Santorum charity for the poor spent most of its money on management, political friends

[spanone]

so, rick's a phony too...

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As Republicans gathered for their national convention in Philadelphia a decade ago, Rick Santorum, who was then an up-and-coming senator from Pennsylvania, launched a charity he said would improve the lives of low-income residents in his home state.

“Wouldn’t it be a great thing to leave something positive behind other than a bunch of parties and a bunch of garbage?” Santorum told a local reporter.

But homeless families and troubled children were not the biggest beneficiaries of “Operation Good Neighbor.” Instead, the foundation spent most of its money to run itself, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for fundraising, administration and office rental paid to Santorum’s political allies.

The charity also had significant overlap with the senator’s campaigns and his work on Capitol Hill. Among the leading donors to the foundation were Pennsylvania development and finance firms that had donated to his election efforts and had interests that Santorum had supported in the Senate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/santorum-charity-for-the-poor-spent-most-of-its-money-on-management-political-friends/2012/01/11/gIQAGDKVwP_story.html

[riverbendviewgal]

1. I am not surprissed

lets see who in MSM puts this story out.

[Hoyt]

2. That's just dang criminal. I'd love to hear his explanation.

[DCKit]

4. Problem is, it's NOT criminal.

Charities have to spend <10% on actual charity to qualify.

As sad as that is, it is the law.

[spanone]

5. they should reverse the percentages

[EC]

3. Well, I figured that is why all these repubs have charities.

To pay themselves large salaries for administrative needs.

[tanyev]

10. GOP SOP.

[Crankie Avalon]

6. That's the efficiency of private industry being turned loose on the social safety net.

[RevStPatrick]

7. I've thought for a while that Santorum's piousness...

...his self-righteousness and his anti-gay rhetoric may be nothing more than a cover for and distraction from his utter corruptness. You know, act like such a total ass-hat to throw his enemies off the scent of what he REALLY cares about, which is enriching himself and his cronies.

Does he really believe and care about all the stupid things that he says?

[DCKit]

8. I heard it mentioned recently that Santorum "invented K St."

Just sayin'

[RevStPatrick]

9. Oh, I'm certainly not convinced...

...that he doesn't believe his crap, but you never know.

Besides, when it comes down to it, isn't the K Street Project really all about the money?

[spanone]

11. more....

Before it folded in 2007, the foundation raised $2.58 million, with 39 percent of that donated directly to groups helping the needy. By industry standards, such philanthropic groups should be donating nearly twice that, from 75 to 85 percent of their funds.

“That’s exceptionally poor,” Ken Berger, president of Charity Navigator, a national organization that rates charitable groups, said of the group’s giving. “We would tell donors to run with fear from this organization.”

Santorum campaign adviser John Brabender said the former senator remains proud of the cause he championed.

[nobodyspecial]

12. You mean actual poor people should have benefited?

That's the problem with a lot of these society page charities -- a bunch of rich people throwing fancy parties for themselves and then patting themselves on the back.

[Tx4obama]

13. K & R n/t