Rick Santorum on KDKA

I just heard Senator Rick Santorum interviewed on Fred Honsberger's radio show on KDKA. He did the ususal song and dance around his book. What was the name of his book again? I forget.

There were a few choice nuggets in the rather short (20 minutes or so) interview.

When a caller named Brian stated that he would not be voting for Senator Santorum because of the Senator's "negative attitude" to the gay community, the Senator answered with "I don't have a negative attitude to the gay community. I stand for traditional values."

He went on to say that he feels that the best situation for a child is to be raised in a family with both a mother and a father. He was careful to add, however, that he was not saying that a "single parent" or a non-traditional family is necessarily bad - many of them are good.

He said that society should be favoring what is best, not what's "just OK." And what's best is a two parent family with a mother and a father.

On the Patriot Act, he said he was generally for the extension of the act, but would be concerned if he learned that there were abuses. So far he's heard of no abuses of the USAPatriot Act.

Is is in favor of "sunsetting" it - that it should probably not be extended permanently.

Finally, the interview touched on the Penn Hills School District.

Senator Santorum stated on the air that the Penn Hills School District voted to change its policy this week and he mentioned two different aspects. 1) He said they'd declared him a resident of Penn Hills and 2) He said that the new policy stated that an elected official didn't have to be a resident of Penn Hills in order for his children to be in the school district.

Here's how the Tribune Review puts it:

Although still trying to recoup cyber school tuition for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's children, the Penn Hills school board has changed its rules to allow payment for the online schooling of other families who sometimes live outside of the district.

Federal elected officials, military personnel and humanitarian and emergency workers called to work temporarily out of the state will be exempted from residency requirements.

The resolution, passed 6-2 Tuesday night, will allow the district to pay the cyber charter tuition bills for the children of workers in "unique circumstances" called to "service to country or those in need," even if it means they must live out of state.

And here's how the Post-Gazette describes it:

Saying the guidelines will help administrators decide who is eligible for district-funded cyber-charter education, the board this week set three instances when a family living temporarily outside the district can expect the district to pick up the cost.

The policy says that assignment outside Pennsylvania due to service in the Armed Forces, service due to election or appointment to a federal government position or involuntary assignment to humanitarian or emergency relief efforts would make children eligible. The family must intend to return to Penn Hills when the service concludes.

Board Members Erin Vecchio and Jennifer Lundy voted against the policy change. The P-G continues:

Lundy said she didn't believe the guidelines were comprehensive. Vecchio objected to no time limits being set for service.

I haven't been able to find the exact policy to post here (sorry- if anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be grand!).

AND I haven't been able to validate whether the board did declare Santorum a resident of Penn Hills as he said on the air.

As soon as I hear something I'll post it here.