Posted on 01/04/2012 2:55:31 PM PST by Fred
Rick Santorum's powerful finish in the Iowa caucus is bringing fresh attention to his tenure in Congress, including ethics questions that dogged him about a preferred mortgage he received from a bank run by campaign donors, and federal funds that went to a real estate developer who backed his charity.
One of the top donors to Santorum's charity was also the beneficiary of an $8 million Santorum-sponsored federal earmark, according to published reports. Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who filed an ethics complaint against Santorum in 2006 on behalf of a watchdog group, said her organization's website received a tidal wave of visitors in the past 24 hours, and in an interview she said she believes people will discover that the GOP presidential contender is "hardly the moral paragon he purports to be."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
And nobody else takes earmarks? Santorum was not an outstanding pork gobbler in the Senate, and he is one of the few out there at the moment with real moral principles.
This is just an attack on the last remaining social conservative.
This is a non-story, but the attack machine will hype it up...
The following comes from the attack website...
http://santorumexposed.com/?p=498
The chairman of Operation Good Neighbor was Michael O’Neill, CEO of Preferred Real Estate. The company was involved in a waterfront development in Chester, Pa., that, with Santorum’s help, benefitted from more than $8 million in federal grants, according to local reports.
O’Neill told ABC News that accusations suggesting the charity work and his development were connected were “crazy.”
“My answer is absolutely not,” said O’Neill, who is now out of the real estate business. “I was never told, ‘If you do this, we’ll help with that.’ They were completely unrelated.”
O’Neill said Santorum was a figurehead with the charity and that the senator derived no benefit from the work the charity performed — doling out contributions to small groups around the state. “He was proud of the work of the charity,” O’Neill said. “Rick helped bring exposure, but other than that, he didn’t get anything out of it.”
O’Neill also said the former senator should be proud of the waterfront development, which he says has helped deliver 2,000 jobs to downtown Chester, where there is now a soccer stadium, an office building, and a casino.
Santorum also defended the federal grants in a letter to the Philadelphia Daily News, saying his efforts to win federal money for O’Neill’s waterfront development represented “a prime example of how, when used appropriately, earmarks can be beneficial.”
“When Preferred Real Estate became interested in investing in the region, specifically in the revitalization of a blighted former generating plant, I was ecstatic — this was exactly the type of project that could kick off a full-scale economic rebirth and help combat poverty,” he wrote. “So, working with the city, I helped bring federal money to improve access to the riverfront, renovating roads like Route 291 and Highland Avenue, as well as to better the environment of the riverfront, making it a more attractive place for Pennsylvanians to work and live.”
You’re trumpeting an article that cites Melanie Sloan? Pathetic.
The conservative that they will stoop at absolutely nothing, and I do mean nothing to ridicule (remember Sarah Palin's baby Trig, first he must be the baby of the eldest daughter, then "why oh why didn't Sarah abort him rather than drag him out on stage as a prop!")
Liberals are the meanest most vicious and truly evil blights on humanity.
Solyndra is what CRONY CAPITALISM is all about!!
And as predicted on another thread last night, the Media can’t wait to draw the long knives on a conservative.
Hypocrite, will be business as usual with ole Rick...He has some delusion that these rules do not apply to him. Should have never endorse Myth in 2008...it is payback time..
Who in the hell is your candidate? And, who are you helping but Romney with these sort of attacks?
Romney’s minions have been busy today...
Thinkprogress is on the attack....
the homosexual lobby is going beserk...
forget about whatever you hear unless you want the homoagenda to continue...
hello ......... duhhh.....
Conservatives sit and complain for 4 years then trash their own conservative candidates...
Well... maybe it’s operatives from the Romney machine who are trashing... or the Soros machine....
Gee, maybe I’ll ask Rosie odonnel what she thinks... or msnbc....
And then everyone says “he’s got no specific policy or plans”. When it’s all over his website.
How much more public can he make his plans ? Glue them to everyone’s forehead on a post it ?
Sorry for the rant Fred... this is aimed at just.... America...
Defend Santorum, go ahead defend earmarks and back door deals. You will need the practice against Obama if RS wins.
Come on defend him or do you want me to do it for you? BTW name calling is not a defense.
What's next, parroting an attack from Debbie Wassterman Schultz? It would have just as little credibility.
I'd just as soon blow my brains out than be considered a mainstream journalist in today's news media.
Garbage post, Rombot Fred. Go tell your Willard the Lib to stick it!!!
Damn right, I'm going to if the alternative is Romney.
Who is your candidate, slick? And, who other than Romney are you helping by alternating attacks on Santorum and Gingrich?
It's time for you to put up or shut up.
So in order to ethically get a loan, a Senator must know the lending policies of the bank where he gets the loan.
Boy that makes sense. How many people show up at a bank to get a loan and already know, or even ask, what the lending policies are? Absurd.
If this kind of crap is all they can come up with, Santorum must be pure as the driven snow.
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