PA's Rick Santorum Is The GOP Candidate Du Jour .. Really!
By gladys46
@gladys46 (1205)
United States
January 7, 2012 1:39pm CST
As I listen to this my homestate's GOP candidate for POTUS, I wondered when the scrubbing (real vetting) would start. One specific stump speech was quite interesting to me ... that one wherein Mr. Santorum states his desires NOT to just give blacks somebody else's money. I thought that if we're to have an honest discussion as to who actually benefits from other people's money we might start with Mr. Santorum himself. Responsible reports (and my own recall) are that after becoming PA's State Rep. in 1994, Mr. Santorum purchased a larger home in VA for him and his family ... he also enrolled five of his children in PA Cyber Charter School that offered students free computers, internet service and online classes. That on-line school allowed the Santorum family to live in VA while sticking PA taxpayers with the bill.
I would venture to say that black taxpayers of PA weren't all that happy to discover that their hardearned taxes were being commandeered to VA by the Santorum family for their benefit.
Mr. Santorum was quite satisfied with government sponsored public schools then as his children benefited. Sooo, when we talk about who thrives from the labor of others, shouldn't we know who actually does. Shouldn't we expect Mr. Santorum to have practiced what he is so fond of preaching then and now?
And you say?
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5 responses
@djbtol (5493)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Is this not just empty political mud slinging? Are there not just as many stinkin' democrats to be jealous of? Just look at the current POTUS, representative of the poor and oppressed of our land. Michelle had promised that the day of deliverace was at hand, but alas, they are still poor helpless victims.
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@gladys46 (1205)
• United States
7 Jan 12
If you consider facts "mud" .. you may be right! "Empty political slinging" I don't think so! I happen to find Santorum not just wrong but quite stupid! How dare he vilify others when it is he and his family who have gamed the system by taking from unsuspecting taxpaying citizens! Did he not expect any vetting at all?
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@crossbones27 (49050)
• Mojave, California
8 Jan 12
I always find it funny how so many despise socialism, but nearly every American finds someway to use it to their advantage.
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@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
8 Jan 12
Okay, let's point out the obvious. All elected State Representatives are paid with taxpayer money. So, the point that Mr. Santorum was being by paid by PA taxpayers is in fact true. But then again so are all the other State Representatives.
Now, did you ask the right questions on this. Did Mr. Santorum buy the house with his own money (aka got a loan based on his income which came from his job as a State Representative) or did he use campaign funds to pay for it? Does the State Representatives in PA have a housing allowance specifically designed for the purpose of setting up a household? Do the rules specifically state that he has to live in PA during the time he is a Representative? And so on. A little fact you should consider is that Virgina is a far cheaper state to live in than Washington DC and is within a commutable distance to Washington. You can also get a bigger house for the same amount of money in VA, than you can in PA.
As far as homeschool goes, so what? If he wants to homeschool, his children so be it. I am not sure what homeschool he used in 1994 but the chances are this was a private entity where the costs of attending the school covered the "tools" needed to attend the school. Did he use taxpayer money? Very likely, because it came out of his paycheck that is funded by the taxpayers. One more note on Homeschools, the costs for funding them does not come from property taxes. Only Public schools benefit from this particular source of funding.
So, I guess the big question is did he buy all of this with his paycheck that he got as being a PA State Representative? Because if he did, then there really isn't much to criticize.
Now, there are a lot more things to criticize Mr. Santorum on. But this is making a mountain out of essential nothing. Because all it really sounds like is your are criticizing how he spent his paycheck that he earned from being a State Representative. Now, if he used funds illegally for those purposes and you have proof of that, then by all means bring it to the table.
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@gladys46 (1205)
• United States
8 Jan 12
No Sierras, Rick Santorum was NOT a State Rep. he was elected in the State of PA to the U.S. House of Representatives ... ah, the Congress of the United States! No, Mr. Santorum did not pay for his 5 children's homeschooling out of his own handsome Federal salary. Mr. Santorum was elected in PA yet paid no PA taxes since he relocated to VA ... he merely availed himself of PA taxpayer money!
Of course you may consider Mr. Santorum's very bad behavior "making a mountain out of essential nothing" ... I'd be shocked if you didn't.
And, yes there are plenty more things to criticize Mr. Santorum for ... I consider this ridiculous action om his behalf a good place to start.
