While the use of a GOP credit card to charge personal expenses continues to dog front-runner Republican Marco Rubio in the three-way race for U.S. Senate with independent Charlie Crist and Democratic Kendrick Meek, the Miami Herald reports that there is a payment of $1,485.55, in the form of a check to “Marco Rubio Bank of America Auto Finance Corp.” for “auto expense”, that sticks out.
The $1,485.55 check was explained by the campaign as a reimbursement to Rubio for 4,070 miles traveled as he campaigned for re-election in the central Miami-Dade district, although he did not have an opponent, reports the Miami Herald.
It is unclear why the check was not made out to Rubio, instead of the Bank, if he was in fact being reimbursed for travel.
Earlier this year, the IRS launched an investigation into the expenses of Rubio, which remains underway. As well, there have been newspaper reports that Rubio charged more than $100,000 to his GOP credit card during his two-year term as House Speaker. These included “political expenses” for groceries, plane tickets for his wife and repairs to the family mini-van. Other charges covered by the party and treated as political expenses included, $767 at Apple’s online store for “computer supplies”, $25.76 from Everglades Lumber for “supplies”, $412.00 at All Fusion Electronics, a music equipment store in Miami, for “supplies”, among other expenses.
The GOP picked up the tab too, for Rubio’s expenses during legislative sessions in 2007 and 2008. Such bills included $4,100 in restaurant tabs, a $409 bill at a Macaroni Grill and a $7.09 charge at a Chick-fil-A.
A recent GOP internal audit that undertook a limited review of excessive spending by the party, found no wrong doing on Rubio’s part, even though he did earlier reimburse the party more than $2,400 for plane tickets. In February, Rubio admitted he had doubled billed taxpayers for thousands of dollars in political travel.
Notwithstanding the many questions, Rubio has refused to make his credit card records public.
