Presidential candidate Rick Santorum likes to claim he is conservative. Indeed, a slew of evangelical leaders endorsed him in Texas over the weekend because they said he was the most conservative candidate in the race. However, the record reveals that Santorum is in love with Big Government.
It has been well established that he wants the government in our bedrooms and monitoring our personal lives. What is less known is that he absolutely loves Big Government when it comes to money — with Santorum securing more than $1 billion in earmarks while serving as a senator from Pennsylvania. He even voted or the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” and appears to be a sleazy politician who was involved in corrosive and immoral “pay-for-play” schemes to fund his political career.
According to the New York Times:
A review of some of his earmarks, viewed alongside his political donations, suggests that the river of federal money Mr. Santorum helped direct to Pennsylvania paid off handsomely in the form of campaign cash….In all, Taxpayers for Common Sense estimated, Mr. Santorum helped secure more than $1 billion in earmarks during his Senate career, which stretched from 1995 through 2006.
….The firm’s lobbyists were well acquainted with Mr. Santorum, participating in regular breakfast meetings he hosted for lobbyists….And the lobbying firm Blank Rome, Mr. Santorum’s largest single source of contributions during the 2006 election cycle — the firm’s executives gave more than $100,000 to his campaign — had several clients who got help from Mr. Santorum with earmarks and other legislation.
Rick Santorum is a serious hypocrite. He practices big government when he invades our right to privacy, embraces big brother when he persecutes LGBT people, and is the consummate Washington Insider when it comes to earmarks.
What exactly is traditional or conservative about this pretender?
