Daily Santorum: Grover Power
On his post-presidential announcement magical mystery tour, Rick Santorum is heading to New Hampshire today to meet with one of the Republican Party's biggest power players: Grover Norquist. Rick will sign Grover's Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" to never ever raise taxes. For those who have not heard of the most famous Grover who isn't a blue monster, this Washington Post piece is instructive in describing his influence on the budget reform debate and elsewhere.
Lest you think Santorum is special for signing the pledge, the Post notes that all but 13 of 288 GOP members of Congress have signed an anti-tax raising pledge. Norquist also has his fingers in Pennsylvania politics as legislators dance around his wishes in crafting a Marcellus Shale tax impact fee freedom fine.
It's not dominating national headlines, but Santorum is plugging along hitting the national media scene -- John King, Greta Van Susteren -- and talking local abortion politics in Iowa.
But not all of the press has been good. The Huffington Post reported that Santorum serves on the board of a hospital chain that has had a few troubles:
Both federal and state officials have routinely cited UHS for a seemingly endless number of violations, ranging from Medicaid fraud to patient neglect and abuse. Investigations have uncovered everything from riots to rape to homicide at UHS facilities.
During Santorum's tenure on the UHS board, state documents and court records show, patients at UHS health care facilities have endured systemic failures that have cost millions in court settlements. In several instances, the company and its subsidiaries have been threatened with losing the ability to take in federally-subsidized patients. At various times, states have stopped sending children to UHS facilities. And in the last few years, the King of Prussia, Pa.-based mega-company has been the subject of two Department of Justice lawsuits accusing the chain of fraud.
The thing about Rick Santorum, though, is the man takes criticism and presses on. He even showed a flash of humor in discussing his Twitter spat with Miley "Party in the USA" Cyrus:
When she came out against me, we actually had a family meeting and decided whether I can continue on in this process and, you know, we had to talk to the kids and it was difficult. But we’re actually holding out; we still think we might get Lindsay Lohan. And with that, we can continue. We’re waiting.