Rick Santorum From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Richard John "Rick " Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is an American author, attorney, and Republican Party politician. He served as a United States Senator representing Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007, and was the Senate's third-ranking Rick Santorum Republican from 2001 until 2007. [4] He ran as a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination,[5] finishing second to the eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney.i Born in Virginia, Santorum was raised primarily in Butler, Pennsylvania. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law. Santorum worked as an attorney at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, where he met Karen Garver. They married in 1990, and have seven living children (one child died shortly after birth). Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in 1990 and later became a member of a group dubbed the "Gang of Seven". Santorum was elected as a United States Senator for Pennsylvania in 1994. He served two terms until losing his re-election bid in 2006. Santorum holds socially conservative positions, and is particularly known for his opposition to same-sex marriage and birth control. While serving as a senator, Santorum was the author of what came to be known as the Santorum Amendment. In 2005, Santorum introduced the Workplace Religious Freedom Act along with Senator John Kerry. Santorum in 2013. In the years following his departure from the Senate, Santorum worked as a consultant, private-practice lawyer, and news contributor. On June 6, 2011 Santorum announced his run for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential United States Senator election. Upon announcing his campaign suspension on April 10, 2012, he had won 11 primaries and caucuses and received from Pennsylvania [6] over 3 million votes. Santorum officially endorsed Mitt Romney on May 7, 2012. In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2007 Preceded by Harris Wofford Contents Succeeded by Bob Casey, Jr. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives ■ 1 Early life and education from Pennsylvania's 18th district ■ 2 Early career ■ 3 U.S. House of Representatives (1991–1995) In office ■ 4 U.S. Senate (1995–2007) January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1995 ■ 4.1 Tenure Preceded by Doug Walgren ■ 4.2 Legislative proposals ■ 4.3 Foreign policy Succeeded by Mike Doyle ■ 4.4 Party leadership and other actions Personal details ■ 4.5 2006 campaign Born Richard John Santorum ■ 5 Post-Senate career ■ 5.1 Lawyer, political consultant and commentator May 10, 1958 ■ 5.2 Speculation of political plans Winchester, Virginia, U.S. ■ 5.3 2012 presidential campaign Political Republican ■ 5.4 Post-campaign party ■ 6 Patriot Voices ■ 7 Christianity Spouse(s) Karen Garver Santorum (m. 1990) ■ 8 Political positions Children 8 (1 deceased) ■ 8.1 Same-sex marriage and reproductive rights Residence Great Falls, Virginia, U.S. [1][2] ■ 8.2 Death penalty ■ 8.3 Opposition to libertarianism Alma mater Pennsylvania State University (BA) ■ 8.4 Against pornography University of Pittsburgh (MBA) ■ 8.5 Poverty Dickinson School of Law (JD) ■ 8.6 Illegal immigration Occupation Attorney, politician ■ 8.7 Social Security ■ 8.8 Energy and environment Religion Roman Catholicism [3] ■ 8.9 Gun control Signature ■ 9 Personal life ■ 10 Writings Website ricksantorum.com ■ 11 See also (http://ricksantorum.com) ■ 12 Notes ■ 13 References ■ 14 External links Early life and education Rick Santorum is the middle of the three children of Aldo Santorum (1923–2011), a clinical psychologist who immigrated to the United States at age seven from Riva del Garda, Italy,[7] and Catherine (Dughi) Santorum (b. 1918), an administrative nurse [7][8][9] who is of Italian and Irish descent. [10] Santorum was born in Winchester, Virginia,[11] and grew up in Berkeley County, West Virginia, and Butler County, Pennsylvania. In West Virginia, his family lived in an apartment provided by the Veterans Administration.[12] As a Butler Area public schools student, he was nicknamed "Rooster", supposedly for both a cowlick strand of hair and an assertive nature, particularly on important political issues. [13][14][15][16] After his parents transferred to the Naval Station Great Lakes in northern Illinois, Santorum attended the Roman Catholic Carmel High School in Mundelein, Illinois, for one year, graduating in 1976. [17] Santorum attended Pennsylvania State University for his undergraduate studies, serving as chairman of the university's College Republicans chapter and graduating in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science.[18] While at Penn State, Santorum joined the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity.[19] He then completed a one-year Master of Business Administration program at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1981. [citation needed ] In 1986, Santorum received a Juris Doctor with honors from the Dickinson School of Law.