The Miami Herald reports that former House Speaker Marco Rubio misspent donations to the Republican Party of Florida and his political committees “to subsidize his lifestyle”, according to a complaint filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Beth Reinhard explains that the complaint filed by Michael D. Ryan, 55, of Fort Lauderdale says the following:
- Rubio used his public office to get an unadvertised job at Florida International University, at the time the school was retrenching
- Rubio’s admitted that he double-billed the taxpayers and the GOP for eight plane fares to Tallahassee
- Rubio failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and concealed other purchases by lumping them in credit card charges
- Rubio billed nearly $4,000 to the party for a rental car in Miami and repairs to his family minivan, for example, which he said was damaged by a valet at a political event.
“It appears that Mr. Rubio believes that PAC stands for ‘personal access to cash,’ ” Ryan says in the complaint, reports the Miami Herald. He called it a “fraud upon his donors whose donations were solicited for political purposes, not to subsidize his lifestyle.”