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@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
9 Jan 12
I looked it up. He was in the House of Representatives and then elected to the Senate. So, Virgina is actually a good place for commute to Washington since most of the business is done in Washington D.C. If you were to compare cost of living between the two states and even that of PA, it is actually cheaper to live in Virgina and commute to Washington than it is to try to find a place in D.C. With five children, space certainly would be an issue.
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@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
9 Jan 12
Care to provide a source gladys? Are you aware that many senators actually own homes in both their home state, AND in Virginia so they have a place to spend the night while working in Washington? Do you know if he still owned a home IN PENNSYLVANIA? If so, he was still PAYING PROPERTY TAXES that go to the school in which his children were enrolled.
Oh, wait, it only took two seconds of web searching to find the truth.
"In a Sept. 2006 speech, Santorum pushed back against critics.
"I defend it as I'm a taxpayer in Penn Hills, Pa. That's where I pay my income tax, that's where I pay my real estate tax, that's where I pay wage taxes, state taxes, I pay taxes like any other state taxpayer," said Santorum, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report."
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/05/nation/la-na-santorum-scrutiny-20120106
"Santorum owned, and still does, a house in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, next door to his in-laws."
http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/rick-santorums-school-scandal
The No. 3 Republican in the Senate, Santorum owns a $106,000 home next door to his wife Karen's parents in Penn Hills, but he and his family split time between there and a $757,000 house in Virginia.
Read more: Santorum school flap continues - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_274635.html#ixzz1ivMJBwHh
You know what that means? It means was was paying taxes that go to those schools just as anyone living there would be paying. HE was footing the tax bill as HE was paying taxes.
As such, this smear on him is meaningless. Try and stick to real issues if you want to attack him. This one was already thrown out by the ethics committee as a load of crap.
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@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
9 Jan 12
Gladys, I don't care why the voters of PA chose not to reelect him. He was NOT a good senator and I don't think anyone misses him. Your attempt to smear him however, is garbage since he paid the same taxes as anyone else sending their kids to school in Pennsylvania. The fact that he owned a second home in Virginia only means that he had the right to send his kids there as well if he wanted to. He was literally paying taxes in two states instead of one.
Voters rarely vote people out due to ethics. It's far more likely to be general trends in which party is more popular. Arlen Specter, for example, got voted out because he made the mistake of switching to the wrong party at the wrong time. There was not, nor has there ever been an ethics complaint against him.
@knoodleknight18 (917)
• United States
9 Jan 12
I don't know how this became such an issue, anyone representing a state even at the national level still owns property and files income tax from that state.
Now as far as where he got the money to buy a $757,000 house in VA, I doubt it was from his awesome paycheck as a state rep. The majority of people who ever see congress already have millions of dollars before they ever reach that level.
Also I'd just like to point out that $757,000 in VA is not even remotely comparable to his $100,000 house in PA. Furthermore his house in PA is probably almost as nice. The section of VA near DC is comparable in cost to DC if not just as much.
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@Fatcat44 (1141)
• United States
8 Jan 12
Why did he make the move to Virginia? Was it to be close the Washington DC, so he could drive to congress, and still have his family close? If this is the case, I see nothing wrong with it, and actually applaud him for doing it so he could be with his family.
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@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
9 Jan 12
If such "credible documents" exist, why haven't you provided them?
"The more noble thing for such a man to do would have been to go on an purchase a new home in VA, have his family close and surely provide his children educations using his own earnings."
Funny, since that's exactly what he did. He paid all his taxes as a resident of PA. Otherwise he couldn't be a PA senator much less have his kids enrolled in a public school there. His taxes paid for his kids to go there like any other PA taxpayer.
@gladys46 (1205)
• United States
8 Jan 12
I take your point. However, I believe that Mr. Santorum being the very far right "REAL conservative" that he espouses to be must have discussed his run for PA elected official with his family and the probabilities of his constant absences. The more noble thing for such a man to do would have been to go on an purchase a new home in VA, have his family close and surely provide his children educations using his own earnings. I certainly applaud any man for wanting to be with his family ... Joe Biden, commuted "daily" from DE to DC for all the years he served in the Senate ... Joe has never pretended to be this almighty "conservative" that Rick does however.
According to credible documented reports, Mr. Santorum STUCK PA taxpayers with a bill of at least $100,000. Nick Trombetta, a major republican donor and the founder of PA Cyber Charter School had no problems with Mr. Santorum's scheme of living in VA but billing PA's taxpayers.
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