Rick Santorum's Hostile Takeover

By David Sirota

Out in Montana, where I live, folks are learning a lot about political corruption. Our senator is a guy named Conrad Burns. After his campaign pocketed more than $150,000 from indicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients, Burns has become the target of a federal investigation into the matter.

But as I tell everyone who seems shocked at Burns' behavior, he's just one of a number of senators who has based his career on manipulating the system of legalized bribery that has overtaken our democracy. Having grown up in the Philadelphia area being represented by Rick Santorum, I should know.

As I head back to Philadelphia for the launch of my new book on the money culture of politics, I'm thinking of just how used to political corruption Pennsylvanians are, thanks to Santorum.

As Washington Monthly reported in 2003, "Santorum became the Senate's point man on K Street"- the corridor in Washington where corporate lobbyists have their offices. His efforts were widely known to be part of the "K Street Project," now at the center of a federal investigation.

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http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/14505984.htm

Verified Voter Paper Audit Trails have been prohibited by order of the Secretary of State. Oh, Ricky's catching up to Casey now and trails only by 6 points....

:(

Casey isn't that great. There isn't a democrat in the world worse than Santorum (and not that many republicans either), but we've managed to pick a real crappy democrat to try and beat him.