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.

[Gandalf the Mauve]

Rubio's closet has more skeletons than Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts.

[Impy]

I don’t think this will have much impact at all.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Why am I not shocked? The more I see of the little twerp at the debates the more I can’t stand him.

[MinnesotaLibertarian]

Cruz is my guy, but I really don’t see a problem with this. All Rubio did was write a letter, which was in the public domain. There was nothing below board or shady about the way he helped out his brother-in-law. One can question whether he should have helped him at all, but the conviction was 13 years old at that point, and a real estate license is pretty small potatoes.

[ek_hornbeck]

There is something Clintonesque about Rubio.

Rubio was mentored by Jeb Bush. Cronyism runs deep in the Bush clan, so Rubio learned from one of the experts in backdoor deals and political backslapping.

I've actually started to dislike Rubio even more than Jeb, since everyone with half a brain knows what Jeb is all about, but Rubio manages to fool some decent people into thinking he's an acceptable alternative.

[ek_hornbeck]

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.

If only Rubio were around in the good old days in Mena, Arkansas, he'd fit right in. Bill Clinton and George HW Bush are still laughing all the way to the bank with their cuts of the operation, no doubt.

[dp0622]

didn’t mention he was brother in law. didn’t care that he held sway over the deciding department’s budget.

15 million in cocaine in a garage a few miles from his family’s house.

a little sketchy.

never found the 15 million .