Santorum as Typical DC Opportunist

Bloomberg reports that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum , has come a long way from from being one of the poorer members of the U.S. Senate to earning $1.3 million between January 2010 and August 2011. How did he do it? Mostly by providing access, after he lost his Senate seat.

Here's Bloomberg:

Santorum’s financial rise was powered by consulting contracts with fuel producer Consol Energy Inc, faith advocacy group Clapham Group and American Continental Group, a Washington consultancy, as well as media engagements. 

“If he’s claiming he’s not an insider, this is the thing that insiders do -- after public office they cash in,” said Kent Cooper, a campaign finance expert and former Federal Elections Commission assistant staff director. 

Outside of his employment contracts, Santorum’s greatest financial gain came from $395,414 in director fees and stock options he listed in a recent financial disclosure.

The fees and options came from King of Prussia-based Universal Health Services Inc., a publicly traded health-care management company that was sued in 2010 by the federal government for alleged Medicaid fraud. 

When Santorum left office after the 2006 defeat, he was earning a $165,200 congressional salary with $32,245 in outside income from book royalties.

His assets, primarily investment funds, were valued at between $20,000 and $125,000. “For the Senate, once you get below a couple million, you’re one of the less wealthy,” said Cooper.

After leaving office, Santorum signed on with a number of outside companies and organizations, bringing in $1.3 million from January 2010 through Aug. 2 of last year, according to disclosure forms. His home in the Washington Virginia suburbs has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and sits on five acres of land.

Santorum listed his assets, including IRA accounts, education savings plans and stock as being worth between $339,000 and $1.3 million. His five rental properties in State College, Pennsylvania, are worth another $500,000 to $1.25 million, according to the disclosure report that allows wide ranges for revealing income and asset values.

He earned $217,385 in income as a senior fellow for the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington and $346,152 for columns in the Philadelphia Inquirer and appearances on News Corp.’s Fox and Salem Radio in California. Smaller amounts came from the company consulting agreements, with Consol Energy paying the most at $142,500, during the period from 2010 to Aug. 2, 2011.

He was also hired in 2007 to work in the Washington office of Pittsburgh law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott  and left in May 2008, according to firm spokeswoman Karen Come. She didn’t disclose a reason for his departure. 

The $395,414 Santorum brought in from his relationship with Universal Health is his biggest post-Congress monetary gain, other than his employment contracts, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.

The Justice Department accused the company in a 2010 lawsuit of submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims under the Medicaid health-care program for the poor. The government said the company falsely claimed to have provided inpatient psychiatric services to children at a detention facility in Marion, Virginia. Pantaleoni said the case has been settled. 

Santorum (surprise) resigned from the board June 15, 2011, as he prepared for a presidential run.

Santorum continued to maintain his home in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. According to Sloan, Santorum received a preferential $500,000 mortgage on the home from Philadelphia Trust Company, where he didn’t hold any bank accounts. Officers at the company had contributed to Santorum’s re-election campaign.

The Senate Committee on Ethics never responded to Sloan’s complaint and Santorum left office shortly thereafter after losing his seat

.