Caputo begins his story with a decision last week by the Federal Elections Commission to fine Rubio $8,000 because it received
prohibited, excessive and other impermissible contributions totaling $210,173.09. By itself, the fine is a pittance for a campaign that raised about $21 million. The errors appear to be relatively small and largely clerical. Still, it’s sloppy. It’s also a surprise. And it feeds into a broader narrative that Rubio is risky.
It is part of a broader narrative that The Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, and other Florida newspapers have been reporting about for years. This March 2010 story by the Tampa Bay Times and The Miami Herald remains a good starting point for the national media to learn more about Rubio’s difficulties.
Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny.About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife. A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald analysis of the expenses found:
• 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.
Rubio’s spending continued in 2005 when the Republican Party of Florida handed him a credit card to use at his own discretion. While serving as House speaker in 2007 and 2008, he charged thousands of dollars in restaurant tabs to the state party at the same time taxpayers were subsidizing his meals in Tallahassee.
After months of helping to anoint Rubio as the savior of the Republican Party, some members of the national media may be ready to take a closer look. Bret Baier of Fox News did a more than 30-minute interview with Rubio last week and asked many uncomfortable questions. Rubio worked his charm and handled most of them deftly. Still, at long last, the questions are being asked.
The national media should have been asking them a while ago, and it is still a better story than simply guessing who might be on Romney’s short list.
we hear whispers that his time in the state legislature could be mined by a good opposition researcher
Funny, the same thing could have been said about Obama, but no one seemed too terrible interesting in looking at his unremarkable tenure in the Illinois State senate. Or I should say “unremarkable tenure” as far as we know because no one pressed him to release any of his papers from that time … I guess they were too busy digging through garbage cans in Wasilla Alaska.
#1 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Fri 4 May 2012 at 04:38 PM
Typical CJR leftist hit piece...
They're all over vetting Rubio...
The "watchdogs" are all over an $8000 fine against Rubio's campaign, but characteristicly mum over the $197,000 fine pending against the Obama campaign.
Go figure! It's almost like there's a "bias thingie" afoot in the ivory towers of Morningside Heights...
Where were (are) the calls from the CJR for Obama to release his academic and medical records? Where were (are) the calls for Obama to come clean on his cocaine and marijuana use? The close ties to terrorists? To radical and anti-American religious leaders? Where was the press wondering how Michelle Obama more than doubled her salary at the University of Chicago Medical Center just after Obama was elected to the Senate?
Where is CJR ripping into Obama for taking the SuperPAC money he swore he wouldn't take? Where is CJR calling for Obama to return the $1 million he took in campaign donations from a man who calls women he doesn't like "cunts"?
Where is CJR jumping on Obama for failing to report nearly $2 million in campaign donations from his 2008 campaign (for which his campaign could be fined nearly $200,000 by the FEC? HUH?
Such is what passes for "professional journalism" at CJR...
#2 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Fri 4 May 2012 at 09:26 PM
Why do the national media think Hispanic voters nationally will swoon over a Cuban-American candidate whose own family received favorable immigration treatment as Cubans but who strongly opposes a legalization path for other Hispanic groups that are undocumented? And whose best offer to DREAM Act kids who came here as youngsters through no fault of their own and now are Americans is to extend to them temporary legal status? I doubt most Hispanic voters are going to be won over by those positions.
#3 Posted by Harris Meyer, CJR on Sat 5 May 2012 at 02:57 AM
I borrowed this eye opening comment from a national newspaper:
I am a public school educator and I can tell you, the numbers of Hispanics are not dropping! They are the worst offenders when it comes to our school system. We are now clothing, providing all school supplies, school uniforms where required and feeding illegal children and their parents breakfast and lunch. We also have to provide free English tutoring to Hispanic parents, and if the parents want to sit in during class time to learn the basics, they are free and encouraged to do so. Nowhere in the rest of the world can anyone go and receive all the financial gifts that the illegal’s are sucking out of our economy. Don't believe what some reporters and politicians are spewing, they are not in the trenches with elementary, middle or high school educators. It is becoming harder and harder everyday to keep good, qualified and dedicated teaching professionals in the career path they chose. We really aren't teaching any longer, it's more like crowd control, learning to speak Spanish and breaking up Latino gang fights on an everyday basis.
#4 Posted by Dave Francis, CJR on Sat 5 May 2012 at 04:21 PM
Rubio is just like Obama: an economic dupe, a foreign policy maniac, an all-around authoritarian and, generally, a political fraud groomed by the State to be the next Caesar. Yawn. Next story...
#5 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Sun 6 May 2012 at 03:51 AM
Good piece Brian. There are a lot of holes in his background that need checking.
As a hispanic male from the West Coast I find it frustrating that the media continue to see one hispanic, and in this case a person of Cuban descent, as someone who can shore up the Republican's problems with Latinos.
The Cuban American lobby has a strong voice in DC but does not speak for most Latinos in the US. Employing Rubio as their Latino voice will not the be the only mistake Republicans will make during the campaign.
#6 Posted by - JUAN , CJR on Mon 7 May 2012 at 05:49 PM