Posted on 11/05/2015 1:10:36 PM PST by jimbo123
Marco Rubio's use of a Republican Party of Florida American Express card is only part of the story.
Over the course of his rise in politics, the Tampa Bay Times and partner Miami Herald chronicled his background and controversies.
The most detailed accounting of Rubio's AmEx charges is this report from February 2010 that showed how the card was used for groceries, repairs to the family minivan and at a music equipment store.
"I was as diligent as possible to ensure the party did not pay for items that were unrelated to party business," Rubio said in a written statement at the time. "There was no formal process provided by the party regarding personal charges." But party spokeswoman Katie Gordon said the card was not supposed to be used for personal expenses. "The RPOF American Express card is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses." Full story here.
Rubio used two political committees, which raised about $600,000, to fuel his political ambitions.
He spent big on consultants and travel while giving little to candidates, the ostensible purpose of the committees. Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses - including $7,000 he paid himself - for one of the committees in 2003 and 2004, as required by state law. One committee paid relatives nearly $14,000 for what was incorrectly described to the IRS as "courier fees" and listed a nonexistent address for one of them. Another committee paid $5,700 to his wife, who was listed as the treasurer, much of it for "gas and meals." He billed more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses'' to three different credit cards - nearly one-quarter of the committee's entire haul. Charges are not required to be itemized, but other lawmakers detailed almost all of their committee expenses.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
an acquaintance once worked for Strom Thurmond. He was given a credit card and told dont worry about it. Use it for whatever you want.
that’s just great.
so how much over the past 50 years have we treated our fearless leaders to?
I imagine Trump ran a full background check on all of this and knows to the penny how much Rubio spent and where it went. He’s just waiting to administer coup d tat at the right moment.
Smear job in full swing. The only question is that was it Jeb’s oppo research assassins or the Dems’ wolfpack?
I don’t look at it as a smear job per se, Rubio, it looks like, used that card and or others for a lot of things he should not have.
Another Professional Politician on the make and someone I will not vote for ,ever!!!!!!!!
Jeb and Hillary extend their appreciation for all that oppo work done by the media. Maybe they can concoct a sexual harassment story against him a la Herman Cain.
Look for Gloria Allred to enter Stage Right with Distraught Victim #1 in 3..2..1..
Rubio should have paid taxes on all the free stuff he charged to the Florida GOP Amex card.
Rubio is a whining little malcontent who has never applied himself to the he has held at any time in his career. He has used each position he has held to tee up the next position. He can’t be held responsible for a little thing like government credit card abuse.
I think it would be interesting to require that all elected officials and government agencies post a monthly list on-line of all items charged to a government credit card as well as those spent by their respective offices and agencies including the name, date, amount and purpose of the expenditure. I would think the GAO should have access to all this information so it should be no big deal to just put the checkbook on the internet.
Buh Bye Rubio. I would think this is devastating info.
“I donât look at it as a smear job per se”
I agree. Rubio should have know that this would become an issue. He should have addressed it up long ago.
“Smear job in full swing.”
If it is true, it is not a smear. If it is not true, I still won’t vote for this amnesty proponent.
You don’t get it do you? This is why so many go into politics - they are on the take. How can we expect someone to work with billions and trillions of dollars in the fed government, if they can’t even be trusted with a credit card, which isn’t supposed to be used for personal expanses. Some on here are just plain ignorant.
Two peas....
There is something you need to understand. Florida is run by republicans. The people who leaked the story in 2010 were republicans. The people who agreed that we should move along, there is nothing to see here, were republicans. This is not the democrats doing. This is all fighting between republicans and republican cya. There is stuff in there the RPOF (Republican Party of Florida) does not want anyone to ever find out about. So they will keep quiet about most of it. Marco certainly doesn’t want the truth to be known. He loves spending other people’s money. If you think it’s smear, it’s republicans smearing themselves.
Too bad the media et.al. didn’t put this much effort into checking out Obastard in 2007.
Not at all surprised that Jeb isn’t criticizing Rubio over the RPOF credit card scandal.
Imagine if they looked at the Obama’s and how much they are spending on themselves with the countries money. Not happening tho.
I am not sure why we need this story for a case against Rubio. I will give you on issue right now- his tax plan stinks.
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