Flynn says he's the real conservative

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By DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star

Underdog Pat Flynn is making the case he’s the reliable Republican conservative in Tuesday’s Senate primary election.

“Career politicians” have demonstrated they aren’t dependable once they reach Washington, the Schuyler financial adviser says.

Flynn says he has been “appalled” by Republican governance during the Bush administration. The GOP controlled both houses of Congress for the first six years of that period.

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Republican senate hopefuls Pat Flynn, front, and Mike Johanns debate Aug. 28 in Lincoln. (AP file)

Republican senate hopefuls Pat Flynn, front, and Mike Johanns debate Aug. 28 in Lincoln. (AP file)

But there was “a total void of leadership,” he says, and virtually no fiscal discipline.

Now, he argues, Republican voters can “settle for the status quo or choose a generational shift of leadership.”

Flynn, 49, is opposing Mike Johanns, former governor and recently U.S. secretary of agriculture, in the GOP primary contest.

“Value Number One for me is faith,” Flynn says. He is staunchly pro-life and shares Nebraska Right to Life’s endorsement with Johanns.

Policy changes in Washington, including genuine fiscal discipline, require “something different,” Flynn says. Namely, a Republican conservative who is more conservative than Republican, he says.

Flynn supports lower taxes and less government regulation.

As a senator, he says, he’d oppose a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq and require illegal immigrants to go home.

“We have to stay there, even though it’s not a pretty thing,” he said when quizzed about Iraq at a League of Women Voters forum.

“Maintain our resolve and stay and finish the job of stabilizing Iraq,” Flynn says.

On illegal immigration, he says there should be no amnesty.

Flynn supports immigration reform that would “help employers become accountable” in identifying, and then denying work to, illegal immigrants.

“I believe in sending them back one by one, two by two,” he says. “We need to enforce the law.  If we do something illegal, we’re held accountable.”

Flynn says he has been accountable in his own life by taking responsibility for alcohol and marijuana abuse when he was in his 20s and successfully completing a recovery program “by the grace of God.”

Flynn supports health care reform that allows employers to offer multiple private plans and benefit structures that are portable for employees, all tied to tax deductions and credits for private purchase of health insurance.

On the energy front, he favors increased domestic energy exploration, including expanded drilling for oil.

Flynn has argued that he, not Johanns, was willing to stand up and challenge Sen. Chuck Hagel in the Republican primary if the senator had decided to seek re-election.

Now, he says, the national Republican Party is trying to tell Nebraska Republicans whom to vote for next week with its obvious support for Johanns.

“We make that decision ourselves,” Flynn says.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.