The following report by Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons first aired on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. on March 8, 2006.

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Sen. Rick Santorum calls himself the Republican point man on lobbying reform in Washington.

But Santorum's reform plan doesn't deal at all with lobbyists running charities on behalf of members of Congress.

Good thing for the Senator, because Team 4 has discovered that's exactly who's in charge of his charity, Operation Good Neighbor.

Santorum has been handing out lots of checks from his charity, Operation Good Neighbor, since he formed it in 2001.

"To me, it was part of a mission that I set out, which is I'm a great believer in the non-profit sector. I strongly believe we have an obligation to try to get more money into that," Santorum said.

But Santorum's charity has also put money -- $216,000 -- into unexplained travel and meetings through 2004.

That's almost half of the $501,000 donated to community organizations, mostly in Philadelphia.

Who's doing all that traveling and where are they going? Team 4 asked the charity and the Senator, but they've refused to release the records.

"One thing I'm very clear about is to try to keep a separation between anything I do officially and the charity. I don't want the charity involved in politics," Santorum said.

But politics is involved in the charity. Santorum put political lobbyists and campaign staffers in charge of Operation Good Neighbor.

Charles Black is a member of the board of advisers for Operation Good Neighbor, and a federally registered lobbyist with the Washington firm BKSH.

One of his clients is Alcoa, a company that last year received a $1.9 million federal defense contract that Santorum and fellow Sen. Arlen Specter trumpeted in a news release.

Barbara Bonfiglio is treasurer of Operation Good Neighbor. She's also treasurer of Santorum's reelection campaign and his political action committee, America's Foundation. Bonfiglio is a principal in Williams and Jensen, a top Washington lobbying firm.

And Operation Good Neighbor's executive director is Rob Bickhart, who gets paid a salary by the charity and rent because Operation Good Neighbor is located in the suburban Philadelphia offices of Bickhart's company, Capitol Resource Group.

Santorum's re-election campaign and his PAC are also located there and they pay rent, too. And they pay management fees to Capitol resource.

Parsons: "Why are you paying a lobbyist, Rob Bickhart, to run that charity of yours?"

Santorum: "Well, first of all, he's not a lobbyist, No. 1."

Parsons: "Well, he's a principal in a lobbying firm."

Santorum: "No, he's a principal in a public affairs firm, a government relations firm. And he does a whole bunch of other things."

But Capitol Resource Group's Web site clearly lists lobbying as a service it provides to clients.

And just last month, when Sen. Arlen Specter was facing questions about his ties to lobbyists, published reports in the Post-Gazette and New York Times said Bickhart and his Capitol Resources Group lobbied Specter.

Parsons: "Sen. Specter said last month that he was lobbied by Rob."

Santorum: "That's fine. Look, the bottom line is, I have a charity … My name is associated as the founder."

"Beyond that, the operation of the board is the board's decision. It's not my decision," Santorum said.

But Santorum is chairman of the board for Operation Good Neighbor, according to the charity's most recent IRS tax filings.

Santorum isn't the only member of Congress with his own charity. Former House Speaker Tom Delay also established a non-profit. His charity's secretary was Barbara Bonfiglio, the same lobby firm principal who is in charge of the purse strings at Operation Good Neighbor.