PHOENIX, Arizona—Sen. Rick Santorum took credit for helping bring about the 1994 Republican sweep in two speeches here today, but while running for Senate that year, he backed away from the GOP's "Contract with America."
"There were a lot of reasons for the victory of 1994 — one of the principal reasons was that we exposed broad corruption in congress after 40 years of Democratic control," Santorum said. We had the courage to stand up inside the institutions and make the changes that were necessary. That is what we need again in Washington, D.C."
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette's account of a debate between Santorum and his Democratic opponent in 1994, Santorum said he hadn't even read the Newt Gingrich-crafted document credited with unifying Republicans at all levels.
“Wofford tried to splat Santorum with the Republicans’ ‘Contract With America’ … But Santorum was ready and tried to slip Wofford's attack. ‘I'm not running for re-election, Senator. I didn't sign it. I'm not running for the House of Representatives. I haven't read it. I can't say if I support it … I signed nothing. I don't know what's in it,’ Santorum said.”
The Allentown Morning Call collected another quote from Santorum at the time, criticizing President Ronald Reagan for not cutting spending enough.
Reagan "didn't try to cut out the kind of spending increases that were pushed through by the Congress. He was absolutely wrong on that," Santorum said.