4.03.2006

Sanctimonious Rick Santorum's Love Affair with Lobbyists and Their Cash Lard Makes Him an Easy Target ... and Quite a Whore, To Boot

The Post-Gazette brings us this re: the 2006 PA Senatorial race:

The Senate wrapped up its lobbying bill this past week, but criticisms about K Street connections are not going away any time soon for Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, whose chief Democratic opponent plans to make the issue central to his campaign over the next eight months.

Mr. Santorum's likely challenger, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., called the Senate bill a missed opportunity given the public outrage over the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy in a spectacular fraud and bribery scheme.

Mr. Casey said he could not understand why Mr. Santorum and other senators rejected the call for more scrutiny from a proposed independent Office of Public Integrity, which would have investigated ethics complaints against senators.

Mr. Santorum "started this process trying to be a lion and he's going out like a lamb," Mr. Casey said. "He's not aggressively insisting on the kind of ethics reform that I would in the Senate. ... It ought to be real and comprehensive, not some kind of piecemeal approach that doesn't get to the heart of the problem."
Any Pennsylvanians out there with a strong sense of whether Santorum will easily win re-election or get trounced this time out? I'd like to see him go, but since I'm not a PA voter... well...