Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Charles Babington in today's Washington post reports (
http://www.washingtonpost.com)
After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.
Santorum, whose ties to Washington lobbyists have been criticized by his Democratic challenger, suspended his biweekly encounters on Jan. 30. His decision came as Democrats named him as their top target in November's Senate races, and after the guilty plea of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to charges of conspiring to corrupt public officials.
Ok that is what Santorum said publicly, but bellow is what he has done since. Please explain how this is not lying. What is now the MSM definition of when "stretching the truth" becomes "lying'?
But in the month since his announcement, Santorum has held two meetings attended by the same core group of lobbyists, and has used the sessions to appeal for campaign aid, according to participants. Both of those meetings were convened at the same time as the previous meetings -- 8:30 a.m. -- on the same day of the week -- Tuesday -- and they lasted for about as long as the earlier meetings -- one hour.
Instead of being held in the Capitol, however, the recent meetings were conducted nearby. The first was held about three blocks away, at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the second was held around the corner from that building, at the Heritage Foundation.
The Capitol meetings had been convened to advance the GOP's cause by enlisting lobbyists to back its agenda. The meetings were largely information exchanges during which Santorum and other Republicans gave speeches and fielded questions from the assembled lobbyists.
Democrats had lambasted Santorum's Capitol meetings in large part because, at the end of most of them, a representative of the Republican National Committee distributed lists of Washington-based lobbying job openings, and participants often discussed which GOP congressional aides and former lawmakers might be best suited for those jobs.
After the outcry by Democrats and others, Santorum announced that the lists would no longer be distributed at the meetings, and then he canceled the meetings entirely.
Now, his aides said, he has resumed the meetings with lobbyists. Their purpose is to help Santorum's reelection effort, but many of the same topics other than jobs are discussed, aides and participants said.
Mark Rodgers, staff director of the Senate Republican Conference, said that the old meetings had been sponsored by the conference, had sometimes included other lawmakers, and had been meant to get out the GOP message to interested groups in Washington. The recent meetings were largely about how the lobbyists and other attendees could help Santorum's fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts in Pennsylvania, Rodgers said.
As for the meetings' time and locations, he said: "It happens to be convenient on the boss's schedule."
Lets get this straight, Santorum, promises to end lobbyist meetings, just moves them and the MSM doesn't call it a lie? Same time. Same people, and it still not called a lie. My question is what in heaven name does a politician have to do before the press will stop reporting their explanation and just call it a lie?
Senate Republicans, eager to help Santorum, put him in charge of the party's efforts on lobbying changes, although he was soon overshadowed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the actions of two Senate committees. Democrats note that Santorum's campaign has received more money from lobbyists than any other congressional candidacy thus far in the 2006 election cycle.
Santorum is assigned the post on lobbying reform, then he does this and it's not called a lie?
Participants in the most recent meeting of lobbyists, on Tuesday, said that all but a few of the people who attended were mainstays of the old Capitol gatherings.
One lobbyist called the attendees "the usual suspects," and said they were among the city's best-known lobbyists whose firms represent financial services, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, oil production and tobacco companies. The lobbyist added: "There were two or three people from his [Santorum's] campaign who didn't go to meetings at the Capitol. I don't think beyond that that I recognized anybody new."
In addition, the participating lobbyists and Rodgers said that part of the discussion at the Tuesday meeting was reminiscent of the gatherings at the Capitol. Santorum discussed the Republican agenda and devoted plenty of time on lobbying changes -- a topic of personal interest to the attendees. The meeting was held one day before the Senate took up legislation meant to crack down on lobbyists and their relationships with lawmakers.
"We're going to formalize this [meeting] into a campaign briefing about once a month," Rodgers said. "This will grow with people who are committed to Rick's campaign."