Santorum's "Ethics Problems": How He Paid For Home & Starbucks

[kpete]

Here are the highlights, as they will appear in the DN version:

1. Santorum and his wife received a $500,000, five-year mortgage for their Leesburg, Va., home (pictured at top) from a small Philadelphia private bank run by a major campaign donor — even though its stated policy is to make loans only to its “affluent” investors, which the senator is not.

Good-government experts said the mortgage from Philadelphia Trust Co. raises serious questions about Santorum’s conduct at a time when he is the Senate GOP’s point man on ethics reform. They explained it would be a violation of the Senate’s current ethics rules if Santorum received something a regular citizen could not get.

2. A political action committee chaired by Santorum, America’s Foundation, spends less money on direct aid to GOP candidates — its stated purpose — and more on expenditures than similar PACs. And its expenditure reports are littered with scores of unorthodox expenses for a political committee, with charges at coffee and ice cream shops and fast-food joints as well as supermarkets and a home-hardware store.

For example, America’s Foundation made some 66 charges at Starbucks Coffee, almost all in the senator’s hometown of Leesburg, and 94 charges at another D.C.-area vendor, HMS Host. Virginia Davis, the campaign spokeswoman, defended all the charges as campaign related, noting that the senator prefers to meet political aides in coffee shops rather than on Senate property.

3. A little publicized charity founded by Santorum in 2001, called the Operation Good Neighbor Foundation, is not registered here in Pennsylvania, even though the majority of its fundraising and spending takes place here. What’s more, three years of public tax returns show the charity spending just 35.9 percent of the nearly $1 million it raised during that time on charity grants, well below the 75 percent threshold recommended by experts.

Those are the highlights -- there's more on the mortgage after the jump. The whole story will be online tomorrow, and I will direct you there as soon as I can.

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002807.html

[MADem]

1. And didn't he rent out his teeny little PA residence, yet bill the town

for internet schooling for his offspring?? What a guy....

[f-bush]

2. He's nothing but a crazed sack of shit...

This is the guy who brought home his wife's micarried fetus for his children to hold and then slept with it! WHAT A SICK FUCK!!!

[bbinacan]

3. WTF?

Are you serious? If so, I hadn't heard about this.

[f-bush]

4. Yes, it's definately true...

they guys a whacko!

[bbinacan]

5. Damn,

that's just disgusting. And weird as hell.

[bbinacan]

6. You're right

I just found a Washington Post article about it. That is just sick and bizarre. Damn.

[f-bush]

9. It sickens me that these are the fuckin' nut cases that are ....

running this country right now and what makes it worse is that nut bag was not only elected but reelected!!!!

[bbinacan]

10. Well take heart in the fact

that Santorum will soon be gone.:woohoo:

[f-bush]

12. Let's hope so!!!

[Bunny]

19. Why yes, yes he did.

He rented his tiny, two-bedroom house to his niece and her husband, if I'm remembering this right. Yet this was his claimed legal PA residence. A tiny, two-bedroom home for him, his wife, and their six kids.

Yeah right, Rick. :eyes:

[kpete]

7. Whole article online now

With A Little Help From His Friends

Exclusive: An investigation into the private and public finances of Rick Santorum suggests that the Senate GOP might want to reconsider making him its ethics

czar.http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11174

[Metta]

8. I think the PA limit on administrative costs is 38% for a charity.

That's one reason his isn't registered here. Thanks for the other stuff. Anything to bring the light of truth to that dark hearted weasel and the public.

[LisaLynne]

11. I was just reading an article in Mother Jones ...

where Rick "I'm obsessed with sex of the homosexual nature" Santorum was attacking the premise of "What's the Matter with Kansas" by saying that those people who vote Repug in Kansas against their economic interests are great because they are voting for something much more important than mere monetary gain! I'm not sure he ever articulated exactly what this glorious "more important" thing is, however. Anyway, it appears as though he is not actually practicing what he preaches!

Wow. I'm so shocked. :sarcasm:

[mom cat]

13. kpete is really one of a set of identical sextuplets.

