Apparently the $50M in earmarks over the last four years to the husband of his assistant just happened by chance and had nothing to do with those connections at all. It just sort of all happened. Really. Seriously. No links at all. He's as shocked as anyone that he added in those deals. So what does Specter do besides play dumb? Deflect the charges and imply blame on the assistant, of course. What another stand-up guy in the GOP.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Mr. Specter said that neither he nor his aide, who uses her maiden name professionally, had violated any ethics rules.
"Vicki Siegel's husband did not lobby me or anybody in my office," Mr. Specter said, adding that she left her position with the committee six months ago for unrelated personal reasons. She remains on his staff.
Still, Mr. Specter said he would conduct a further inquiry into the possibility that Ms. Siegel might have knowingly played a role in allocating federal money to one of her husband's clients.
"That would be a blatant conflict of interest," Mr. Specter said. "I don't think that happened, but I am going to go back and take a look at the specifics of it."
