Pushing for new rules, living by old

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, May, 2006 | by Carrie Budoff

Speaking from the Senate floor, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) urged his colleagues to curtail a popular perk: private corporate-sponsored flights at bargain rates for members of Congress.

"This is clearly a subsidy," he said March 8.

Two days earlier, he had taken a BellSouth plane from a runway near his home in Leesburg, Va., to fund-raising events in North Carolina and South Carolina. The jet ferried Santorum, two aides and Ward White, BellSouth's top Washington lobbyist.

Santorum paid $6,955 - first-class rates, as Senate rules require, but a fraction of what it costs to operate the plane.

The subsidized flight - one of two disclosed in Santorum's latest campaign finance filing - underscores how business has gone on as usual for some in...