Santorum goes Green

I surely don't want to razz Brad Friedman, a great guy who runs one of the few indispensible blogs. But, given his long-standing interest in electoral shannanigans, and given his long-standing affection for the Green Party (which played a key role in the 2004 Ohio recount), Brad ought to consider covering this story from TPM Muckraker. The piece claims that flacks working for Republican Senator Rick Santorum, now facing a difficult reelection battle, faked signatures to help place the Green candidate on the ballot:

“The writing expert’s findings raise serious questions, not only about the illegal financing of the petition drive paid for by Santorum backers but how he authorizes the use of campaign staff for apparent fraud," Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney said.

Democrats say that more than 69,000 of the approximately 100,000 signatures gathered by Santorum staffers and JSM, Inc., a private company hired by the Greens with Republican money, are fraudulent.

Before my fellow Democrats leap atop the nearest high horse, we should recall the long-standing reports that Democratic monies once secretly flowed to the American Independent Party (home to George Wallace and the outlandish John Schmitz) and to the Libertarians. Similar rumors hold that covert Republican money maintained the old Peace and Freedom party on artificial life support for ages. Keeping a third party just healthy enough to seep votes from your main opponent is an ancient art.

Have the Dems resorted to a ploy like that lately? Whenever you run into a politically-oriented Old Fart who confides, with a wink and a grin, that "everyone knows" how right-leaning minor parties got Democratic cashola, you can expect to hear stories from the days when American Pie blared out of the 8-track tape players in AMC Gremlins. The political landscape has shifted since then. One expects the Greens to adhere to a higher ethical standard and to seek out classier bedfellows.

Besides, there's a difference between an ethically-dubious covert contribution and the outright illegality of fake signature.