Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times Editorials: 'Marco Rubio's credibility is at stake.'

[seafan]

(via NY Times Magazine)


After the publication in Florida this week of the following three investigative pieces, today the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times have published editorials warning Marco Rubio that he must come clean with the voters regarding his GOP credit card statements over 4 years, and the scope of his role as House Speaker in securing the secretive funding for a palatial courthouse in the face of ongoing and devastating budget cuts throughout the state.




Former supporter says Rubio used GOP credit card for home remodeling, Tampa Tribune, September 23, 2010

E-mail names 'heroes' who got legislative funding for 'Taj Mahal' courthouse, St. Petersburg Times, September 23, 2010

Senate hopeful Rubio plagued by money problems, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 19, 2010



The two editorials follow:



Tampa Tribune Editorial: Disclosure needed on Rubio's bills

September 24, 2010

Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, dismisses inquiries about his use of a party credit card as "an internal party matter."

That won't wash.

Donors give to a party to advance its political agenda, not to advance a party official's personal cash flow.

Rubio owes voters a candid account about why he used his card for personal expenses - which he maintains he paid directly or repaid - and complete disclosure of his party credit card bills.
It has previously been reported that Rubio says he paid the party's credit card company $16,000 for personal expenses that ranged from wine to minivan repairs.

But now the Tribune's William March reports a former Rubio supporter says the candidate acknowledged he once put home remodeling expenses on the card.
The Rubio camp blames the report on politics but doesn't deny the statement of Tampa political consultant Chris Ingram, who says Rubio told him he spent about $4,000 to $6,000 for new kitchen flooring.

So far the party has refused to reveal credit card bills beyond the past two years. Rubio told us he does not object to the release of the bills but that it is the party's decision. Yet March was shown e-mails from Rubio to Ingram that indicate Rubio has possession of the bills.

Whatever the case, the former state House speaker should arrange the release all of his credit card bills. His credibility is at stake.

.....

The Tribune editorial cites the recent article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune which found that "by the end of 2005, Rubio had three home mortgages, a home equity line of credit, a car loan and more than $150,000 in student loans -- a total debt load of $1,025,444.58, according to the financial disclosure statement he filed with the state.

That same year, the Republican Party of Florida gave Rubio a credit card to use at his discretion."


The Tribune continues:

All this, coupled with what appears to be casual, if not cavalier, use of donors' money undermines Rubio's compelling message of fiscal frugality.

Last week the state GOP released a forensic audit of party expenditures and did its utmost to tar Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican running for the Senate as an independent.
The report did show Jim Greer, Crist's selection for state GOP chair, and some others spent wildly. But Crist never had a GOP credit card, and he produced a receipt for a Disney World stay that state GOP Chairman John Thrasher had questioned.

The audit did not address - or reveal - spending prior to Greer's tenure, though Rubio had a credit card then, and that is when the home repairs apparently took place.

If Rubio expects voters to trust him to bring fiscal restraint to Washington, he needs to come clean on his own spending.

St. Petersburg Times Editorial: Marco Rubio must be frank about the "Taj Mahal" courthouse


September 24, 2010

Marco Rubio has a terrible memory or an aversion to telling the truth. Neither trait is desirable in a candidate for U.S. Senate. Despite mounting evidence that he was a driving force behind a ridiculously expensive new courthouse in Tallahassee, the former state House speaker insists he is as surprised as anyone by this monstrosity. He needs to tell voters what really happened — or perhaps a grand jury will do it for him.

The $48 million courthouse being built for the 1st District Court of Appeal is a monument to the Legislature's hypocrisy. While Rubio and his Republican colleagues preached fiscal responsibility in 2007, they quietly approved the money to build this palace at the behest of some of the judges who will move into it. The Miami Republican is stonewalling by first claiming ignorance and then blaming others.

The "Taj Mahal" courthouse has been under construction for months, but only recent reporting by the Times' Lucy Morgan has uncovered how such an indefensible project moved through the Legislature. There was $7.9 million included in the 2007-08 budget — and a suspicious authorization of a $33.5 million bond issue in an unrelated bill approved on the last day of the 2007 session. The chances something of this magnitude would be approved without the House speaker's endorsement are slim to none.