[20] Early career Santorum first became actively involved in politics in the 1970s through volunteering for Senator John Heinz, a Republican from Pennsylvania. [21] Additionally, while working on his law degree, Santorum was an administrative assistant to Republican state senator Doyle Corman, serving as director of the Pennsylvania Senate's local government committee from 1981 to 1984, then director of its transportation committee. [20] After graduating, Santorum was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and practiced law for four years at the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, now known as K&L Gates. As an associate, he successfully lobbied on behalf of the World Wrestling Federation to deregulate professional wrestling, arguing that it should be exempt from federal anabolic steroid regulations because it was entertainment, not a sport. [22][23][24] Santorum left his private law practice in 1990 after his election to the House of Representatives. U.S. House of Representatives (1991–1995) In 1990, at age 32, Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. He scored a significant upset in the heavily Democratic district, defeating seven-term Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren by a 51%–49% margin. [25] During his campaign Santorum repeatedly criticized Walgren for living outside the district for most of the year. [26] Although the 18th District was redrawn for the 1992 elections, and the new district had a 3:1 ratio of registered Democrats to Republicans, Santorum still won re-election with 61% of the vote. [27] In 1993, Santorum was one of 17 House Republicans who sided with most Democrats to support legislation that prohibited employers from permanently replacing striking employees. [28] He also joined a minority of Republicans to vote against the North American Free Trade Agreement that year. [29] As a member of the Gang of Seven, Santorum was involved in exposing of members of Congress involved in the House banking scandal.[citation needed ] U.S. Senate (1995–2007) Tenure Santorum served in the United States Senate representing Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007. From 2001 until 2007, he was the Senate's third- ranking Republican.[4] He was first elected to the Senate during the 1994 Republican takeover, narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Harris Wofford 49% to 47%. The theme of Santorum's 1994 campaign signs was "Join the Fight!" During the race, he was considered an underdog, as his opponent was 32 years his senior. [30] He was re-elected in 2000, defeating U.S. Congressman Ron Klink by a 52%–46% margin. In his re-election bid of 2006, he lost to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. [31] by a 59%–41% margin. In 1996, Santorum served as Chairman of the Republican Party Task Force on Welfare Reform, and contributed to legislation that became the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. Santorum was an author and the floor manager of the bill. [32] In 1996, Santorum endorsed moderate Republican Arlen Specter in his short-lived campaign for president. Reporters have observed that though Santorum and Specter differed on social policy, Specter provided him with key political staff for his successful run in 1994. [33] Santorum served in the The National Taxpayers Union, a fiscal conservative organization, gave Santorum an "A-" score for his votes on fiscal issues, meaning that he United States Senate was one of "the strongest supporters of responsible tax and spending policies" during his tenure, and ranked fifth in the group's rankings out of representing Pennsylvania 50 senators who served at the same time. [34] from 1995 to 2007. Legislative proposals Religious freedom and ideological diversity Santorum founded the Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom in 2003. [35][36] Santorum sponsored the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA) with U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA). [37] The bill first was introduced in 2002 with 15 co- sponsors but did not leave committee.[38] Santorum and Kerry re-introduced it in 2005 with a corresponding House bill, also to no avail. [39] John Kerry has subsequently brought it to committee again in 2008 and 2010. [40][41] The Jewish Council for Public Affairs came out in strong support of the measure, arguing that it would effectively reverse the Supreme Court ruling of TWA v. Hardison which expanded employers' rights in claiming that religious accommodations created "undue hardship." [42] The proposed legislation placed greater burden on employers to prove that "undue hardship" meant "significant difficulty or expense". [42] The ACLU fought against the bill, saying it was "poorly-written" and could legalize certain acts of discrimination in the name of religion. [43] Reflecting on the Act in 2012, Santorum expressed pride in authoring it. [44] Santorum, Sen. Arlen Specter, and Rep.