Santorum Charity Low on Giving, Up on Fees

[Kadie]

Santorum Charity Low on Giving, Up on Fees

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer
9 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record)'s charity donated about 40 percent of the $1.25 million it spent during a four-year period, well below Better Business Bureau standards — paying out the rest for overhead, including several hundred thousand dollars to campaign aides on the charity payroll.

The charity, Operation Good Neighbor, is described on its Web site as an organization promoting "compassionate conservatism" by providing grants to small nonprofit groups, many of them religious.

The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance says charitable organizations should spend at least 65 percent of their total expenses on program activities.

Operation Good Neighbor is based at the same address as Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum's campaign office in suburban Philadelphia, and some of the same people who have worked on his campaign are working for his charity and collecting money from it, records show.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060224/ap_on_go_co/santorum_charity_1

[bballny]

1. Rightwing motto

Stuff my pockets with Charity money. Followed by Abramoff, Robertson and others

[PA Democrat]

2. Boy, the more the press starts to dig,

the more dirt they uncover on good old Senator Sanctimonious. It really looks as though he uses this charity to pay for expenses not related to the charity.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

3. Paying off the 5 year, $500,000 mortgage?

Wouldn't surprise me based on (P)ricky's track record.

[NanceGreggs]

4. God knows the crimes of the current crop of GOPers ...

... have been fiendish, even fatal, but THIS is the most despicable, IMHO, of all.

We all know that Americans are kind-hearted, charitable people. And many of those who donate are the ones who can afford it the LEAST, especially in today's economy.

To play on that kind-heartedness, to bilk pensioners and those on very restrictive budgets out of their money on the premise that their dollars will go to a 'worthy cause' - and then line your own pockets with it, or those of your family and friends - is beneath contempt.

I guess this is just another little scam that the Repubs have learned from their friends, the Fundie preachers, who have been the masters of this game for decades.

It's the ol' Jerry Falwell school: "Give until it hurts, and help spread God's word around the globe. And please don't be so impertinent as to ask where my custom-made designer suits come from, or how I can afford a multi-million dollar home on a poor preacher's stipend."

These people should be nailed to the cross - figuratively, because it's appropriate punishment, and literally, because it's what they deserve.