Sen. Casey Speaks About Gov. Casey

Democratic US Senator Bob Casey says his party has become more receptive to anti-abortion candidates since his father, Governor Robert Casey, was in office. Casey made his comments last week as part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s ongoing series about former governors. Governor Casey stepped into the national lime light by not being allowed to address the National Democratic Convention in 1992 because of his prolife view. Sen. Casey spoke about his father’s book “Fighting for Life.” In the memoir, Governor Casey makes the case Democrats should be more receptive to anti-abortion candidates. Sen. Casey, who also opposes abortion rights, says things have changed over the past 14 years. “In terms of the Democratic Party nationally, my election, and others, but my election was evidence that they weren’t going to use a litmus test on abortion to prevent you – on being pro-life – from running for the US Senate. So I think there was substantial progress made on that.” Casey spoke at length about his dad’s early career, saying he reinvented the office of Auditor General, hiring certified public accountants and making reports public for the first time. “School district audits – the results of a school district audit – in the newspaper for the first time. Maybe in state history at that time. The results of state programs, in the newspaper for the first time. It created a structure of accountability that had never been there before,” says Casey. Casey also praised a bill his father sponsored as a state senator. The measure required hospitals to test newborns for a condition that can lead to mental retardation, if not properly treated. “It was both a simple test, and the test was inexpensive to administer. So they passed a law. And he said that simple test, and the law that undergirded that simple test, saved lots of children from that fate.”