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I heard something about this over the last day or two, and now an ethics complaint has been filed. Not good news for the Senator, I think.

Santorum loan hit, Philly.com, Feb 23, 2006:

The flap over Sen. Rick Santorum's unorthodox $500,000 mortgage for his family home in Leesburg, Va., took another twist yesterday when a leading watchdog group filed a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee - charging that the loan from a private bank was an illegal gift because Santorum did not meet its stated guidelines.

The complaint by the Committee for Responsible Ethics in Washington, or CREW, alleges that the mortgage from Philadelphia Trust Co. is a gift in violation of Senate Rule 35, which says that senators can receive loans or other banking services only on terms "generally available to the public."

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said in a statement that "Santorum's decision to accept a loan not available to other people in his financial position demonstrates his contempt for the rules. This is particularly ironic given that Sen. Santorum has long attempted to position himself as the poster child for public morality." If true, it certainly wouldn't be the first time we've seen the "do as I say, not as I do" philosopy in action.

The fallout stems from an investigative report on Santorum's personal and campaign finances that was published this week in American Prospect magazine and on the front page of Tuesday's Daily News.

It found that the Philadelphia-based private bank had given the $500,000, five-year "balloon" mortgage to Santorum and his wife even though its policy is to lend money only to its "affluent" investors, which the senator is not.

After the story was published, the Santorum campaign released more details on the loan, which had no points and an interest rate of 5 percent, and required payments only on the interest and not the principal.

Experts said such a mortgage could have reduced monthly payments for Santorum - who told the New York Times Magazine last year that he lived "from paycheck to paycheck" - by as much as 25 percent to 30 percent.