Senator Santorum speaks on politics at Fels Center event

Friday's colloquium on leadership at the Fels Center of Government featured Sen. Rick Santorum, who talked about his experiences on Capitol Hill. A crowd of about 50 people, containing mostly students, gathered to hear the politician. Santorum was in the House of Representatives between 1990 and 1994 and was then elected to the Senate in 1994. Santorum is cruising to re-election against Democratic challenger Rep. Ron Klink. Santorum told the audience that, "One of the reasons I came to Congress [is] I wanted to shake things up. The goal was to expose to America the rotting and corruption [in Congress]." As a member of the House of Representatives, Santorum was part of the high-profile "Gang of Seven," a group of congressmen so-named because of their relentless attempts to reform practices that were firmly entrenched in the House. Santorum noted his role in the resolution of the House banking scandal in which congressmen were abusing their check privileges. Santorum advised the audience members on how to be successful in leadership roles. "You have to be able to adapt to the situation you're in in order to accomplish your goals," he said. The senator described the need for coalition building in the highly volatile environment of the Senate, where one "cannot get a vote... without 100 people agreeing." During the open question-and-answer session that followed, the issue of campaign finance reform was raised, specifically the McCain-Feingold bill, which is designed to change the current system. "I would argue that campaign finance reform is the greatest threat to the First Amendment," Santorum responded. "The biggest problem is the $1,000 hard money limit," which he claimed would cause "a lot of very wealthy people to enter politics." "Individuals in a private election should have a right to speak [through donations to a candidate of their choosing]," Santorum said. He noted that incumbent candidates are able to raise more campaign funds due to their generally more extensive networks. Turning to the impending presidential election, Santorum gave his decidedly unfavorable opinion of current Democratic candidate Al Gore. "He has no friends [on Capitol Hill]," he said. "He's not someone who has engendered himself to anyone in Washington.... Gore will just be very difficult to deal with." Students in the audience had varying impressions of the talk. "He made some points that I thought he wouldn't come out with... especially [regarding] campaign finance reform," College junior Henry Brigham said. The event had little resemblance to a campaign stop, according to Fels Center Director Larry Sherman, who hosted the event. "Sen. Santorum gave a very humorous and modest presentation of himself," Sherman said. He added that the speech reflected on the current nature of elections: "[Santorum] clearly pointed out that he has the advantage as the incumbent" because of greater fundraising ability. Some students were not in agreement with Santorum's record as a senator. "I thought he was very partisan, unable to see the other side of the issues," said Chris Patusky, a Fels Center master's student. "He's against campaign finance reform very strongly," he added.