Lil Ricky Santorum Caves! Admits that he doesn't really live here anymore.

Why else would "Santorum withdraws tax break claim for Penn Hills house" (as the headline reads)?

Because he know that he doesn't really live in PENNSYLVANIA.

From the Post-Gazette:

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum no longer claims a contentious property tax exemption on a home in suburban Pittsburgh, according to Allegheny County real estate records.

Actually, as the article further states:

The change came before Allegheny County Council was scheduled to vote on legislation calling for strengthened oversight -- and in some cases prosecution -- of property owners who improperly claim a "homestead exemption."

The exemption is a property-tax break that can only be claimed on a primary residence. It is worth about $70 a year.

We wrote about County Council's resolution here.

Lil Ricky's wrongfully taking a Homestead Exemption was originally brought to light by the Santorum Cybergate blog all the way back in January of 2005.

The cause was then taken up by Democracy for Pittsburgh (DfP) members who gathered petitions asking Allegheny County officials to look into the matter.

DfP held a press conference and then took the petitions to a scheduled meeting with District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Jr. (Both Political Junkies attended this meeting.)

Zappala turned the matter over to the county manager.

Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee got involved suggesting that DfP was backed by George Soros (I'm still waiting for my check, George!) and that DfP were "purveyors of porn." Santorum merely called us “rabid Democrat activists” working at “the behest of Casey and others.” (More DfP press here.)

At that point the county more or less dropped the ball when they announced that they couldn't find the original exemption form.

But, then the Allegheny County Council picked the ball up and tossed it at Sen. Man-On-Dog (R-VA).

Council President Rich Fitzgerald spoke about the matter on PCNC's Night Talk. The show's host, Ann Devlin, said that Santorum had claimed that he had already asked verbally to be taken off the exemption list. Fitzgerald reminded Ann that a request like that needed to be in writing -- no special privileges for senators or anyone else.

And, so faced with the prospect of a stronger law (and possible prosecution):

LIL RICKY CAVED
Just like the WATB he is:


Of course, Ricky's still claiming that he's in the right:

In a letter dated Sept. 18, Mr. Santorum requested that county officials remove his name from the tax-exemption list. Mr. Santorum wrote that his Penn Hills home is his primary residence and that he qualifies for the exemption, but that he was voluntarily giving it up.

"Because the tax status of my home has been the subject of recent news reports . . . I have voluntarily elected not to claim the homestead exemption for my Penn Hills residence," he wrote in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

But he isn't.

And he isn't right when he made all Pennsylvania taxpayers pay for his children's special cyber-schooling. He needs to PAY IT BACK now and stop nickel-and-diming those who actually live here -- those who he's paid to serve.

Then, we need to vote on November 7th and ensure that Sen. MAN-ON-DOG STAYS (in VA).