Santorum's Daughter Debuts

[Rose Siding]

Santorum's Daughter Debuts
Candidates' family members often make their debuts in television advertisements targeting swing voters -- not insiders. But Sen. Rick Santorum's 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth is the star of a new web advertisement that's featured in the splash position on PoliticsPA.com, ensuring that it will get the attention of journalists, consultants and engaged activists on both sides.

Elizabeth Santorum narrates the ad and introduces members of Santorum's large family. She's a regular gal -- "I love sleeping in until really late in the morning," she says -- who wants to help her father.

Says a Santorum campaign aide: "Elizabeth is very mature for her age and excited about making a contribution to the campaign. This is just the first of many areas of involvement for Elizabeth and the family to come."

Santorum's regular-guy-ness has come under fire from a number of fronts. His PAC has been accused of paying for personal expenses; he obtained a favorably-termed mortgage from a PA bank that donated to his political campaigns; earlier in the campaign, Democrats complained about the amount of state money used to educate his children; Santorum later announced that his wife Karen would teach them at home.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/03/santorums_daugh.html

"...ensuring that it will get the attention of journalists, consultants and engaged activists on both sides."

Is he using her as *bait*?

[Greeby]

1. Well this is the guy who thought nothing of making her play

with that dead foetus :scared:

[MADem]

2. She loves sleeping in late? Well, I guess that ain't a problem when

ya DON'T GO TO SCHOOL like most kids do! And since that PA town is no longer paying for their crappy computer homeschooling, after getting ripped off for years, maybe the family is back to doing it on the cheap, with books and so forth!!

[IndianaGreen]

5. Well, I wish her a long and happy life...

as to her father, I hope he is forced to look for a new job come November.

[MADem]

8. So do I--a life sponging off daddy, since her shit education won't help

her get a job! I hope she's sleeping in late at the family mansion when she's 40!!!

[napi21]

3. Yea, he's teaching them at home alright! And the cost is being

paid by the Penn Hills school district! (Or at least was.) Penn Hills is sueing Ricky for the amount they paid, because only residents of the school Dist. are eligible!

As to a 14 year old loving to sleep late...coddling the little rich kids behind isn't going to make her a good adult!

[Proud2BAmurkin]

4. puke. Why didn't she say she has 4 brothers 1 sister and 1 fetus?

:shrug:

[Catrina]

6. Typical, he's in trouble and using his daughter to try to help himself.

They're also probably hoping that the 'other side' will attack her so they can whine about 'evil lieberals'.

Best to ignore her, I'm sure there are plenty of Dem candidates who have children also ~ but the children aren't running for office, he is. He needs to stand up and speak for himself instead of shoving his teenage daughter in front of the cameras to try to save his political career. I really despise this kind of thing ~ but what else could we expect from a chicken-hawk politician who expects others to fight their battles for them?

[zbdent]

11. It's amazing what Repukes will do to win

I mean, okay, I'm not saying he caused it, but George Voinovich gained the Mayor of Cleveland election one month after he lost a daughter to a car accident . . . (against Dennis Kucinich) . . .

[MountainLaurel]

15. In WV when I was in college

A candidate for state legislature ran campaigns ads of his toddler daughter saying something like "I'm Ashley Candidate, please vote for my daddy!" Others talked about what a family man he was, with a wife and kids. Which really amused the fuck out of me, because not two months before the election, Ashley's daddy was trying to pick up my best friend in a bar and asked her to go home with him. He used the "I'm running for delegate" line, trying to impress her. Unfortunately he was elected, and most of his legislative work involved gay-hating measures (again amusing, because the same family man apparently took a walk on the dark side several times in high school) such as trying to kick the university's gay rights group out of its office and preventing gay partners from receiving employee benefits.

But karma is a bitch, and he not only lost his reelection campaign, but was arrested on multiple occasions for DUI and then for trying to break into his now-ex-wife's trailer (I know). I wonder what Ashley thinks of her daddy now.

[Catrina]

16. Wow, well at least he eventually lost ~ but the hypocrisy is stunning

Ashley probably still loves him since he's her dad, but I wonder if she respects him?

That's sad to hear, about Voinovich ~ I didn't know he had lost a child ~ or that he had beaten Kucinich in an election.

Candidates using their children in ads turns me off, personally. I find it insulting to be lectured by chidren about anything, let alone who to vote for ~

[zbdent]

7. What state is she beaming it in from?

Just curious . . . is she beaming it in from PA?

