Quid Pro Quo

Donors Rewarded Santorum's Earmarks

Gave out over $1 billion during Senate career.

Fresh off his weekend endorsement by evangelical leaders, Rick Santorum renewed attacks on Mitt Romney, who now holds a significant lead in South Carolina. A Romney group, meanwhile, is escalating attacks on Santorum over wasteful spending. The New York Times investigated some of the earmarks in question, and found that Santorum gave out a lot of them, and that they often yielded campaign contributions. For example, Santorum helped secure a $3.5 million military contract for JLG Industries in 2005. The next year, executives from JLG gave Santorum's campaign $6,000. According to Tax Payers for Common Sense, Santorum gave out over $1 billion in earmarks during his 11-year Senate career.