They were coming to hear the man they hope will be the next governor of Pennsylvania: Lynn Swann.


Lancaster County ACTION members like vice president Radanovic could be excused for thinking, “Told you so.”


ACTION, the Christian-conservative political action committee, was among the earliest supporters of Swann as the Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.


Swann returned the favor Friday night by keynoting the ACTION banquet at the Eden, taking a few shots at Rendell and, Republicans agreed, fleshing out his admittedly meager campaign platform with meatier fare.


“I think Lynn Swann is Ed Rendell’s worst nightmare,” Congressman Joe Pitts, another early Swann supporter, told the sellout crowd of 352.


Now the Republican Party as a whole is on the Swann bandwagon. But it wasn’t always that way.


Just a few months ago, it appeared the state GOP establishment was behind Swann’s major rival, Bill Scranton III.


In a stunning comeback, Swann’s campaign surged, Scranton dropped out, and Swann got the unanimous endorsement of the Republican State Committee in the May 16 primary.


Polls are showing him deadlocked with Rendell.


For the second statewide election cycle in a row, ACTION is primed to play a critical role.


“He’s a successful person, and he has the right life set of values,” ACTION President Bob Kettering said after the banquet.


“That’s what we were looking for.”




Values questions




ACTION members, and other social conservatives in Lancaster County, have been talking up Swann ever since he first began thinking about running.


Pitts, the 10-term congressman, got on board early, and that helped to sway the county’s influential conservatives. For many of them, the critical question that unknown-quantity Swann had to answer was: Pro-life or pro-choice? Once the Hall of Fame wide receiver and broadcaster made it known that he’s pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, the conservatives were in.


Friday, the audience included not only ACTION members and friends but most of the county GOP leadership, including Senate Majority Leader David “Chip” Brightbill.


The crowd of 352 was one of ACTION’s largest, Radanovic said.


They welcomed Swann with a cheering, standing ovation.


“I thought I was at the Super Bowl again,” Swann deadpanned.


He remembered that he’d been to Lancaster long before the GOP flocked to his side: “People were talking about the fact that this inexperienced, neophyte Lynn Swann” wanted to be governor.


“I don’t know what was more difficult,” he said — his winning the unanimous endorsement of the RSC or his old team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning the Super Bowl in another stunning upset at nearly the same time.


Republicans at the banquet said they were pleased that Swann used this speech to talk about solutions to issues. He has been criticized for failing to address specifics on policy questions.


Swann said he advocates lowering the corporate income tax to about 5.9 percent from the current 9.9 percent, over five years, and eliminating the capital stock and franchise tax.


He also called for lowering property taxes, pointing out tartly that Rendell promised to do something about that. “Please raise your hand if your property taxes have been reduced,” he told the crowd.


Instead, Swann said, Rendell gave the state slots and Act 72, the plan to distribute slots revenue in the form of property tax rebates.


School districts around the state rejected Act 72: “Folks, that’s not leadership.”




Faith answers




The real crowd pleaser, though, came when Swann talked about his upbringing in the Baptist church.


His parents raised him in church, both in Tennessee and California. Now, Swann said, he belongs to a Baptist church in Pittsburgh.


A governor has to represent 12 million people, he said, and respect the beliefs of all. But his character, he added, was shaped by faith.


“My moral compass, my integrity and my character, is based on Christian values because that’s the way I was raised,” he said.


“If I never spent another Sunday in church, if I didn’t read another verse of the Bible,” that moral compass would remain the same.


Due in Millersville for a 7:45 p.m. speech to the state College Republicans’ convention, Swann slipped through a pack of reporters as adroitly as he used to slip tackles on the way to the end zone.


Before he left the dais, though, ACTION members came forward to commission Swann in prayer.


Radanovic said ACTION saw Swann coming early and was impressed: “He’s the complete package.”


“I think he’s going to do so much for the party,” Kettering said, particularly in attracting African-American votes in urban areas, such as Philadelphia.


ACTION supporters were key players in the 2004 U.S. Senate primary in which their candidate, Pat Toomey, nearly knocked off U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. They want to play the same role in Swann’s campaign.


“It’s good to get behind good candidates early,” Radanovic said. blog comments powered by Disqus