Ed Franz, a Republican challenger for the U.S. Congressional seat in the 3rd PA district, is being heavily backed by Grove City College and Lee Wishing, specifically.

Politics truly makes for strange bedfellows. Mr. Wishing, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is the director of a conservative think tank at Grove City College.

Mr Franz is a strange choice for conservative backing. In Mr. Wishing's words--Mr. Franz being strangely devoid of his own words thus far--the candidate is "a blue collar union member who is pro-business." These terms are mutually exclusive; unions always drive up the cost of doing business.True conservatives don't join unions, and Mr. Franz's union membership and sympathies are ominous signs that he would

side with the unsustainable benefits and pensions of the public unions that are so devastating to the economy.

Of course, Mr. Franz via Mr. Wishing is claiming to be "pro-business." This ostensibly includes cheering on the hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate welfare that GE has received in the form of grants from state and federal governments. Again, not an economically conservative position.

In short, Mr. Franz's union drives up GE's costs, then GE comes running to state and federal governments for "free" taxpayer money to expand business. This is, of course, not the free enterprise stance normally embraced by the polemics coming out of Grove City College.

To sum up: Ed Franz is not an economic conservative. It takes more than just calling yourself a Christian and a gun owner to win an election.