally conservative as related to domestic issues. However, it should be noted that his international responses would not differ significantly from what one would expect from GOP leadership and would certainly have been more conservative than the approach of the Bush Administration.

JOE VODVARKA (D) Campaign Website Meet & Greet Video 9.12s Voters Guide with detailed information about Joe

Candidate With Fourth Most Conservative Answers: Joe Vodvarka (D) - #4 Bill Been: Although meeting the minimum requirement to Lean Conservative, this candidate provided several answers that could have been provided by a Progressive. Several answers were indirect introducing related elements that gave a glimpse of what he believed. Certainly more conservative than the candidate with Progressive tendencies but lacking conviction in responses to the questions involving domestic issues. In contrast to the 3rd ranked candidate, this candidate showed strict conservative principles in foreign relations oriented questions.

STEVE WELCH (R) Campaign Website Meet & Greet Video 9.12s Voters Guide with detailed information about Steve Candidate With Fifth Most Conservative Answers: Steve Welch (R) - #5 Bill Been: This candidate showed definite Progressive tendencies by indicating support for a number of the federal programs that have depleted the national Treasury. Answers were rarely direct leaving the reader with the sense that future direction would follow rather than lead. In most answers, the response indicated a continuation of federal intervention where the strict Conservative said Absolutely Not. The Progressivism shows through in his answers to a degree that is of definite concern!

BOB CASEY

Mr. Casey did not respond to our questionnaire or invitation to our Meet & Greet.

Conservative Rating for Mr. Casey

WARNING!! MR. CASEY IS A PROGRESSIVE Bill Been: Bob Casey ignored the questionnaire and no response was received. However, there are several significant actions that cast Senator Casey as the very worst of the Progressives holding a seat in our federal government. They are as follows:

On January 22, 2011 weekend, Bob Casey was a featured speaker at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit meetings held in Pittsburgh, PA at the Pittsburgh Sheraton Station Square. It was reported that over 500 liberal and progressive leaders were in attendance.

Senator Casey has chosen to cast himself as a part of the Obama group rather than a part of the people of Pennsylvania. In his Washington DC senatorial office, Senator Casey displays a large picture of himself directly underneath a sign stating Obamas People. As the Progressives For Obama stated in 2008, we are supporting Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton because Barack Obama is a better Progressive than Hillary.

The Heritage Action Score Card through August 23, 2011 gives the conservative tendencies displayed by Senator Casey through his voting record. His rating is an absolute Zero along with 24 other Democrat Senators. This puts him in the same league as Chris Coons, Chuck Schumer, Tom Udall and Bernie Sanders. Both Sanders and Udall are either current or past Progressive Caucus members and Chris Coons proudly declares himself to be a Progressive on his website.

To further illustrate the degree to which Senator Casey subscribes to the Progressive agenda is that fact that not a single member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus had a voting record rated at Zero. Casey is, in fact, nothing but a solid vote for the Obama Administration agenda!!!

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Our thanks to Bill Been for his continued support and supply of investigative and insightful information!

Again, the difference between some of these candidates was small and this is only one type of information on these candidates. Be sure to read our Voters Guide and watch other videos of the candidates. Links are provided in our guide. We hope that this information helps you in making your choice on April 24th for the best candidate to unseat Bob Casey. Please be sure to pass this information along to friends and family. If you want to read or re-read the candidates questionnaires, you can find them in our 2012 Senatorial Voters Guide. We have been getting raves about this guide. One of the candidates at our event told us that his information was 100% correct which was unusual and commendable. So please take the time to see the extensive information on these candidates.

We had other Federal and Local State candidates speak at our event. Click on their name to see their video.

Evan Feinberg U.S. Congressional Candidate 18th District Candidate Website

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Hans Lessman U.S. Congressional Candidate 14th District Candidate Website

Sue Means PA State Senate Candidate 37th District Candidate Website

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Keith Rothfus U.S. Congressional Candidate 12th District Candidate Website

Kathy Coder PA State Congressional Candidate 16th District Candidate Website Representative for D. Raja who was unable to attend Candidate Website

WE THANK ALL THE CANDIDATES WHO MADE THE EFFORT TO ATTEND! SOME OF THEM DROVE LONG DISTANCES TO BE WITH US. WE WISH THEM ALL THE BEST OF LUCK WITH THEIR CAMPAIGNS. BE SURE TO LOOK AT OUR VOTERS GUIDE TO HELP YOU MAKE YOUR VOTING DECISION!

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