Monday 1 September 2008

Rick Santorum

Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) - Chairman o/t Senate Republican Conference; Joined Lawfirm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC; Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.; Contributor to Fox News Channel

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Richard John Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum is a member of the Republican Party and was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the number-three job in the party leadership of the Senate.

Santorum is usually considered a strong social and fiscal conservative but paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians have accused him of being too reliant upon the federal government.[1] He also holds strong neoconservative stances in regard to foreign policy, which has further alienated many conservatives of a more traditional nature.[2] He is particularly known for his stances on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Social Security, intelligent design, homosexuality, and the Terri Schiavo case.[3] Santorum was defeated 59% to 41% in the 2006 U.S. Senate election by Democratic candidate Bob Casey, Jr. This was the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator since 1980.

In March 2007, Santorum joined Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. He will primarily practice law in the firm’s Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. offices, where he will provide business and strategic counseling services to the firm clients. In addition to his work with the firm, Santorum also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and is a contributor to Fox News Channel.

Early life, education, and legal career

Santorum was born in Winchester, Virginia, and raised in Berkeley County West Virginia and Butler County, Pennsylvania, the son of Aldo Santorum (born 1923) and Catherine Dughi (born 1918). Both his father and maternal grandfather were of Italian descent.[4] In 1976, Santorum graduated from Carmel High School in Mundelein, Illinois.[5]. He lists his residency as Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, and maintains a home in Leesburg, Virginia, for his work in Washington, D.C. His father was an immigrant from Italy.[6]

Santorum earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science, from Pennsylvania State University in 1980, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981.

In 1986, Santorum earned a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law, was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, and began practicing law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While working at the law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, he represented the World Wrestling Federation, arguing that professional wrestling should be exempt from federal anabolic steroid regulations because it was not a sport.[7] Santorum left private practice after first being elected to the House in November 1990.

Santorum and his wife, Karen Garver Santorum, have six children: Elizabeth Anne (born 1991); Richard John ("Johnny"), Jr. (born 1993); Daniel James (born 1995); Sarah Maria (born 1998); Peter Kenneth (born 1999); and Patrick Francis (born 2001). In 1996, their son Gabriel Michael was born prematurely and lived for only two hours (a sonogram taken before Gabriel was born revealed that his posterior urethral valve was closed and that the prognosis for his survival was therefore poor). Karen Santorum wrote a book about the experience: Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum.[8] In it, she writes that the couple brought the deceased infant home from the hospital and introduced the dead child to their living children as "your brother Gabriel" and slept with the body overnight before returning it to the hospital. The anecdote was also written about by Michael Sokolove in a 2005 'New York Times Magazine story on Santorum.[9] Karen is also the author of a book on etiquette for children.[10]

Santorum and his family attend Latin Mass at a Roman Catholic Church near Washington, D.C. On weekdays, he attends another church. On November 12, 2004, Santorum and his wife were invested as Knight and Dame of Magistral Grace of the Knights of Malta in a ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.[11]
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Comments about the Boston Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal

In 2005, a controversy developed over comments about Boston, Massachusetts, that Santorum made in a 2002 article about the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Santorum wrote:
“ It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.[62] ”

These comments came to wider attention through an opinion column in the Philadelphia Daily News on June 24, 2005. Columnist John Baer cited Santorum's article, stating, "I'd remind you this is the same Senate leader who recently likened Democrats fighting to save the filibuster to Nazis."[63]

Santorum's remarks were criticized, especially in Massachusetts. On July 12, 2005, Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory called on Santorum to explain his statement, and reported that Robert Traynham, Santorum's Director of Communications, told him "It's an open secret that you have Harvard University and MIT that tend to tilt to the left in terms of academic biases. I think that's what the senator was speaking to." Julie Teer, a spokeswoman for Governor of Massachusetts, Republican Mitt Romney, said "What happened with the church sex abuse scandal was a tragedy, but it had nothing to do with geography or the culture of Boston."

Later that day, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) delivered a personal rebuke to Santorum on the Senate floor, saying "The people of Boston are to blame for the clergy sexual abuse? That is an irresponsible, insensitive and inexcusable thing to say."[64] Santorum has stood by his 2002 article and has not apologized.

On July 21, 2005, Rush Limbaugh interviewed Santorum about Kennedy's speech. Santorum said that he was being targeted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which, he said, coordinated with the media to publicize Kennedy's speech. He argued that his statement about Boston was taken out of context from an article he had written three years earlier. Santorum agreed with Limbaugh's summary that it was "no surprise that the center of the Catholic Church abuse took place in very liberal, or perhaps the nation's most liberal area, Boston." Santorum reiterated his broader theme of a cultural connection, saying that it is "no surprise that the culture affects people's behavior. [...] the liberal culture — the idea that [...] sexual inhibitions should be put aside and people should be able to do whatever they want to do, has an impact on people and how they behave." When asked why Boston specifically was mentioned, Santorum pointed out that, in July 2002, the outrage of American Catholics, as well as his own, was focused on the Archdiocese of Boston.[65]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorumhttp://www.maltausa.org/files/newsletter_hospitallers_04.pdf (Proof Positive)
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(AP) Democrat Bob Casey highlights his religious work while Republican Sen. Rick Santorum seeks out evangelical Christians, a reflection of the fierce fight for voters of faith.

Casey, who is a Catholic, has been talking openly about his religious upbringing and his work with the Jesuit Corps. He unveiled a 60-second television ad in the Philadelphia market Tuesday featuring a former student talking about Casey's mentoring from days in the corps' inner-city program.

Similar to a missionary assignment, Casey spent one year with the organization, which he described in a speech last week at Catholic University in Washington....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/21/a...ics/mainD8K8VAP80.shtml
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Rick Santorum
Full Name: Rick Santorum

Current Office: Senator, PA

Born: Winchester, Virginia

Education: B.A., Penn State University; M.B.A., University of Pittsburgh; J.D., Dickinson School of Law

Religion: Roman Catholic, Conservative Latin Rite Mass, Knight of Malta

Family: Wife, Karen Garver Santorum; six children

Significant Career Experience: Director, Pennsylvania Senate Local Government Committee, 1981-9184; Director, Pennsylvania Senate's Transportation Committee, 1984-1986; U.S. House of Representatives, 1991-95; U.S. Senate, 1995 - present

Publications:

It Takes a Family : Conservatism and the Common Good
Rick Santorum

Description: Rick Santorum is a solid conservative with excellent views on immigration, national defence and homeland security.

Views on Immigration:
]http://lrp57.redstate.com/story/2006/5/21/144619/676

http://www.wikigop.com/page/Rick+Santorum?t=anon
Social Network Diagram (sparse):
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_SANTORUM_RICK_%28R%2DPA%29

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