Yet Rubio cannot get his story straight. He first said in August that he didn't recall the project. Then his campaign blamed the state Senate, where the bond issue was added to a transportation bill that was then approved by the House. Then Rubio said he was aware of the project and tried to shift attention to Gov. Charlie Crist, who signed the budget and the transportation bill into law. Now Crist is running against Rubio as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, but Rubio cannot run away from this mess.

.....

Just this week, in the latest of several investigative pieces about this palatial courthouse construction, Lucy Morgan at the St. Petersburg Times reported that Rubio's name has surfaced in e-mail, identifying him as one of the primary individuals to be appreciated for his actions to secure the legislative funding for the courthouse construction.


The Times continues:

In fact, the court's building committee circulated an e-mail in 2008 that identified "heroes" for their project. It lists Rubio as one of four lawmakers who were "especially helpful.'' And fellow Republicans are in no mood to corroborate Rubio's excuses. State Sen. Victor Crist of Tampa says he sponsored the amendment for the bond issue at the direction of Senate President Ken Pruitt. But Pruitt says he did no such thing, and other lawmakers say the deal would not have been passed without the speaker's approval.

Most revealing: Former Rep. Ray Sansom, who was Rubio's appropriations chairman, said Rubio told him several times that he supported the project. Sansom also said 1st DCA Chief Judge Paul Hawkes frequently reminded him the courthouse was a priority for Rubio.
This would be the same Ray Sansom who is charged with grand theft for inserting millions into the same state budget for an airplane hangar disguised as a community college building.

So the 2007 legislative session was a banner year for surprises: $48 million for an opulent courthouse and $6 million for an airplane hangar. All of this was while Rubio was House speaker, yet he claims his hands are clean and says he wants to go to Washington to rein in spending.

A grand jury indicted Sansom, who has pleaded not guilty. Now another grand jury will be asked next week whether it wants to examine the courthouse scandal. It's worth a look.

The outrage may not be that a crime was committed. The outrage may be that it was a legal waste of public money, and that powerful legislators like Marco Rubio quietly conspired to make it happen.

(emphasis added)






And, by the way:


Mitch Perry at Creative Loafing writes today:

In the wake of three powerful stories that have been published this week that have dented Marco Rubio’s reputation as a fiscal hawk, the man called by the New York Times Magazine this past January as “The First Senator from the Tea Party,” will be one of several people affiliated with that upstart movement this Sunday morning on CBS’s Face The Nation.

Rubio will appear on the the public affairs program along with Colorado GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck and the Tea Party Express’s Sal Russo, an organizer from California.

One can only hope that Schieffer, who was raked over the coals earlier this summer by Fox News Bill O’Reilly and Bernard Goldberg for failing to ask Attorney General Eric Holder about the New Black Panther controversy, will have done his homework this week and read the stories about Rubio published in the St. Pete Times, Tampa Tribune and Sarasota Herald-Tribune, all reporting on Rubio’s flexibility when it comes to spending money, whether it be purchasing home improvements with his Republican Party of Florida credit card, or approving a massively overwrought courthouse in the state capitol..

.....

But what can’t happen in the next 39 days is members of the press allowing Rubio to skate by with his responses to some of these vexing questions.

Bob Schieffer, I hope you’re doing your homework today.

Amen.

[yourout]

1. Does he have any credibility to begin with?

Not in my eyes.

[gratuitous]

2. I was gonna say

If all that's at stake is his credibility, Rubio skates on this. No problem.

[ChiciB1]

8. Well, It Can't Be A Plus For Him... Still I Stay Worried! n/t

[madfloridian]

3. Great post, seafan. Thanks for pulling this together.

[ChiciB1]

4. FINALLY, THEY'RE REPORTING THIS STUFF! I Simply Figured They Would

just look the other way! It's been around for a while, but almost NO ONE KNOWS anything about anything!

I've been following Florida State news a LOT lately, and have noticed that this stuff is leaking out!

THANKS FOR COMPILING THIS and POSTING it!! As a Floridian I've been so mad for so long that there's so much that went on. "Maybe" Crist is spilling his guts at the best time!

THIS MAN MUST BE STOPPED! RUBIO is my NIGHTMARE!

[BlueJazz]

6. Same here....I can "Smell" this guy is a Shark and a Phony.

[Dappleganger]

5. It's really a bit sad

that this is all the repukes have to offer, these candidates with suspicious pasts and their refusal to face the music with the public. All they do is go around saying "More tax cuts! No to Obamacare! No gay marriage! More money for corporations!"

