Philadelphia Daily News Links Santorum To The K Street Scandal

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/23/2006 | Abramoff & K Street, Santorum and Casey: "Abramoff & K Street, Santorum and Casey What lobbying scandal means to you By CATHERINE LUCEYluceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172

Scandal, corruption, dirty-dealings - it's just a regular day in our nation's capital, right?

Still, you might have noticed that the reports of skulduggery have been heating up lately, with D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to bilking his clients, bribing at least one congressman and evading the law.
This case now has people buzzing about how the Republican Party and lobbyists are entwined in Washington. It's likely to be an issue in the campaign battle between U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. this year.
Here's a primer on Jack Abramoff and the current Washington lobbyist scandals:
Q. Who is Jack Abramoff?
A. Abramoff was a high-flying Washington lobbyist, who owned a restaurant for entertaining clients.
Q. What did he do wrong?
A. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion. Abramoff admitted to giving perks to politicians, including boxes at sporting events and trips to Scotland, in an attempt to curry favor for his clients. He also copped to making off with client money, misusing charities and lying on his income taxes.
Q. What politicians are affected by Abramoff?
A.So far the two in the hottest water are Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Tex., and Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio.
Ney - who has stepped down as chair of the House Administration Committee - is accused of taking a golf trip to Scotland, dinners and other favors in exchange for supporting Abramoff's American-Indian tribe clients in Texas. He says he has done nothing wrong.
DeLay - who has stepped down as House Majority Leader - is accused of taking a trip to Scotland and of using Abramoff's skybox at a Washington arena. He's also already in trouble for a conspiracy to violate campaign finance law in Texas.
Q. Did Santorum get any favors from Abramoff?
A.No. In fact, his spokeswoman told the Lebanon Daily News that he did not know Abramoff. Santorum did receive $11,000 in contributions from Abramoff clients, which he has donated to charity.
Q. Was Santorum involved in this K Street thing I keep hearing about? What's K Street?
A.K Street is the street where many Washington lobbying firms are located. The K Street Project was an operation launched by DeLay and neo-conservative activist Grover Norquist in 1994 to push lobbying firms seeking access to hire Republicans.
Q. What was Santorum's involvement?
A. Santorum apparently was brought into the K Street effort in 2000 after the GOP gained the White House. According to the Washington Monthly, he held regular meetings with lobbyists to discuss corporate and trade association jobs for Republicans.
Q. I don't understand. Would corporations get in trouble if they didn't hire Republicans?
A. It seems that way. The Motion Picture Association of America got punished with they hired a former Clinton cabinet member as its new boss, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The House retaliated by removing $1.5 billion in motion picture industry tax cuts from an upcoming bill.
Q. What does Santorum say about all this?
A.He admits to having held meetings, but says they were above- board, calling them a "good-government thing."
Q. Is K Street going to get in trouble?
A.There is a corruption investigation under way, which Abramoff is cooperating with. GOP leaders have also said they plan to to pass legislation that would further reign in lawmakers by banning lobbyist gifts and favored travel to politicos. Santorum is leading the GOP reform effort, which has Bob Casey Jr. crying foul.
Q. What does Casey have to say?
A.Casey is asking supporters to sign a petition on his Web site asking that the K Street Project be shut down and that Santorum not supervise reforms. But Santorum's camp insists that he has been involved in no wrongdoing and that he's the man for the job.
Q. What's going to happen next?
A.The hubbub over K Street sure isn't going away. And with a Senate election in November, you're going to hear a lot more from Casey and Santorum about it."