You scratch my back....

Five years ago, Joseph M. Torsella, director of the National Constitution Center project, hired Arlen Specter's wife, Joan, as a fundraiser. Now Arlen returns the favor, hiring Torsella's wife, Carolyn Short, as general counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee (of which Specter is the Chair). But there's no connection, of course.

Sen. Specter's press secretary for the Judiciary Committee, declined to say what salary Short would receive, what her duties are, or what hours she would work.

Didn't somebody have to write up the job description in advance? I mean, I'm sure it was advertised . . .

Ironically, this hire was controversial in DC for a different set of reasons: because of Short's ties to Democrats (she contributed to H. Clinton's Senate campaign, and hubby Torsella ran as a Dem. in the Senate primary against Allyson Schwartz).

Kay Daly, head of the conservative Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, said Sen. Specter "is hiring ardent, partisan, declared, card-carrying leftists."

More shovels for the task of burying Specter the Dangerous Moderate. Something for everybody.