Lobbyist money...he's No. 1, he's No. 1! [Santorum]

[rodeodance]

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/003419.html

Lobbyist money...he's No. 1, he's No. 1!
..........

Among current members of the U.S. Senate, guess who's No. 1.

That's right, the man who helped found the very K Street Project and then tried to deny its existence, our own junior senator from right here in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. Looking at those four election cycles from 1998 through 2004, Public Citizen found that the Pa. Republican had raked in $1,163,560 from registered lobbyists -- $838,133 from individuals, and $325,427 from their political action committees.

.......The one current member of Congress who's taken in more lobbyist cash won't be around for much longer. That would be former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who raised $1,322,906, but is resigning early next month to deal with his criminal indictment in his home state of Texas and is also under investigation for his ties to a disgraced lobbyist (what a coincidence), admitted felon Jack Abramoff.



..........
So, no wonder Santorum is so busy trying to change the subject, accusing Democrat Bob Casey's campaign -- without any apparent evidence -- of peeping into the house that he claims as his voting residence in Penn Hills, Pa. (The suggestion that the house is empty came from a local newspaper reporter). There's nothing inherently illegal or improper about taking money from lobbyists, but with voters on the warpath about ethics in Washington (and in Harrisburg), this doesn't look good, either. This report doesn't even look at lobbyist donations to Santorum's "leadership PAC," America's Foundation, which paid for all those trips to Starbucks.

Now, voters, reporters -- and maybe the Casey campaign itself -- should start asking more questions about just what Santorum might have done in return for all that dough.

[bumblebee1]

1. Well gee whiz,

Sanscrotum wants to no 1 at something.