On the campaign trail, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum talks up his role in overhauling welfare laws and curbing abortion rights. Less mentioned is the money he sent home to preserve cannons at Gettysburg National Military Park or to build new quarters for polar bears at the Pittsburgh zoo.
During 16 years in Congress, Mr. Santorum was an active participant in the congressional practice of earmarking federal funds for projects designated by lawmakers in their home states. It was standard procedure when Mr. Santorum was in Congress, but today has become anathema to conservatives, opening the surging candidate to attacks from other Republicans and potentially damping support from a core constituency.
On Thursday, Sen. John McCain, who has crusaded against earmarks and now supports former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the nomination, hit Mr. Santorum on the issue. "I believe that earmarking is a gateway drug to corruption," Mr. McCain told CNN. "Sen. Santorum supported it and engaged in it as much as he possibly could."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP contender, released a video highlighting Mr. Santorum's support for earmarks that prominently featured a large pig.
Mr. Santorum's presidential campaign is gathering strength after his photo finish in the Iowa caucuses, helped by Republicans skeptical of front-runner Mr. Romney.
No totals are available, but based on news coverage and press statements released by Mr. Santorum's office, it is clear he sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Pennsylvania. Ethics watchdogs put the senator in the middle of the pack for his use of the practice. The state's delegation at the time, which included Sen. Arlen Specter and the late Rep. John Murtha, was known for its extensive use of earmarks. Members of Congress weren't required until 2007 to disclose their earmark requests.
Mr. Santorum's assistance to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium helped build Water's Edge, an exhibit housing polar bears. He helped secure about $200,000 in federal funding toward the $18 million project.
"If the pot of money is there, I'm going to make sure we get a piece of that money," Mr. Santorum said after visiting the zoo in 2006, during his unsuccessful Senate re-election campaign.
The Santorum campaign didn't respond to requests for comment. In recent interviews, Mr. Santorum has continued to defend earmarks, though both the House and the Senate have imposed moratoriums on their use.
Critics say the practice can foster unsavory backroom deals between lawmakers and well-connected local constituents, who trade campaign contributions in return for earmarks. Defenders say that if done ethically, earmarks merely represent lawmakers exercising their constitutional duty to direct spending and legitimate work on behalf of their constituents.
"I don't regret going out at the time and making sure that the people of Pennsylvania, who I was elected to represent, got resources back into the state after spending money," Mr. Santorum said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
At a roadside diner in Tilton, N.H., on Thursday, a voter asked Mr. Santorum about Mr. McCain's criticism. "I would put my record on entitlement reform against his, and more importantly, against Gov. Romney's," Mr. Santorum responded.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas requested $119 million in earmarks between 2008 and 2010, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, and he has said there should be more of them, not less. "I represent people who are asking for some of their money back," Mr. Paul once explained.
Earmark spending surged when Newt Gingrich—who is also seeking the GOP nomination—was speaker of the House in the 1990s, and he directed appropriators to help vulnerable GOP incumbents by, among other things, ensuring they received favorable spending items.
During his career in Congress, Mr. Santorum took credit for earmarks that covered water projects such as the Quemahoning Reservoir, which got $750,000, and for sewer systems, welfare-to-work training centers and highway ramps.
Mr. Santorum helped push for $17 million to test a controversial engine for one of the Navy's Aegis class of ships, which had been criticized by a senior admiral, Navy auditors and the agency now known as the Government Accountability Office. The engine had failed an earlier important test and the GAO advised the Navy to reconsider the entire program. Mr. Santorum and others from Pennsylvania lobbied hard for the new test, which would be carried out at the Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia.
In 1997, Mr. Santorum got $1 million added to the budget for the Gettysburg National Military Park to preserve Civil War battlefield museum and artifacts. He criticized the deterioration of soldiers' old uniforms, diaries, photos and cannon carriages during a Senate speech that year. Nine years later, he touted another $350,000 for Gettysburg.
One of the bigger earmarks he championed was a $100 million no-interest loan to help build a coal-to-liquid fuel plant in Pennsylvania, according to a Santorum press release. A RAND Corporation study has said the process, which turns coal into liquid fuel for use in transportation, creates more carbon dioxide emissions than regular oil.
Earmarks Carry Risk for Santorum (The Wall Street Journal)
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