Santorum Plays Politics With Thomas McGough's Judgeship - PittsburghLIVE.com

On his climb to the summit, councilman loses his footing - PittsburghLIVE.com: "DEEP-SIXED FOR THE 3RD CIRCUIT? Apparently a move is afoot to derail Reed Smith attorney W. Thomas McGough's chances of being named to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, headquartered in Philadelphia.

McGough, of Shadyside, has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Richard Nygaard of Erie, who was named a senior judge on the 3rd Circuit in July.

E-mails floating around in the political corner of cyberspace indicate Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has been lobbied hard to lobby President George Bush not to appoint McGough to the 3rd Circuit bench.

The correspondences don't fault McGough's legal acumen, but are critical of him for donating money to Santorum's Democrat opponent in 2000, former U.S. Rep. Ron Klink of Murrysville. McGough also was faulted for not being sufficiently conservative."