Posted on 12/25/2012 5:11:34 AM PST by IbJensen
Jim Rimes racked up $2 million on his GOP credit card.
TALLAHASSEE - While using his first term as Senate president to push an aggressive ethics reform package, Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, has hired longtime lobbyist and political consultant Jim Rimes to a top-tier post.
The practice of lobbyists working inside state government, or — more prominently — state employees taking lucrative lobbying gigs is not new. It’s often referred to as the “revolving door.”
The Rimes hire, though, comes as Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, have set up committees to examine ways to toughen state ethics laws.
Rimes, who makes $120,000 a year as staff director in the Senate Majority Office, is a respected figure among Florida’s political class. He served in former Gov. Charlie Crist’s administration and has been a consultant on numerous campaigns.
Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto, R–Fort Myers, said Rimes is “a hard-working professional who will fulfill his duties with honor and integrity.”
He does, however, have blemishes on his resume, a few of which seem at odds with some legislative leaders’ own proposed ethics fixes.
In what became a scandal, the state GOP doled out credit cards that gave party leaders the largely unchecked ability to spend millions in donor money. Rimes, former executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, racked up more than $2 million on his party card. Expenses included thousands for blocks of hotel rooms, private jets and cellphone bills related to party events.
Gaetz and Weatherford say they want to get rid of political fundraising groups, known as committees of continuous existence, that are tied to individual candidates. They say too many candidates are “living off” the campaign cash pouring into the committees.
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonville.com ...
Who watches the tax payers interest against unethical practices on the part of elected officials?
Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, Florida, appears to be either an utter nincompoop or a complicit unscrupulous crook!
At any rate, pester the hell out of him and get him out of the Florida senate!
Gov. Scott needs to take on the corruption in Tallahassee...
Of course...that will make his re-election possibilities even tougher...if he does decide to run again...
I know him and he is a nut case
Can’t he be both : )
oh I am soooo shocked/s a politician (of any party) acts just like a politician
Marco Rubio was also an active user of Republican Party credit cards. He spent over $100,000 from 2006 to 2008 on his Republican Party paid American Express card.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/article1075692.ece
Imagine the noise Obama and the press would have made if he had run as Romney’s VP in 2012. In late April 2012 he told Brett Baier of Fox News “I shouldn’t have done it that way. It was a lesson learned.” Expect this story to return and become a huge scandal if he ever runs for VP or President.
More evidence both parties and the politicians at all levels are corrupt.
Wait, it’s the GOP’s credit card? Make it an internal issue and be done with it. I am more worried about the rats that steal from the public purse. Like all the elected rats in the country.
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