I honestly think that they have worn out those memes and people are beginning to see right through them. Rubio is wrapped up with Thrasher as well, that republicon snake who has in hand in every back room deal in the state legislature.

[ChiciB1]

7. But RUBIO Has Been Hailed As Such A DARLING Here In Florida & So

many of us are simply saying WE WILL DO ANYTHING to keep him from getting elected!! I tell NO LIES HERE! Just today ANOTHER DEMOCRAT came to see me while I was outside doing yard work and told me she's voting for Crist, JUST TO KEEP RUBIO OUT!

Meek's numbers are NOT getting better and I've already heard from 7 other Dems who say they're voting for Crist too! And then there are the Independents who have said so too!

You can attack me if you want, but I KNOW these people and they have made up their minds!!

If Meek was stronger it might be different, but he ISN'T a good candidate and for many the only way to stop Rubio is to vote for Crist!

Another Florida screw-up is almost too much for me to take!

[Dappleganger]

9. Just out of curiosity, what part of FL are you in?

Here in the NE area he is finally getting out his message, but IMO he needs to be a LOT more accessible and aggressive with his plans. I do know that Crist has fallen more in the polls which gives Meek a better advantage. However, bottom line is that we cannot afford a tea bagger into the senate.

[ChiciB1]

11. I Just Typed Up A Reply & Somehow It Didn't Post... Sooooo I'll Try Again!

I'm in Sarasota County! Home of Katherine "Cruella" Harris, and as long as I've lived here it's been Repuke all the time! And I've lived here 26 years!

I think I've only seen ONE ad by Meek and even people who are still sitting on the fence are leaning toward Crist! I've heard from some that know people who work at the state level who have said that even though the State Delegation "says" they're backing Meek, some don't think he can win and are voting for Crist!

How accurate that is I can't say, but around here Meek isn't looked upon as viable! I suspect that "some" of Rubio's support may not be as strong and feel Crist may do well with Independents as well! ANYTHING negative that gets out about Rubio might sway Independents, especially since Rubio has aligned himself with Palin!

We are between a rock and a hard place on this one, so if it's Crist that has the numbers 2 weeks out, and Meek hasn't done any better, I myself will have to go with him too! ANYTHING BUT RUBIO!

[seafan]

14. Hang in there, ChiciB1.

Have been hearing bits and pieces about this for the past week, but now it appears official that former Rep. Robert Wexler will endorse Governor Crist tomorrow.



Robert Wexler
(file photo / Palm Beach Post)


September 25, 2010

Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, the darling of Democratic Jewish retirees, on Sunday will endorse Gov. Charlie Crist in his independent run for the U.S. Senate, the governor's campaign announced today.

Confirming rumors that began swirling this week, officials said the former seven-term Democratic Congressman from Boca Raton will endorse Crist during stops in voter-rich retirement communities in western Boca Raton and Tamarac.

"He's a strong and respected leader in South Florida and he shares many of the same values as Charlie Crist," said Danny Kanner, the governor's campaign press secretary. "It's a major boost for us."

.....

Recent days have seen dueling endorsements. Vice President Joe Biden embraced Meek at a Democratic fund-raiser in Hollywood and said he and President Obama are "100 percent" behind his candidacy. Former Vice President Al Gore is to stump for Meek in Tampa on Friday.

.....

Sean Foreman, a political science professor at Barry University, described Wexler's endorsement as "significant."

"He has a loyal group of followers," he said of Wexler, who left Congress in January to head up a Middle East think tank.

The self-described fire-breathing liberal has particularly strong pull among Jewish voters, who are seen as critical swing votes in the battle between Crist and Meek, Foreman said. It's no accident that the announcement will be made in predominantly Jewish retirement communities - Century Village west of Boca Raton and Kings Point in Tamarac.

.....

Meek's campaign said it wasn't worried about Wexler's endorsement. Crist and Wexler have been close personal friends since they both served together in the Florida Senate, said Adam Sharon, a Meek spokesman. The announcement merely makes it official, he said.

"He's basically been there for the duration of the campaign," Sharon said.

Biden's already come down to campaign with Meek, and Gore is slated to stump for Meek next week.



