CREW Profiles Santorum

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See: Legislative Assistance in Exchange for Campaign Donations

http://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/santorum.php

http://www.beyonddelay.org/files/Santorum_0.pdf

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Sen. Rick Santorum is a second-term Senator from Pennsylvania. Sen.

Santorum’s ethics issues stem from the manner in which he funded his

children’s education and his misuse of his legislative position in

exchange for contributions to his political action committee and his

re-election campaign.

School Funding

Sen. Santorum lives with his wife and children in Leesburg, Virginia

spending, according to the Senator, “maybe a month a year, something

like that” in a home he owns in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, but from 2001

to 2005, five of Sen. Santorum’s six children attended a Pennsylvania

cyber charter school in Penn Hills, PA, at an estimated cost to local

taxpayers of $72,000. In December 2004, the superintendent of the

school district sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of

Education questioning why the school district had to pay for Sen.

Santorum’s children’s education. Although the Penn Hills school

district initially lost its bid to recover tuition, the Pennsylvania

Department of Education agreed to settle the matter in September 2006,

by offering the district $55,000.

The fact that Sen. Santorum ignored the Penn Hills school district’s

residency requirements and enrolled his children in a cyber school in

Pennsylvania at a time when the children clearly resided in Virginia --

at significant cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers -- demonstrates a level

of dishonesty that brings the reputation and integrity of the Senate

into question. As a result, the Select Committee on Ethics should

investigate this matter.

Legislative Assistance in Exchange for Campaign Donations

Sen. Santorum has introduced legislation on behalf of AccuWeather,

Inc., a weather data provider located in State College, cast a crucial

vote against legislation that would have allowed the Food and Drug

Administration to regulate the tobacco industry, introduced legislation

to halve the excise tax large brewers have to pay on beer, pushed to

get Medicare reimbursement for Puerto Rico, and supported an earmark

for construction of a fuel plant, all in apparent exchange for campaign

contributions. Such conduct may violate federal prohibitions on

bribery, honest services fraud and accepting illegal gratuities, in

addition to Senate rules.

Improper Loan

In 2002, Sen. Santorum and his wife received a $500,000 five-year

mortgage for their Leesburg, Virginia home from a small, private

Philadelphia bank, The Philadelphia Trust Company, that makes loans

only to the bank’s own affluent investors. Sen. Santorum’s taking the

loan violates Senate gift rules, which prohibit Senate employees from

accepting loans not available to the general public.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT ON SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R-PA) >>

http://www.beyonddelay.org/files/Santorum_0.pdf

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