Whotta Douche

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The state Senate's highest-ranking Republican held a fundraising golf tournament Monday, prompting criticism from an activist who said the event should have been canceled out of respect for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Sixty golfers participated in the fundraiser organized by Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair. The event took place at a country club in Hollidaysburg, about 40 miles northeast of Shanksville, where United Flight 93 crashed, as President Bush was taking part in a memorial service at the crash site.

Eric Epstein, the leader of a group that has been critical of lawmakers, had urged Jubelirer to cancel the event or donate the money to the Flight 93 memorial fund. Donors who played golf paid $500 apiece and those who attended only the reception paid $250.

"A golf tournament next door to where Flight 93 crashed is untimely, misguided and ill-advised," said Epstein, founder of RockTheCapital.org.

Asked whether Jubelirer thought the timing of the fundraiser was appropriate, David Atkinson, a top aide to the senator, said: "I don't know whether there was any particular thought given to it."

Jubelirer participated in an Altoona memorial service earlier in the day as the keynote speaker, Atkinson said.

"It wasn't as though he was thinking there was anything disrespectful," Atkinson said in Tuesday's editions of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jubelirer was defeated in the May primary election and plans to donate the money he raised to other Senate GOP candidates.

Guess since he was defeated in May, he didn't think he had anything to lose. Asshole.