How Rubio helped his ex-con brother-in-law acquire a real estate license

The Washington Post ^ | 12/30/2015 | Scott Higham and Manuel Roig-Franzia

[NYRepublican72]

When Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

In July 2002, Rubio sent a letter on his official statehouse stationery to the Florida Division of Real Estate, recommending Orlando Cicilia "for licensure without reservation." The letter, obtained by The Washington Post under the Florida Public Records Act, offers a glimpse of Rubio using his growing political power to assist his troubled brother-in-law and provides new insight into how the young lawmaker intertwined his personal and political lives.

Rubio did not disclose in the letter that Cicilia was married to his sister, Barbara, or that the former cocaine dealer was living at the time in the same West Miami home as Rubio's parents. He wrote that he had known Cicilia "for over 25 years," without elaborating.

[NYRepublican72]

There is something Clintonesque about Rubio. Probably the first of many revelations about some of the shady dealings he had while in power in Florida.

[GraceG]

The establishment likes Rubio as they can tie strings to all his skeletons in the closet and use them as puppets to control him.

[married21]

Well, at least he helps out his relatives better than Obama did.

[proust]

Scamming runs in the family.

[Berlin_Freeper]

His supporters won’t care.

[proust]

Gives him street cred, no doubt.

[SaveFerris]

Thread winner! You win the Internet for today.

Congratulations, I hope you have your acceptance speech ready. Don’t forget to thank all the little people.

[Reno89519]

So Rubio’s qualifications: Corruption, adultery, misuse of public funds, shady real estate deals, and maybe even drug dealing with his family and others. The perfect GOPe candidate.

[ETL]

"The Whitewater controversy (also known as the Whitewater scandal, or simply Whitewater) began with investigations into the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal, in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture in the 1970s and 1980s."

Whitewater Convictions

Jim Guy Tucker: Governor of Arkansas at the time, removed from office (fraud, 3 counts)

John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker (tax evasion)

William J. Marks, Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker's business partner (conspiracy)

Stephen Smith: former Governor Clinton aide (conspiracy to misapply funds). Bill Clinton pardoned.

Webster Hubbell: Clinton political supporter; Rose Law Firm partner (embezzlement, fraud)

Jim McDougal: banker, Clinton political supporter: (18 felonies, varied)

Susan McDougal: Clinton political supporter (multiple fraud). Bill Clinton pardoned.

David Hale: banker, self-proclaimed Clinton political supporter: (conspiracy, fraud)

Neal Ainley: Perry County Bank president (embezzled bank funds for Clinton campaign)

Chris Wade: Whitewater real estate broker (multiple loan fraud). Bill Clinton pardoned.

Larry Kuca: Madison real estate agent (multiple loan fraud)

Robert W. Palmer: Madison appraiser (conspiracy). Bill Clinton pardoned.

John Latham: Madison Bank CEO (bank fraud)

Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant (multiple bribery)

Charles Matthews: Whitewater defendant (bribery)

Ultimately the Clintons were never charged, but 15 other persons were convicted of more than 40 crimes, including Bill Clinton's successor as Governor, who was removed from office.[40]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_%28controversy%29#Convictions
______________________________________________

[ETL]

Former Obama fundraiser sentenced

By Mackenzie Weinger
November 2011

Tony Rezko, former fundraiser and friend of President Barack Obama and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was sentenced on Tuesday to ten and a half years in prison for corruption.

Rezko, 56, has already served about 44 months of the 126-month sentence on his 2008 conviction for corruption - including fraud, money laundering and attempting to get $7 million in kickbacks from companies seeking to win deals during Blagojevich's tenure as governor - the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

-snip-

Obama also involved Rezko in a house deal after he was elected to the U.S. Senate, a move he later called "boneheaded mistake," according to a 2008 report in ABC News.

Obama wanted to purchase a home that the seller had a specific condition on: the adjacent empty lot to the house had to be purchased at the same time, ABC News reported. In the house deal, Rezko's wife paid the full asking price for that parcel, $625,000.

Obama shelled out $300,000 under the house's asking price, paying $1.65 million, according to ABC News. Obama then purchased a part of Rezko's lot for $104,500.

-snip-

http://www.politico.com/story/2011/11/former-obama-fundraiser-sentenced-068935#ixzz3rI7IJ6k3

[cherry]

stop with the BS....politicians help their own...its not news...

where was the Washington Post when Pelosi and Feinstein and Boxer enriched their respective families by hundreds of millions?...

or could they just ask politely why the two Arkansas grifters who never had a real career outside of govt are now worth billions?...

I'll take Rubio over the likes of the Clinton rapists, murderers, and grifters any day of the week...

[Joe Boucher]

Rubio LIED to me.

[9YearLurker]

Clintonesque without the charm.

[FenwickBabbitt]

I hope this doesn’t hurt Rubio too much at the moment...I don’t want his campaign to collapse and Christie or Bush to spring back to life as the establishment candidate of choice, if his voters go to them. I want just enough to hurt Rubio that he stays alive in a distant third place but with no real chance of winning. The establishment’s vote needs to stay divided.

[italianquaker]

That’s it, he wrote a letter for a family member. He better drop out now lol

[norwaypinesavage]

I’m not a Rubio fan, but this is hardly a front page news scandal. OMG, RUBIO HELPED HIS BIL get a real-estate license!!! The only thing at all scandalous about that is that his BIL needed help.

[vg0va3]

On Rubio Credit Card usage: "The release shows he did make eight personal purchases on the card – a practice for which he has been criticized by rivals -- but his campaign insisted that he reimbursed American Express $7,200 for them."

That averages $900 per transaction. You don't accidentally charge $900 to a credit card.

[generally]

I mostly agree. I am NOT a Rubio fan. But I fail to see this as anything serious (unless the BIL having a real estate license is somehow a danger to the public). He’s not appointing him to a high-paying do-nothing job at taxpayer expense or steering government funds to him in some way, is he?

Rubio is a hypocrite and a liar, but writing a letter helping his BIL doesn’t look like a bad thing to me. Without more information to tell me why it’s bad, I’d rate it as neutral to positive.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

If true ... IF true ... stick a fork’in’im. He’s not just done, but well done.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

A cocaine trafficker. Nope. Sure, he might want to rehab his brother, help him earn money honestly, but it would be a revolutionary thing if this does not taint Rubio for using political influence to help out such a guy.

Rubio is not the same as Trump. His reputation is not as time tested, no solid foundation.