[MADem]

10. They have a MASSIVE house in the VA 'burbs, a high-end 'hood

Leesburg, to be precise. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04324/414066.stm

From a 2004 article:

The senator's office issued a statement two days ago saying he and his wife, Karen, are withdrawing their children from the cyber school. But that doesn't mean they'll be attending any of the brick-and-mortar schools of the Penn Hills district either. The commute from the Santorum home in Leesburg, Va., would be onerous.

All of which begs a much bigger question: Is Rick Santorum R-Pa. or R-Va.? No one should represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate because he once lived here or because he visits all 67 counties every year. A traveling salesman can do that.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution says, "No person shall be a Senator ... who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen." Rick Santorum last won election in November 2000, when he owned the house at 111 Stephens Lane in Penn Hills plus a house in Virginia. Where he was an "inhabitant" at the time only he can say.

He faces re-election in 2006, but if that election were held today, the two-term Republican would be hard-pressed to convince voters that he inhabits a house on Stephens Lane. Sure, he and his wife pay taxes on the house. They also use the address for voter registration, but so do two other people. When a Post-Gazette reporter visited the house last Friday, a young man came to the door and declined to comment. He wasn't Rick Santorum.

It gets worse. The two-bedroom house that the Santorum children called home for education purposes and that gives Mr. and Mrs. Santorum the right to vote in Pennsylvania lacks an occupancy permit. And the property tax break from the homestead exemption claimed by the Santorums on the Penn Hills house is allowed under law only if the dwelling is their "permanent home."

It's a strange case of political turnabout. In his initial House race against Rep. Doug Walgren in 1990, challenger Santorum attacked the incumbent from Mt. Lebanon for buying a house and raising his children in McLean, Va. Now Rick Santorum of Leesburg, Va., is saying that he is and he isn't a resident of Pennsylvania....

And, let's refresh our memories on the GREAT deal he got on his fancy home mortgage:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/bucks_county/13928867.htm

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) provided details yesterday of his $500,000 home mortgage loan after disclosures that he secured it through a bank whose top executives were campaign donors.
Santorum's campaign office said the senator received a five-year interest-only balloon loan at 5 percent in 2002 from Philadelphia Trust Co., an investment firm that promotes itself on its Web site as catering to "affluent investors and institutions."

The loan, which the campaign said did not include points, was within the market rate when Santorum obtained the mortgage, according to mortgage rate data.

One watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said it planned to file a complaint this week with the Senate ethics committee, asking for an investigation into whether Santorum received preferential treatment.

How do the GOP fight back against this sort of thing? Why, sic the IRS on the watchdogs, that's how!!! http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/031406/news2.html

Since its inception, CREW has prepared ethics complaints against or demanded probes by the ethics panels or the Justice Department of 12 sitting Republican lawmakers: Frist, Santorum, Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Rep. Bob Ney (Ohio), Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.), Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (Calif.), House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (Calif.), House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Johnson.

In addition, the group has filed Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaints against Frist, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the leadership PAC of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Texas), then-Senate candidates Mel Martinez and Alan Keys, both Republicans, and the Bush 2004 presidential campaign.

Republican Party officials say that CREW’s activities violate regulations for tax-exempt organizations and that they are weighing filing a complaint with the IRS.

“It’s certainly a possibility. We’re weighing our options on that,” said Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Tax experts say that CREW’s seemingly lopsided focus on Republicans will raise flags at the IRS, but they caution that determining violations of tax status so depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each case that it is impossible to predict how the IRS will act.

“At least preliminarily, I think they have a good case,” said former IRS official Richard J. Wood, referring to the concerns of Republican officials. “It looks to me that they’re probably right.”...

Heaven forfend that perhaps Democrats just don't cheat as much as Republicans!!!!!!

[Vickers]

9. When his son has a baseball bat right next to Rick, were you thinking:

WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY.

:P

[annarbor]

12. Ok...

So I nearly threw up watching that infomercial!
No, really! I've been at home all weekend with the stomach flu, and that ad nearly put me over the edge...thanks!

Ann Arbor

Way too "Stepford Family-ish"

[dajoki]

13. regular guy?

he's the farthest thing from it.

[annarbor]

14. I don't like to pick on kids...

but she ain't no Chelsea Clinton!

Ann Arbor