Republican value #1

Screw 'em till you get caught.

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum should reimburse $100,000 to the Penn Hills School District for taxpayer money used since 2001 to cover online charter school tuition for his children, four school board members said Thursday.

The senator will not respond until the board makes a formal request, said Santorum's deputy chief of staff, Robert Traynham.

"He has done nothing wrong," Traynham said. "The Penn Hills School District for the last four years has paid for (Santorum's) children to attend the charter school and have seen nothing out of the ordinary. They have basically said, 'This is OK.' "

Questions over his residency prompted Santorum to announce Wednesday that he is withdrawing his five school-age children from Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Midland, Beaver County. The No. 3 Republican in the Senate, Santorum owns a $106,000 home next door to his wife Karen's parents in Penn Hills, but he and his family split time between there and a $757,000 house in Virginia. Santorum's annual Senate salary is $157,000.

"He's admitted he's not a resident. I'm going to put up a motion for him to pay back the entire amount," said Penn Hills School Board member Erin Vecchio, chairwoman of the local Democratic Committee.

  Pittsburgh Live article

Senator I-have-no-idea-how-my-pre tty-young-female-intern-e nded-up-dead-in-my-office Santorum's salary really is kind of small. I can see why he'd want to take advantage of the Penn Hills School District's taxpayer's kind program.

Penn Hills Superintendent Patricia Gennari said she phoned the senator Wednesday afternoon to arrange for the district to query him about his residency. Santorum issued a statement late that night saying he had decided to pull his children from the online school and home-school them instead after being told by district officials that "only children who live in a community on a full-time basis" are eligible for the tuition money.

Yeah, I suppose he didn't know that when he applied for the money. Or took it for the past four years.

"The problem is not with Senator Santorum. The problem is that the law is inherently flawed," she said. "He believed he was entitled to it, and that's a common misconception -- that taxpayer equals resident."

All just a mistake. He just missed a little detail. Could happen to anyone. I wonder what the enrollment forms look like. Is there no resident check box? Since that's a rule and all?

Santorum decided to avoid subjecting his children to a public fight over his residency, Traynham said.

"The senator does not want to interrupt his children to go into any battle," he said.

What a swell guy. So concerned about his kids.

Online charter schools provide parents with computers, textbooks and evaluation services, and pay for Internet connections, allowing children to be taught at home.

[...]

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School yesterday offered to allow Santorum to enroll the children without the tuition provided he pick up the technology costs.

"PA Cyber stands behind the Santorum children," Nick Trombetta, the school's CEO, said in a statement. "We made a commitment to the Santorum family. ... We have no intention of abandoning that commitment."

That's pretty generous. I wonder if that offer holds for other Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School kids. Well?

The debate over the senator's residency brought to mind his 1990 House race against Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren, said Dominick Gambino, former director of the Allegheny County Property Assessment office. Santorum labeled Walgren as a carpetbagger for living near the capital rather than in the 18th District.

"I find it kind of interesting that the same issue presents itself today," Gambino said.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway, he didn't add.