ChiciB1, I have been hearing the same sentiments that you've expressed from your area. The utmost goal is stopping Rubio from seizing this Senate seat. Six more years, now at the national level, of Rubio's self-serving, corrupt and grasping nature, which was nurtured by mentor Jeb Bush, will force Florida further down the path to ruin. There are no two ways about it.


Even if Rubio loses for US Senate, we will still have a difficult time with the FL Legislature for the near future, because incoming Speaker Dean Cannon and incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos are partisans the likes of which we haven't seen before, now to take control of both House and Senate.

It used to be that the FL Senate was a more reasoned and moderate influence on the more overtly partisan House. That died with Sen. President Jim King, (R), now deceased. Now we have John Thrasher running amok, in King's old seat.

With Haridopolos coming in as Senate President, that "moderating influence" of the Jim King era Senate is now history. We will have many more rounds of near-shore oil drilling; school voucher pushes; corporate deregulation; environmental destruction and loss of endangered habitat (for the panthers, just for one example); more antiabortion screeds to steal away women's rights; more intrusion of religion into our government; more battles in the teacher merit pay/student testing scores arena... and on and on and on.

It never ends with these right-wing conservative extremists who have now crossed the line from merely hyper-partisan, into dogma.



Again, I unequivocally think that a vote for Rubio further solidifies Florida's path to ruin.


Meek's candidacy has not been particularly inspiring, and there are some issues that have not been aired fully for the public.


Hopefully, we will pass Amendment 4 (Hometown Democracy) to allow local residents, not big developers, to decide how their communities' lands are used; and Amendments 5 and 6 (Redistricting) passed, so these politicians can no longer draw their own grotesquely gerrymandered districts to stay in power indefinitely.


If we take control of the governorship, US Senate seat and FL Attorney General, that will go a very long way to stopping this dogmatic, right-wing conservative freight train that has destroyed our state government.



But we're not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

[ChiciB1]

16. OMG!! You Just Made My Mind Up For Me! This Is the First Time I Clicked

back to DU since I last posted the above! Had to get outside and do badly needed landscaping work, and since my "body" is kind of worn out from some intense manual labor, I sat down here to check things out.

THANK YOU for ALL the great information and research you've put together here! I HAVE read a lot of it because I have a Florida News site in "my favorites" but have been so distressed I kind of slacked off a bit!!

So, your comments have made me feel I "wish" again! I haven't used the word HOPE since 2008, so I won't go that far! HOPE isn't something that has worked very well for me, so WISHING works for now!

THANK YOU AGAIN!!

[ChiciB1]

17. One More Thing... Out & About Around Here, I Have YET To See ONE

sign up for Meek! And then there are so so MANY VOTE NO ON 4!! It's truly mind boggling. But, given where I live, I think I'm numb to it by now! Still doesn't make me feel any better!

WEXLER, I NEVER would have thought he would come out and say it! Even though I HAVE heard that "state" Democrats aren't really behind Meek! So, I'm guessing Wasserman Schultz WON'T be signing on though! That WOULD be quite a coup!

Oh, PLEASE... let RUBIO get some come-uppence, he truly is a CROOK!! But they are bred here all the time!

Funny thing though, I moved here when this state had the likes of Reuban Askew, Lawton Chiles & Bob Graham running the state. Granted maybe not "liberal" liberals, but more PROGRESSIVE than so many Democrats I see of late!

[Lochloosa]

12. Hey neighbor. Jacksonville here

:toast:

[lpbk2713]

10. But it's already been established that he's a T-bagger.

Credibility is an alien concept to these assholes. :rofl:

[peekaloo]

13. Even the "Tea Party" creds are a sham. He's a BU$H protege.

Yeah the 'baggers lurve him but he learned at the feet of Ol' Fathead.

I saw a Crist ad where Chuckles pointed out Rubio's attempts to slip in perks/earmarks on bills that he vetoed.

I'm still clinging to a very slippery thread of hope that a Rubio/Crist pissing contest will benefit Meek.

[DCBob]

15. about f'king time.. the media has been hands off pretty boy Rubio up to now..

maybe this will help turn the tide.

[COLGATE4]

18. But.. but.. he's a Republican! (Look for attacks on the two Fla

newspapers in tandem on Fux tomorrow. My bet is that there will be a snarky mention of it on Fux and 3 Little Stooges followed by rapid disclosure on Fux news shows, ramping up to a full scale attack by O'Leilly (despicable newpapers!) followed by Shammity. Should make for good theatre.

