Anybody really believe he did this for a $2000 donation? You can disagree with his position on the bill, but believe this -- he really thinks it is wrong for the federal government to provide something in competition with the private sector.
You don't get that information "for free". It costs money to deliver it. We KNOW it costs money, because if you give the same data to the private sector, and they have every reason to try to give it to you as efficiently as possible, they will have to charge money for it.
But now, the federal government spends everybody's tax dollars to provide it to you for free. My tax dollars pay for you to get that for free. You can like that, just like others like all the things the federal government gives THEM for free, competing with (or locking out) private companies who could do the same jobs for lower cost, but couldn't get others to pay to give it to you for free.
I have no position about his bill, and I don't know anything about the PAWS bill except what I just read (which looks strange to me that a conservative who in one case fought government intervention would take a different approach on PAWS).
But I don't believe Santorum did this for a campaign donation.
I never suggested he did it for a $2000. donation. This is the first time I ever heard of that. I can just tell you that NOAA marine forecasts are vital to boaters and something many have relied upon for years. It would be the same if suddenly, we were told that no more land weather reports would be available unless you pay for the service. OOps, sorry about that tornado that just hit your house, but you chose not to pay for a weather report.
Yep. He doesn't even have the saving grace of being a high-priced whore.
he really thinks it is wrong for the federal government to provide something in competition with the private sector
If that's the problem, the legitimate solution is to sell off the agency to a private owner. To deny taxpayers access to the data, while requiring them to continue paying for its collection, and then pay again to get it from one of his bagmen, is corrupt.
Really, when the names involved were "Bill Clinton", "Grande Escalante", and "James Riady" rather than "Rick Santorum", "National Weather Service", and "AccuWeather", I'm sure you understood this concept perfectly well.