By KAREN MACPHERSON, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
WASHINGTON (SH) - Conservative groups are urging Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to help lead the fight to deny the Senate Judiciary Committee chairmanship to his colleague, Sen. Arlen Specter.
The groups noted that they already were upset with Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, for supporting Specter earlier this year in his GOP primary contest against Rep. Patrick Toomey, a conservative and strong opponent of abortion.
If Santorum hopes to avoid his own Senate primary battle in two years -and perhaps make a run for president in 2008 - he needs to heed conservative concerns about whether Specter, a moderate, can be trusted to shepherd President Bush's judicial nominees through the Senate, the groups said.
"When I was out on the road in Pennsylvania, people were so angry with Sen. Santorum for backing Sen. Specter" in the primary, said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, head of the Christian Defense Coalition. "Wouldn't it be fascinating if Congressman Toomey ran a primary against Santorum?"
Jan LaRue, chief counsel of the Concerned Women for America, agreed that Santorum "has got to do something here. The Senate controls its own rules; there are a number of ways they can address this. It's up to them, but get rid of him (Specter).
"Santorum would like to become the president of the United States, but he alienated a lot of pro-family, pro-life people when he came to Specter's aid over Toomey, who is a strong pro-life man ...," LaRue said. "If he wants to get back that kind of support for his future political ambitions, he's got to do something" about Specter.
Santorum has so far refused, however, to be drawn into the public controversy. Asked for a comment Thursday, Santorum press secretary Christine Shott said he was sticking with his statement earlier this week that he was willing to leave the decision up to the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Conservative groups, meanwhile, announced that they were planning a "pray-in" Tuesday in Washington as part of their battle against Specter. The groups will pray outside one of the Senate office buildings and then attempt to present their concerns to Senate GOP leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.
The pray-in is just the latest in a series of efforts - including the Web sites
www.notarlen.com [
notarlen.com] and
www.notspecter.com [
notspecter.com] - to defeat Specter's bid for the chairmanship. While conservatives have never championed Specter, they were particularly outraged by his recent comments that Bush should be "mindful" that Senate Democrats, now numbering 44, still have enough votes to block judicial nominees, including potential U.S. Supreme Court choices.
"It brought back all of the mistrust we have of him," said Nancy Staible, head of the Pennsylvania branch of Concerned Women for America. "Many of us feel betrayed."
But Specter, who just won re-election to a fifth term, insisted again Thursday in an interview that he wasn't issuing a warning to Bush.
"There are two basic facts in this matter. One, I have never had a litmus test for nominees. ... And, two, I have supported President Bush's nominees. These people (conservative foes) like to have it all their own way."
Specter also said he has been singled out because he is the lone moderate Republican on the judiciary panel, and the same people who opposed him in the primary now are attempting to deny him the committee chairmanship. "It's another campaign," he said, adding, "It's a question of balance - not only balance within the party, but balance within the country."
The chairmanship would normally be Specter's by seniority, although senators must hold a formal vote when the new session of Congress begins in January. But the Specter issue is expected to come up next week at a meeting of Senate Republicans when the current Congress returns for a lame-duck session.
Stung by the conservatives' campaign, which has flooded Capitol Hill with e-mails and phone calls, Specter has mounted his own effort to collect enough Senate GOP backing to assure him the judiciary post.