[ChiciB1]

19. I Don't Know If YOU Live Here... BUT "We" Here MUST Do What We Can To

KEEP a RAT out of the Senate! Whether you call him a Repuke or NOT, he HAS governed MORE moderately than I ever thought he would! At the VERY least, he's come out against off-shore drilling! For me THAT'S A BIG ONE!! I can walk to the Gulf and I simply can't accept any more MUCK anywhere close to our shores!!

PLUS, he had the cohones to STAND UP to the Repuke MACHINE, knowing FULL WELL what control they have here, and WHAT THEY were going to do eradicate him as ANY type of candidate! That couldn't have been easy! I KNOW what some say about him, but in the end, Meek has "troubles" of his own and RUBIO must BE STOPPED!

[seafan]

20. Marco Rubio dances around question of fiscal responsibility hypocrisy on Face the Nation.

Mitch Perry at Creative Loafing watched Bob Schieffer yesterday of Face the Nation ask Rubio --The Question-- about his free-spending ways with the GOP credit card.

Schieffer: You preach fiscal responsibility. But your opponents say you don’t live it. They say you’ve been deeply in debt for much of your life, that sometimes you put your own personal expenses on your Republican party credit card, how do you answer those critics?

Rubio: They’re false. The Republican Party of Florida has never paid for my personal expenses, and as far as debt is concerned, you know what they call debt? A mortgage. Yes, I bought a home using a mortgage, I bought two homes, one here and one in Tallahassee. A vast majority of Americans watching this program would be shocked to learn that buying a home with a mortgage is somehow irresponsible. And the other debt I have was a student loan. My parents worked very hard but they couldn’t save enough money to send me to law school so I had to borrow money and I paid my student loans every month that provided me my education.

But I think my opponents say that because they’re wrong on the ideas. They have absolutely no ideas on the critical issues facing our country, so they want to make personal attacks against me, the centerpiece of their campaigns. But this election is too important. Because at stake is the very identity of our country. Are we gonna remain exceptional? Or are we going to become like everybody else? Americans want to remain exceptional, and they’re looking for candidates that will fight for them.

Rubio’s appearance came after a Mason-Dixon poll released on Saturday showed him looking better than ever in his chances to go to D.C. next January. The Miami resident now leads Charlie Crist 40%-28%, with Kendrick Meek at 23%.

The big shift MD reports is that independent voters have shifted in a serious fashion from Crist to Rubio:

In August, independent voters backed Crist over Rubio by a margin of 44 percent to 31 percent. In the new poll — conducted from Monday through Wednesday — Rubio leads 38 percent to 27 percent among independents.

So, is Florida GOP Chairman John Thrasher celebrating this new poll as the result of his as yet unsubstantiated attacks against Governor Crist, via the GOP "audit", claiming to find "unauthorized spending" by Crist on the GOP dime during a trip with his family to Disney, when Crist has since produced a receipt his wife kept of their trip and the fact that Crist was never issued a GOP credit card in the first place? Wait 'til this gets out, Mr. Thrasher. And it will.

Last week the state GOP released a forensic audit of party expenditures and did its utmost to tar Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican running for the Senate as an independent.

The report did show Jim Greer, Crist's selection for state GOP chair, and some others spent wildly. But Crist never had a GOP credit card, and he produced a receipt for a Disney World stay that state GOP Chairman John Thrasher had questioned.

The audit did not address - or reveal - spending prior to Greer's tenure, though Rubio had a credit card then, and that is when the home repairs apparently took place.

..... Tampa Tribune Editorial, Sept. 24

Creative Loafing also makes the point I've been contemplating:

Last Friday we wrote that we were curious how independents would feel about stories that appeared in the media last week about Marco Rubio regarding his free-spending ways — not just on his own personal expenses, but also that he was more involved than he has let on regarding the Florida Legislature approving over $33 million in funding for an extravagant court house built for the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, which a grand jury has since been called to investigate.

The Mason Dixon poll was conducted last week, before those revelations were published.

Rubio's latest numbers just may be a hall of mirrors. We will see with the next Mason-Dixon poll, when voters have had the chance to read these three devastating articles.



Somehow, I don't see too many thinking voters tolerating the graft, irresponsibility and rank hypocrisy of this magnitude in a candidate for US Senate.