Rick Santorum has vaulted to the front ranks of the Republican presidential nomination race in part by depicting himself as a religious family man of lowly beginnings who would bring needed change to Washington.
But that characterization leaves out two decades in which Santorum was a central and often high-ranking player in Washington politics, with connections to K Street lobbyists and a lucrative consulting career that made him a millionaire.
Stumping in New Hampshire on Thursday, Rick Santorum addressed potential voters at the Queens Rotary Club meeting in Hooksett, N.H. (Jan. 5)
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In the Senate, for example, he played a pivotal role in advancing the controversial K Street Project, a highly organized effort to pressure industry groups and lobbying firms to hire Republicans for influential jobs and punish those who brought in Democrats. Santorum oversaw regular Tuesday meetings with lobbyists in which he solicited their views on pending legislation and discussed potential jobs, according to documents and news reports and a lobbyist who attended the meetings.
After losing a reelection bid in 2006, he capitalized on his congressional experience by beginning a profitable career on K Street as an adviser to industry groups and lobbying firms, disclosure records show.
Santorum’s track record as a longtime Capitol Hill insider is likely to pose a political challenge in the weeks ahead, in part because it undermines his self-portrayal as a reform-minded champion of fiscal conservatism. After spending months languishing in obscurity in the presidential race, he finished just eight votes behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on Tuesday and immediately faced allegations that he had backed wasteful spending and special interests.
Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s national communications director, said Thursday that “these kinds of attacks are just what D.C. insiders and elitists do when a guy like Rick Santorum works hard to provide for his family and has success.”
“From Day One, Rick Santorum fought to destroy the good old boy network in Washington,” Gidley said, pointing to efforts to expose a House banking scandal and urge an end to special congressional perks. “Democrats and some Republicans were furious with Rick, but Rick stood up for the people then, and that’s what he’ll do as president.”
Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP presidential hopeful, have begun unloading on Santorum in recent days for his role in pushing earmarks and other goodies as part of congressional budget negotiations, a practice that has become sharply limited under House and Senate rules. Some of the earmarks Santorum backed during his 16 years on the Hill benefited local firms or industries, including mining and defense companies whose employees contributed to his political committees, records show.
The Romney campaign highlighted criticism of Santorum on Thursday from Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, who endorsed Romney this week. McCain said on CNN that Santorum championed “earmarking and pork-barrel spending” while in Congress.
“I believe that earmarking is a gateway drug to corruption,” McCain said. “Senator Santorum supported it and engaged in it as much as he possibly could. I strongly disagreed with it.”
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