By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Rick Santorum was in Alabama on Thursday speaking to supporters of the Alabama Policy Institute (API) at the conservative non-profit’s annual winter meeting.
The conservative Republican is a former Senator from the state of Pennsylvania and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in the 2012 Primary season.
Sen. Santorum told the reportedly nearly 1000 gathered API Supporters “We need you to stand up, take responsibility and fight for our beliefs. Make a difference.”
Senator Santorum spoke with members of the Alabama press, including ‘The Alabama Political Reporter’ before the event. Santorum said, “I am here to help the Alabama Policy Institute…..one of several state organizations that are doing yeoman’s work.”
Santorum said that he is encouraging states to stand up against the Obama administration for its non-federalism policies. Santorum said that Obama has imported an un-American philosophy of big government socialism from Europe.
Santorum narrowly won the state of Alabama’s Republican Primary in March. Of the victory Santorum said, “I think Alabama got it right.” Alabama and Mississippi were two of the eleven state primaries and caucuses that Santorum won during the Republican primary season. Santorum said that he was appreciative of all the support that he had received from the people of Alabama.
Sen. Santorum said that during the primary season his campaign raised issues like the defense of marriage, developing American manufacturing, and post-secondary job training that appealed to the American working class people, but that the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, ignored or distanced himself from those issues in the general election.
‘The Alabama Political Reporter’ asked Santorum for his response to Republicans who say that the party should emphasize fiscal conservatism and move the party away from social issues like opposing abortion and gay marriage. Sen. Santorum said that that claim was made against him in the primary season and the party ultimately chose a nominee (Mitt Romney) who distanced himself from those issues and tried to make the whole election into a very narrow election about the economy. Santorum said that the whole Republican ticket tried to make the 2012 election into a referendum on economic issues and for the second presidential election in a row the party lost.
Santorum said that Republicans need to articulate a vision for America and they can’t focus on tax rates and fiscal policy alone, because people care about more than just their jobs and their economy.
On the approaching fiscal cliff, Sen. Santorum said that President Obama needed to embrace a position that was best for America and the American economy and not base his position on ideology.
‘The Alabama Political Reporter’ asked API President Gary Palmer if the state of Alabama was going to spend the raided trust fund money on employee raises, pension benefit increases, and staff increases and the state find itself back in the same budgetary situation that the 2012 legislature found in just three years. President Palmer said that he was talking to legislators who did not want to spend all of that $150 million a year, that did want to reform Alabama government, and there was a possibility that with reforms and a growing economy that state revenues could be up in three years.
Sen. Santorum declined to formally announce his candidacy for the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States saying that he did not want to set any record for running the longest campaign ever. President Palmer did say that Santorum would be a formidable candidate if he chose to run again.
The API annual dinner was at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center near the Jefferson and Shelby County line just off of Highway 280 on the old HealthSouth Campus. API is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization that promotes conservative principles including: free markets, fiscal conservatism, traditional families, and limited government. API does not promote or endorse individual candidates for public office.
For more information about API visit their website:
