Santorum 'hearts' lobbyists - again

Sen. Rick Santorum - the soon-to-be-jobless Senator from my home state - has resumed his meetings with lobbyists. You know, the ones he promised in January to stop?

He's like a junkie who promises to go clean and even goes through rehab, but just can't keep away from the bad stuff.

The Washington Post says:

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.

*sigh* Ricky, Ricky, Ricky....if you can't help yourself, I guess the voters of Pennsylvania will have to do an intervention and permanently separate you from the big money guys. Come November Ricky, you'll be saved from those big bad lobbyists, and you might have to come home and make your kids go to school in PA. Oh, the horror!

**Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file

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