Rendell's sleazy even with the little stuff - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

My only quibble with the editorial that follows is that mention of "little." Mixing the politics with the efforts of the office -- while in office -- isn't little. It is a big deal.

Headline should be: "Rendell is sleazy with web stuff too."

Rendell's sleazy even with the little stuff - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Rendell's sleazy even with the little stuff

Sunday, September 3, 2006

The issue that you first read about here in Whispers last month refuses to die: Gov. Ed Rendell still is unabashedly using the state Web site to link to his campaign Internet site.

The Democrat governor's official schedule is linked to his campaign schedule -- and from there, to the whole cyberworld of re-electing Rendell to a second term.

Republicans have been making it an issue over the past two weeks. The governor's office says there is no issue, and contends it saves time and money by not having to refer political inquiries to the campaign.

Not every Pennsylvania elected official is so nonchalant about using public resources to finance a political campaign.

At last week's Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, was asked whether he would link his official Web page to his campaign site.

'No,' Santorum said. 'As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure if I'd be allowed to, if I could. But, no, I don't think you're allowed to. But I think -- look, I can't tell you -- I'll show you the two Blackberrys I have; I keep everything separate.'

He continued: 'We go out of our way to keep everything as separate. ... We put up firewalls everywhere we possibly can to make sure the taxpayers are not putting one cent into this campaign.'