I am writing to urge readers not to support Arlen Specter in his current run for re-election to the US Senate.
Many Pennsylvanians see Specter as a moderate; for some of us Democrats, splitting our ticket to vote for Specter has been a longtime habit. Some of us remember his opposition to the nomination of Robert Bork to the US Supreme Court, but that was way back in 1987. In the 17 years since then, Specter has moved far to the right. Here are three of Specter’s most outrageous recent votes:
·Supported the nomination of former mining lobbyist and anti-environmental extremist William Myers to the 9th Circuit Court.
·Supported the nomination of anti-choice extremist James Leon Holmes to the US District Court of the Eastern District of Arkansas.
·Supported the cloture motion to attempt to bring the Federal Marriage Amendment to a vote in the Senate, voting along with antigay extremists like Sens. Rick Santorum and Bill Frist.
In the past, Specter would take conservative positions during the primary in order to fire up the Republican base, and then move to the center in order to gain the votes of moderate Democrats. This year, he’s not even bothering to pretend to be a moderate. Pennsylvania already has one antigay extremist US senator in Santorum, and we don’t need two, especially with at least three Supreme Court justices likely to retire after 2004.
Fortunately, the Democrats are running a strong candidate in Joe Hoeffel, currently the US congressman representing the 13th District. Hoeffel supports the LGBT community, is firmly pro-choice and has a fine record on the environment and other progressive issues.
Hoeffel has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign. He has supported our community and deserves our support in November.
D. Reppert