The bottom line is that Marco Rubio wanted to be a USA senator for no other reason than to run for the presidency in 2016.
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Michelle Ye Hee Lee, one of the Washington Post’s “fact checkers”, revealed in a Friday item that Marco Rubio’s “explanation” on the November 4, 2015 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America regarding his “handling of his state Republican Party-issued corporate card” actually checks out. There were just eight personal charges listed, for a total of $7,243.74, which Rubio’s campaign said he personally repaid in subsequent billing cycles. Nevertheless, Rubio supporters & his marketing crusade argue in that he spent considerably lower than previous Florida Home speakers & in that Rubio isn’t concealing monetary errors.
Rubio dismissed the charges as old news and said he did nothing wrong.
The campaign’s defense of Rubio’s spending practices came just days after Republican rival and billionaire Donald Trump publicly ridiculed Rubio, saying he was “a disaster with his credit cards” who “certainly lives beyond his means”. He had not released the remaining American Express statements until Saturday. Over the weekend, as the NY Times reported, Rubio released the previously undisclosed information.
“Every expense on that card is detailed in the Republican Party accounts that they file every month with the reports that they have to file with the state”. The Florida Republican Party was responsible for paying off the cards on a monthly basis.
“Any personal charges were paid by me directly”.
Rubio in New Hampshire campaigning was faced with new fresh questions over the spending on the credit card after a report in the Tampa Bay Times had highlighted the senator’s failure to make his statement of his credit card public from when he served in the state legislature in Florida. Gardner says Rubio’s new look presidency will be a successful contrast to Clinton as she campaigns on failed policies of the past. There are also hotel charges in his hometown of Miami, including $308.98 at the Conrad Hotel Atrio in February 2007, with a $260.91 food and beverage charge, and a $162.07 charge at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami in September 2007.
Rubio was soley responsible for determining whether charges were related to party business.
Rick Shaftan, a consultant for the group, said it was disappointed with radio ads put out this week by Keep the Promise I, a pro-Cruz super PAC funded by hedge fund multimillionaire Robert Mercer that, as of June 30, had $10,470,926 in the bank.
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His use of an American Express card is part of a litany of financial problems – from a bank moving to foreclose on a house he co-owned in Tallahassee to questionable accounting of political funds – that have dogged Rubio during his political career. That explains his stepped up political activities – but not his more frequent use of the party card for personal expenses. “And that doesn’t sit well – not only with me, but with anyone who knows the two”, Ballard said.
