Toomey strikes back

After being on the receiving end of two blows last week, Pat Toomey, Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-Pa.) soon be to be challenger, struck back at the senator Monday morning.

In a release, Toomey’s camp sought to throw Specter’s attacks back at him. Last week, Specter ran an ad criticizing Toomey for ties to the financial sector. Specter also sent Toomey a letter calling for a list of Club for Growth contributors who have benefited from federal bailout funds.

From Toomey’s release:

What is most bizarre about this latest Specter attack is that he himself is thoroughly guilty of the very act that he appears to be accusing the Club for Growth of doing. Not only did Specter vote in favor of spending $700 billion to bail out Wall Street firms (Roll Call 213, 10/1/2008) but Specter has taken millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the financial services industry, including many of the leading recipients of TARP funds.

Specter has taken more money from AIG, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase and other financial services companies than any other Pennsylvania member of congress in the last twenty years (Center for Responsive Politics). All of these firms have received billions in TARP money.

Toomey spokesman Mark Harris also blasted Specter.