WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh
recently confronted Rick Santorum about his charity and the fact that lobbyists play prominent roles in it. During the interview Rick tells us that there is a difference between being a "principal in a lobbying firm" and being a "principal in a public affairs firm, a government relations firm", which also happens to list lobbying as one of its services. It's reassuring to know that the self-proclaimed Republican point man on ethics reform doesn't know what a lobbyist is:
But Santorum's charity has also put money -- $216,000 -- into unexplained travel and meetings through 2004.
That's almost half of the $501,000 donated to community organizations, mostly in Philadelphia.
Who's doing all that traveling and where are they going? Team 4 asked the charity and the Senator, but they've refused to release the records.
"One thing I'm very clear about is to try to keep a separation between anything I do officially and the charity. I don't want the charity involved in politics," Santorum said.
But politics is involved in the charity. Santorum put political lobbyists and campaign staffers in charge of Operation Good Neighbor.
Charles Black is a member of the board of advisers for Operation Good Neighbor, and a federally registered lobbyist with the Washington firm BKSH.
One of his clients is ALCOA, a company that last year received a $1.9 million federal defense contract that Santorum and fellow Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) trumpeted in a news release.
Barbara Bonfiglio is treasurer of Operation Good Neighbor. She's also treasurer of Santorum's re-election campaign and his political action committee, America's Foundation. Bonfiglio is a principal in Williams and Jensen, a top Washington lobbying firm.
And Operation Good Neighbor's executive director is Rob Bickhart, who gets paid a salary by the charity and rent because Operation Good Neighbor is located in the suburban Phialdephia offices of Bickhart's company, Capitol Resource Group.
Santorum's re-election campaign and his PAC are also located there and they pay rent, too. And they pay management fees to Capitol resource.
Parsons: "Why are you paying a lobbyist, Rob Bickhart, to run that charity of yours?"
Santorum: "Well, first of all, he's not a lobbyist, No. one."
Parsons: "Well, he's a principal in a lobbying firm."
Santorum: "No, he's a principal in a public affairs firm, a government relations firm. And he does a whole bunch of other things."
But Capitol Resource Group's Web site clearly lists lobbying as a service it provides to clients.
And just last month, when Sen. Arlen Specter was facing questions about his ties to lobbyists, published reports in the Post-Gazette and New York Times said Bickhart and his Capitol Resources Group lobbied Specter.
