Floridians Beware: Rubio is a Rogue Politician

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio is running for the U.S. Senate.  He is in a race with Governor Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination of his party. Based on news reports, here’s what Floridians ought to know about Rubio.

Rubio was caught using campaign cash to pay for personal expenses. Rubio charged $110,000 on a Republican Party credit card for himself. Rubio says he repaid all charges that weren’t related to promoting the Republican brand. Rubio only returned the money when caught, otherwise, he would have done nothing. Expenses included a $400 dollar meal at Macaroni Grill, a $130 haircut a $3,000 car rental and more, all stolen by Rubio from campaign contributions made to him.

According to the Miami Herald, Rubio created a Political Action Committee to help potential political candidates, but funneled most of the funds to himself, spending nearly $150,000 on administrative and operating costs.  Over an 18 month period, Rubio spent only $4,000 promoting the intended cause of the P.A.C., helping political candidates, while similar political committees gave tens of thousands of dollars to political candidates. Rubio funneled the biggest chunk of the committee’s money, $89,000, to his paid political consultants and his political cronies, $14,000. in reimbursements to himself, and more than $51,000.in credit card expenses.

Rubio’s committee collected $228,000 in donations, including $30,000. from the Florida Crystals sugar corporation, $10,000 from U.S. Sugar, and $50,000 from a political group run by Republican fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn, a Broward County eye doctor indicted last year on corruption charges.

According to the Miami Herald, Rubio’s wife, former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Jeanette Dousdebes, served as the committee’s treasurer.  In reports filed with the state, Rubio and his wife failed to disclose more than $34,000 in expenses over an 18-month period.

In 2003, Rubio created a new political committee, Floridians for Conservative Leadership in Government. It raised more than $386,000 from health care companies, a cigarette maker, car dealers, sugar growers and other Tallahassee players. About two-thirds of the money went to Republican political consultants, records show, including $91,000. to Bridgett Gregory Nocco, a fundraiser and $113,000. to Richard Corcoran, a Republican strategist who went on to oversee House campaigns and serve as Rubio’s chief of staff.

Corcoran, declined to detail how he earned the $113,000 through 2004, but the record shows he didn’t begin working on the project until 2005.

Rubio’s second political committee also paid $3,500 to his mother-in-law’s company for rental car services and spent more than $10,000. on “couriers,” which included Mauricio Giraldo, Jeanette Rubio’s cousin; Carlos Fleites, her half-brother; and Orlando Cicilia, Rubio’s nephew.

Rubio’s accountant did not list them as political aides. At 18 and 19 years old, they were unable to rent from a car rental agency.They then claimed  they rented a van from the mother-in-law’s freight company to do political work across the state in 2004.

More than $74,000 in expenses by Rubio’s committee were never accounted for in papers filed with the IRS.

Floridians for Conservative Leadership in Government was shut down in 2005 as Rubio gained access to another source of money:  an American Express card backed by the Florida GOP.  Money charged on this card by Rubio included thousands of dollars in personal expenses for Rubio, which he says he fully repaid. But Rubio did not report this until caught.

Rubio was also caught for using the GOP’s credit card to double bill the party and state taxpayers in 2007 for flights from South Florida to Tallahassee.  He said he would pay the party back about $3,000 for the flights and consult with his accountant about amending his tax return. Once again, he only decided to pay this back when he was caught.

During the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions, records show Speaker Rubio charged more than $3,700 in meals on his party credit card at the same    time he was receiving the state’s $126 per day “subsistence” to help cover legislators’ food and lodging.

Rubio received $10,000. for meals and lodging from the state in 2007 and 2008. Still, his credit card records show Rubio regularly dined out at the party’s expense at Andrew’s Capital Grill & Bar, and Masa, an upscale “Asian-fusion” restaurant, for example,where his bills ran as high as $184.  per  meal.

During his last year as speaker, Rubio reported a net worth of less than $8,400 despite earning $69,000 from Florida International University, $45,000 from the state and $300,000 from Broad & Cassell.  The father of four had more than $900,000 in debts, including two mortgages on properties in Miami and Tallahassee, a home equity loan and a student loan.

All the evidence suggests that Marco Rubio is a rogue politician.