Santorum's mortgage raises interest

Philadelphia Daily News ^ | 2/21/2006 | WILL BUNCH

[Poison Pill]

"I think we should pay them much more, if they made more $$$ they would have less incentive to take illegal money. "

I've always thought we should pay members on Congress something like $100,000 a month and then deduct $5000 every time they cast a vote.

[zeugma]

Ya kinda have to wonder if these folks were as interested in Billory's "special" mortgage as well.

[linda_22003]

It's very short term. Maybe he thinks he might be moving out of the area soon?

[Wage Slave]

Maybe the wife doen't work and doesn't bring in any income. I can't get past the six-children-and-cyber-schooling thing. I raised three and sent them to school, and I was still busy every minute of the day. Who's supervising the schooling? A live-in teacher?

[Mo1]

I know for a fact many of those folks are living paycheck to paycheck.

Listening to the moms at my kids school and listening to them brag about all the things they have .. doesn't take much to realize their $$$ signs don't match up what they are brining in each month

[Nathan Zachary]

The guy qualifies for a personal line of credit at most banks if he makes $150 g a year. Not to mention your other observations, which are correct.

This is just typical RAT mudslinging. An invasion of privacy in my opinion. Santorum ahould turn this around and throw it right back at them.

[gate2wire]

"It's very short term. Maybe he thinks he might be moving out of the area soon?"

Don't know this for a fact but would guess there is a balloon payment due at end of term. House was worth 643K in 2001. Must be easily over a million by now. Re-finance to make balloon payment or sell and pocket at least $500,000. Nice investment Rick. :-)

[RockinRight]

It's probably a 5 year balloon, amortized over 30 with low payments. Which means he'll have to refinance or sell at the end of 5 years unless he's got half a million bucks laying around. Assuming his credit is OK, refinancing wouldn't be a big deal at that point. Even if he's not that wealthy, his Senatorial salary should cover the payments as long as he doesn't have other major debts.

Of course, if he loses in November...then who knows...

[zeugma]

I've always thought we should pay members on Congress something like $100,000 a month and then deduct $5000 every time they cast a vote.

A better idea is to pay them nothing, and give them $5000 every time they repeal a law. Passing a new law would cost them $10k.

[kaboom]

...so what the heck is this only worth 140k stuff?

They were referring to liquid assets, and the bank policy of catering to affluent customers with at least $250k in liquid assets.

[steve-b]

I don't think it is illegal for a bank to loan money to whoever they want to.

If they made a loan to Senator Rick Santorum that they would not have made to Private Citizen Rick Santorum in the expectation of quid pro quo, it most certainly is illegal. The case hinges on those two questions of fact, and frankly they both smell suspicious.

[Not A Snowbird]

There is no evidence that Santorum - who sits on the Senate Banking Committee - took any official actions on behalf of Philadelphia Trust.

So... what's the problem, then?

[adgirl]

More disturbing, though, are the random charges through the PAC

The charges aren't disturbing to me at all, but then again I run my own business. I often meet people at coffee shops for meetings, or pick up office supplies--the other thing I do is create promotions for my clients and it sometimes involves buying unconventional items from retail stores just to show how something would look as part of a direct mail package, or web promo. Then we source the product wholesale if they like it. I even have to buy clothing, furniture and other household accessories for commercials and photo shoots. If the client is on a budget, I'll have them buy the stuff. Sometimes they return it, or they can use it in their offices.

[JohnnyZ]

A 500k 5 year mortgage on a property means that property alone is worth likely far far more than 500k... so what the heck is this only worth 140k stuff?

I think the 140k is from a certain category when Congressmen file their financial statements -- sounds like Santorum's investments were in a range from $XX-$140k. I'm guessing this is only stocks, bonds, etc, and doesn't include real estate, at least not residences, which is where it seems most of their assets are tied up, and also may not include retirement savings in certain categories?

[Ditto]

"...so what the heck is this only worth 140k stuff? "

According to the article, the private bank only deals with people who invest a minimum of $250k in "liquid assets" in that bank, but this in the PG. Hard to tell what the real story is.

[HamiltonJay]

This is a family making at least 200k a year cash.. with a house in PA and a house in the hot VA market... I am sorry but unless the family has drug or gambling addiction problems I'm not buying that they only have 140k in liquid assets. His wife and his 401k/IRAs/etc alone probably have more than that in them.

The problem with folks "estimating" other folks net worth, is that most times the estimators don't have a real clue of what a person holds.

[Coop]

This is one Conservative who would not cry if you lost.

You might be singing a different tune when the GOP decides conservatives can no longer win statewide races in PA.

[Coop]

That is a blatant hit piece. And guess what? It is having the desired effect even here! WHAT THE HECK! So many here, "It doesn't look good..."

Yep and yep.

[g_suvorov]

For a small business, the charges aren't strange. But for a PAC?

You're talking about $4.44 at a service station. $5.26 at a convenience store. Multiple charges at a supermarket. Charges that reflect the purchasing habits of a family, not a political action committee.

[Coop]

If they made a loan to Senator Rick Santorum that they would not have made to Private Citizen Rick Santorum in the expectation of quid pro quo, it most certainly is illegal. The case hinges on those two questions of fact, and frankly they both smell suspicious.

They smell suspicious why? Because the author wanted you to think so.