http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11735612/
Senator resumes lobbyist huddles
Santorum suspended sessions Jan. 30
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Charles Babington
The Washington Post
Updated: 12:36 a.m. ET March 9, 2006
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.
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 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."
Considered vulnerable
Rodgers said the new meetings have added 20 to 30 people to their
invitation lists, while retaining from the old list 40 of the 70 or so
lobbyists who had been regularly invited.
Santorum is considered the Senate Republicans' most vulnerable
incumbent. Democrats recruited Pennsylvania Treasurer Robert P. Casey
Jr., the son of a former governor, to challenge him this fall, and
recent polls show Casey ahead.
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.
The White House is also trying to help Santorum. On Tuesday night,
presidential adviser Karl Rove attended a Santorum fundraiser at the
Washington home of Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.). Individuals and
representatives of political action committees that contributed $5,000
could attend a special reception and photo opportunity with the star
guests.
Supporters call Santorum a principled conservative and an underrated
campaigner, and many credit him with rescuing moderate Sen. Arlen
Specter (R-Pa.) when he was challenged from the political right in the
2004 GOP primary. Opponents call Santorum an opportunist who pushes the
limit on using campaign funds.
Foes question Santorum's use of his leadership PAC, America's
Foundation, which has paid for at least 160 small purchases at coffee
shops near Santorum's Leesburg home, as well as for fast-food meals and
purchases at hardware and book stores.
Santorum campaign spokeswoman Virginia Davis said all the expenditures
were legitimate. Leadership PACs "can be expensive to maintain," she
said, and Santorum has distributed through it more than $3 million to
GOP candidates since 2001.
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.
‘The usual suspects’
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."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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