In contrast to Maryland Gov. Robert Erhlich, who fired a Catholic political appointee for saying his faith tells him that homosexuality is immoral, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a fellow Republican and candidate for US Senate, says you can’t divorce your faith and values from your public service. Steele was speaking to the Catholic Family Expo in Baltimore, a gathering mainly of Catholic homeschooling families.
“You will find that you cannot divorce your faith from your public service,” Steele said, as the audience, primarily composed of parents who home-school their children, applauded. “There can be no conflict between God’s will and my duty as a public servant.”
Steele, who spent three years in the early 1980s in an Augustinian monastery, has stated publicly that, unlike Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., he opposes abortion and the death penalty. Although he has marched in anti-abortion demonstrations, Steele has not openly lobbied to change the state’s abortion laws while in office.
Steele did break with the church to support legalizing slot machines at Maryland’s racetracks, a key part of the governor’s platform in the 2002 election.
“You can’t please everyone, but you can certainly make them all mad at you at the same time,” Steele said, as the audience chuckled. “As an African-American Catholic Republican, I’m pretty good at ticking everyone off.”
If Steele is true to his word and isn’t merely politicking, he sounds like a top-notch candidate for the Senate. More of what he said at the meeting after the jump…
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Is Steele an electable successor to Alan Keyes?