Where, exactly, does Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R-Pa.) live? The answer isn’t quite as clear as it should be. One thing’s for sure, his status as a [tag]Pennsylvania[/tag] [tag]resident[/tag] is very much in doubt.
State Treasurer [tag]Bob Casey[/tag], Santorum’s Dem opponent, has been making hay of this for months, prompting a series of denials and accusations from the [tag]Santorum[/tag] camp. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a hard-hitting editorial on the issue today, and I think it’s fair to say the paper is a little skeptical about Santorum’s defense.
Before every election, the Post-Gazette routinely sends letters to the candidates seeking material for the Voters Guide. Back in March, as part of that process for the primary, the newspaper sent a letter to Rick Santorum at his home address, at least the one that he claims. Back from Penn Hills came the letter with a sticker from the U.S. Postal Service checked as “Not Deliverable As Addressed — Unable To Forward.”
That is all you need to know about the nasty dispute between the Republican Sen. Santorum and his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the November election. The whole thing is rooted in one inconvenient fact for Sen. Santorum: He doesn’t live here anymore.
The Santorums appear to own a small [tag]house[/tag] in [tag]Penn Hills[/tag], Penn. — with two bedrooms, it hardly seems big enough for Santorum, his wife, and their six homeschooled children — but there’s no evidence of the family ever having lived there. Indeed, up until fairly recently, there’s been some question as to whether the Santorums had ever even seen the [tag]home[/tag].
A recent local TV station explained that the modest house is vacant, with no curtains or furniture. When confronted with the observation, Santorum lashed out at “operatives” for peeking in his windows and putting his six young children in jeopardy.
No one’s buying it. It’s a problem with a few important angles to consider.
One, the “safety of my kids” tack is awfully weak.
Though that suggestion is far-fetched to the point of absurdity, it would be a potential source of fear only if the senator actually lived in Penn Hills, but — let us repeat one last time — the Santorum family is at no risk because he doesn’t live here anymore and the family is in Virginia most of the time. So what we have is the senator making untrue and outrageous comments while seeking to hide behind his wife and kids in order to get around an inconvenient fact.
We have a feeling that those who do live here may have something to say about this cowardly tactic at the November polls.
Two, the Constitution requires senators to “be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen,” and Santorum seems to have put this qualification in doubt.
Three, and this is my personal favorite, Santorum was elected to Congress in 1990 by blasting his Dem opponent for owning a home in suburban DC. As Roll Call reported at the time:
A Republican challenger, Rick Santorum, is claiming home is not where Rep. Doug Walgren’s (D-Pa) heart is…. Santorum’s spot is the essence of simplicity. Strange music plays while a picture of an attractive white house is shown. The announcer says, “There’s something strange about this house.” The reason is because Walgren lives in McLean, which is “the wealthiest area of Virginia” rather than his suburban district.
Now, 16 years later, Santorum owns a beautiful home in [tag]Leesburg[/tag], Va., a lovely DC [tag]suburb[/tag]. The huge house is reportedly worth nearly $800,000, as opposed to the modest, $100,000 house in Penn Hills. Next year, when Santorum becomes a well-paid lobbyist, he won’t have to worry about keeping up two homes anymore.