Tallman tells annual Conservative Christian Center Brkfst, Megan King and Christylee Peck best represent conservative, pro-life, rule of law judicial philosophy
Former Statesman of the Year, retired State Representative Will Tallman, spoke at the annual Statesman of the Year and Candidate Forum Breakfast of the Conservative Christian Center to urge value voters in York County to turn out to vote for State Superior Judge candidates Megan King and Christylee Peck at the Country Club of York this past Saturday, October 19. Tallman was also on hand to help present the 2019 Statesman of the Year Award of author Michael Anthony.
Speaking to an audience which included more than half a dozen Democrat candidates – who as always are invited to address the group with Republican candidates, Tallman emphasized the importance of the rule of law instead of liberal Democrat legislating from the bench and the importance of the right to life views of the two Republican candidates for Pennsylvania’s second highest court.
Both candidates earned a “C” rating by their answers to the CCC Value Voter guide, earning them very few votes from value voters who preferred primary candidate Rebecca Warren with her straight “A” rating from the conservative group.
“The primary is over and the choice in the general election is clear – we have to unite or else we will regret it for years to come” Tallman told the group.
Delivering the strongest remarks of any breakfast speaker for the Republican ticket, Tallman, who is also the GOP county chairman in neighboring Adams County, said his party represents freedom and the rule of law and strongly urged conservative value voters to get out and vote this Tuesday for King and Peck because they come closest to their views in this election.
A spokesman for Conservative Christian Center reminds readers that the organization does not endorse or support candidates for office but seeks to increase the number of conservative-minded, church-going value voters who cast their ballots in elections. This number has been declining for the past ten years according to the Pew Research Foundation, which notes that there is a corresponding increase in the vote by atheists, agnostics and Muslims.
The CCC spokesman also reminded voters that the “C” rating earned by the candidates from their answers to the questions, only tells part of the story. The lowest score any candidate can earn is a “C” rating (“D” is reserved for those who do not respond at all).
“Megan King and Christylee Peck both chose Ronald Reagan as their favorite President and chose conservative favorite Antonin Scalia as their favorite Supreme Court Justice. It might not be a lot to go on but these two choices show a clear difference in philosophy between the Republican and the Democrat on the ballot and we hope people who make use of our ‘Value Voter Guide’ will see that.
A spokesman for one of the GOP candidates told the Candidate Forum for the May, 2019 primary, that they had not answered most of the survey questions because they considered it unethical to do so.
Ironically, the Supreme Court Justice both of them selected as their favorite in the few survey questions they did answer, the late Antonin Scalia, wrote the Supreme Court opinion striking down a Minnesota state law which prohibited candidates from answering such questionnaires as sent to the Judicial Candidates. The lawsuit was brought by the Minnesota Republican Party, which asked the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional, the law limiting free speech of judicial candidates. The 5-4 majority opinion in the 2001 court case (Republican Party of Minnesota vs. White) was written by Scalia.
A later case here in Pennsylvania affirmed that Supreme Court outcome for the Commonwealth State. It was the predecessor organization to the Conservative Christian Center (York County Action’s sister organization in neighboring Lancaster) together with the Pennylsvania Institute, which brought the successful lawsuit in the Eastern District (federal) of Pennsylvania with the ruling on May 14, 2007. Again, the lawsuit sought to prevent enforcement of any so-called “ethics” rules which prohibit candidates from answering the survey questions sent to them by both organizations in elections.
To this day, some candidates running for judicial office – and one candidate running for a non-judicial office here in York County – continue to cite the struck down ethics rule as their reason for not wanting to answer survey questions.
Conservative Christian Center believes candidates who answer such questions stand a better chance of winning elections in Pennsylvania and most parts of the United States. “People don’t just vote for your resume – they vote for the candidate who best represents their philosophy and thinking” said a CCC spokesman.
In any event, former State Representative Will Tallman is undeterred by the failure of some Republican candidates to answer many of the questions in such surveys, pointing to what he says is a very clear contrast in judicial philosophy in this year’s elections for Superior Court Judge and urging value voters to turn out in force to defend their views at the ballot box on Tuesday.
Megan King and Christylee Peck broke ranks with one another on one of the CCC Voter Guide questions. Megan King marked “disagree” to question #4, “President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 ‘Separation of Church and State’ speech said that political leaders should be silent about their faith. Agree or disagree?” Christylee Peck, a frequent reader of this e-newsletter, marked “disagree,” while her Republican running mate along with the two Democrat candidates, left that answer blank. Democrat candidate Dan McCaffrey earned a “C” rating while Amanda Green-Hawkins earned a “D” score by not answering any questions at all (note: some of our information is based upon the answers given to the Pennsylvania Family Instutute’s similar questionnaire, which does not cover judicial candidates in York).
There are five candidates in this general election edition of the CCC Value Voter Guide with a good score of “A” or “B.” They are: Matthew D. Menges (A), Julie Wheeler (A), Shane Becker (A), Rich Keeuleber (B) and Ron Smith (B).
The Value Voter Guide has its highest circulation in history this year with placement in this past Friday’s York Daily Record and York Dispatch and the mailing of the brochure to GOP frequent primary voters (most likely to vote this Tuesday), supplementing the usual distribution by e-newsletter, social media, at some churches and some polling places. In those instances where candidates have similar grades, CCC strongly recommends that voters carefully read the answers to the questions to see which candidates comes closest to their own views.
For example, 7 of the 21 candidates name Ronald Reagan as their favorite President, with one naming Barack Obama. John F. Kennedy was named as a favorite President by 4 candidates.
Of much stronger interest to our readers and supporters are questions such as “Do you support the existing law: to deport aliens who commit a felony?”