That is the only explanation I can find for the consistant outpouring of high quality posts that kpete produces all the time. There must be at least 6 kpetes wroking full time!
:yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock:

[kpete]

14. Wow, I guess I rock....

[mom cat]

22. All six of you do!

Now get back to work saving the world! :hug:

[PA Democrat]

15. Great article. The Philadelphia Daily News is also running this story

on their front page.



Santorum's mortgage raises interest

SEN. RICK SANTORUM and his wife received a $500,000, five-year mortgage for their Leesburg, Va., home from a small, private Philadelphia bank run by a major campaign donor - even though its stated policy is to make loans only to its "affluent" investors, which the senator is not.

Good-government experts said the mortgage from The Philadelphia Trust Co. raises serious questions about Santorum's conduct at a time when he is the Senate GOP's point man on ethics reform. They said it would be a violation of the Senate's ethics rules if Santorum received something a regular citizen could not get.

A campaign spokeswoman for Santorum, who is seeking re-election, said the couple's mortgage interest rate was "market-driven," but she refused to offer specifics, as did officials from Philadelphia Trust.

A probe into Santorum's personal and political finances also found:


More at:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/13922215.htm

[JNelson6563]

16. Oh wow!

That is a mighty blast to be so associated with that eternal pariah, "Tricky Dick".

Looks like dark days are ahead for Ricky. :toast:

Julie

[PA Democrat]

17. The American Prospect covers Karen Santorum's "consulting job"

Santorum funnels millions in campaign funds to an ad firm for his reelection bid and that firm conveniently hires Mrs. Santorum to do "consulting" work for them to the tune of $4,000 per month. When asked about her job performance, the ad firm couldn't remember any new business that Karen Santorum brought them.


I read about this several years ago when doing some research on Santorum:

<snip>
"She helped us try to get accounts and often acted as our Washington representative," Brabender said. "She was both a stay-at-home mom and a professional at the same time."

Brabender said his hiring of Karen Santorum had "nothing to do" with Sen. Santorum hiring BrabenderCox.

Karen Santorum is trained both as a lawyer and neonatal nurse. She has also written a book, "Letters to Gabriel," about letters to her son, Gabriel Michael Santorum, who had a fatal birth defect and lived only two hours.

Brabender could not name a client Karen Santorum specifically signed, but said that her job was instead to herd clients Brabender's way. He said she also counseled some clients' wives on becoming productive parts of their husbands' campaigns, including the wife of Illinois Republican state Rep. Al Salvi in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin in 1996. Salvi, now a private attorney in Illinois, did not return a call seeking comment.

http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/ce/Uus-santorum.RDvb_DSA.html

Mrs. Santorum, who home schools all 6 of their children, has authored several books and STILL finds time to act as a "consultant" for the ad firm her husband gave millions of dollars of business. And she seems to have no accountability for job performance. Where can I get a job like that?

[Patiod]

18. Yeah, I thought he was against mothers working...

But I guess if they're not really working ourside the family's Virgina home, just acting as a conduit for kick-backs, that's okay!

[PA Democrat]

20. Well, we certainly can't expect Ricky to live by the same rules that he

wants to set for the REST of America!

Santorum tries to place a cap of $250,000 on medical malpractice lawsuits, but when his wife was injured by a chiropractor, they sued for $500,000.

http://www.valleyskeptic.com/chirosuit.html

He criticized a political opponent for not residing in Pennsylvania, but Santorum moved HIS family out of the state after being elected.

He is "pro-life" but until recently, was a staunch supporter of the death penalty.

He used Pell Grants to put himself through school but votes to cut funding for today's students.

[Patiod]

21. I'm hoping that Republicans in may part of the state

will be too embarrassed to come out and vote for him this fall. Even my most rabid traditional Republican friends try to change the subject when his name comes up.

Unfortunately, those from the west might be coming out to pull the level for their football hero (the one that doesn't actually vote himself) Lynn Swann, and might sneak the Santorum lever down while they're in the darkness of the voting booth.