We believe the choice is clear: Catholics and all Alaskans should vote for Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate.
We have life, marriage and religious liberty at the top of the list, because these issues are foundational. And on life, marriage and religious liberty, Dan Sullivan is immeasurably better than Mark Begich.
Furthermore, a vote for Dan Sullivan is a vote to remove pro-abortion Harry Reid from control of the Senate.
We have also included other areas of concern to Catholic voters, including fiscal responsibility, education and health care. On these issues, we also think Dan Sullivan comes out on top. Unlike abortion which involves an intrinsic evil which can never be justified, Catholics are free to disagree on which approach is best on education, health care and education.
[Click here or the image above to download our printable one-page Candidate Comparison Flyer.]
LIFE
Dan Sullivan is pro-life. His campaign website states that “life begins at conception and we must fight to protect the lives of the unborn.” Source: Sullivan2014.com campaign website.
Mark Begich strongly supports legal abortion. “I am pro choice. Period. No deviation,” said Mark Begich said to mostly college-age women during a Women’s Town Hall on August 11. Source: Anch
orage Press, August 14, 2014.
MARRIAGE:
Dan Sullivan believes that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. Source: Alaska Dispatch News, April 19, 2014.
Mark Begich supports redefining marriage. In his own words: “I believe that same-sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple.”
(The Hill, March 26, 2013)
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY:
The HHS mandate is a policy where the federal government forces employers to pay for abortion pills and other morally objectionable services. The United States Senate on March 1, 2012, rejected the Blunt Amendment which would have restored the religious liberty rights of all Americans who objected to being forced to pay for abortion pills. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of religious liberty in the Hobby Lobby case in June 2014.
Dan Sullivan “praised the efforts of the plaintiffs in the recent Hobby Lobby decision in the Supreme Court.” Source: Breitbart News, August 20, 2014.
Mark Begich voted No on the Blunt Amendment. (Senate Vote #24, March 1, 2012.)
HEALTH CARE:
Dan Sullivan has committed to repealing Obamacare. “As Alaska’s Attorney General, Dan sued to stop ObamaCare. He will continue that fight as your U.S. Senator.” Source: Sullivan2014.com campaign website.
Senator Mark Begich voted Yes on passage of Obamacare on Christmas Eve 2009. According to eHealthInsurance, the average family’s health insurance premium in 2014 costs $663 a month — a 56% increase from last year! (Senate Vote #396, Dec. 24, 2009. Washington Examiner, March 17, 2014.)
EDUCATION:
Dan Sullivan said: “The move toward centralized, federal standards for K-12 education over the last two decades has saddled our local schools with a tremendous administrative burden without improving education for our kids. Common Core doubles down on this strategy by imposing learning goals that are difficult, if not impossible, to meet and gutting humanities education in favor of skill sets that D.C. has decided are important.” (Source: Newsminer.com, August 18, 2014.)
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides low-income students with vouchers so the Alaska-Flyery can escape the failing schools in our nation’s capital. Congressional Democrats and President Obama killed the program. Mark Begich voted to kill the D.C. voucher program. (Senate Vote #56, March 16, 2010)