« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Charlie Crist’s GOP Comes Under Federal Investigation. Rubio Affected.

As the morning sun comes up in Florida there is big news. The U.S. attorney, IRS and FBI are investigated the Florida GOP for practices Charlie Crist’s hand picked chairman put in place.

Remember those credit card expenditures that Crist has been attacking Rubio over? If you don’t, Charlie’s hand picked Florida Republican Party Chairman, Jim Greer, and Executive Director Delmar Johnson, passed out American Express cards for Republican officials to serve the party’s purposes.

Johnson alone spent something like $100,000.00 in one month on his AmEx, no doubt taking lessons from Charlie Crist’s $10,000.00 mini-bar raids on taxpayer dime while in Europe.

Crist raised the issue after taking without permission Marco Rubio’s credit card statement. Rubio, serving as Florida Speaker, had one of the cards. Well, now Charlie’s Chairman, Jim Greer, along with Delmar Johnson are under federal investigation.

Along the way, though, Marco Rubio is also being looked at. Rubio used the party credit card several times for personal expenditures, but then repaid the money. The IRS will be looking into whether he abused his credit card for personal expenditures.

Given what we know already, the headline is more sensational than the facts, but no doubt the left will use it as a club. So will Crist while trying very hard to ignore that he himself and those he put in place at the party are the ones who set this all up from start to finish.

COMMENTS

  • Richard Mullins

    Crist’s bagmen are the ones to worry.

  • proudconservativerepublican

    Crist’s minions should be more worried than Marco, at least he paid back the the charges he made. I haven’t heard about Mr. Johnson paying back the charges he has made. I think Marco will come out of this investigation clean ,as I don’t think he did anything wrong.

  • 6eorge Jetson

    Ugghh…I wish we could have found a cleaner way to rid the GOP of these establishment leeches.

  • JadedByPolitics

    to try to slow down the next Senator from Florida Marco Rubio! I have no doubt the stories will be salacious and damaging right up until election day and Crist will run as an Independent because he is a SLEAZE!

  • Hugh

    don’t walk where it is slippery”. Why this is slippery is there appears to be no accountability for charges on the cards. Most business organizations take a dim view to personal expenses charged on company credit cards. Abuse usually results in termination. I like and support Marco Rubio. I wish this story were not true no matter if he repaid personal expenses or not. Let all learn a lesson from this.

  • The_Gadfly

    whether the investigators are lawmen or persecutors than on the law itself.

    The laws on not-for-profits tend to be fairly strict and the fiduciary responsibilities on the officers and appointees are equally strenuous. Part of that expectation is that you can’t use the NFP in any way as a personal piggy bank. For instance, officers can legitimately charge for airplane tickets to another country for an official NFP meeting or conference. But if while in country two of those officers take a side trip to another nearby country after the first trip is completed and charge it on the NFP card because they are currently short on cash, that can count as personal gain even if they pay it back in the current billing period. Typically that sort of thing flys under the radar so long as the money is paid to the NFP, but once you’re under the investigative microscope all bets are off.

    I agree with your sentiment: Charlie Crist and his minions ought to be more worried about this than Rubio. But given the already demonstrated propensity of the current regime to use any excuse to slander and demonize the innocent Rubio will have no margin for error.

  • Adjoran

    . . . from himself . . . wouldn’t you?

    But unless Rubio made those reimbursements promptly, he may get caught up in it. The law governs how political funds can be spent, and how they must be accounted for, and anyone who is spending those funds better be able to give a good accounting.

  • scarlos

    He left the “Corrupt” Republican party to mount a “Noble” independent bid.

    Hell, at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he flipped parties and took George LeMieux with him, giving Obama back his 60-seat majority on the promise that he could force Meek out of the race for him.

  • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

    I wrote about this when it came to my attention earlier this month. Charlie Crist has no shame.

  • willik

    Mr. Rubio, by using the card for personal reasons and paid the money back immediately, created the “appearance of impropriety.”

    I don’t think he should have used the card for personal purchases, but he DID pay the Party coffers back which is probably NOT the case with Christ or any of his cronies.

    Mr. Rubio is going to be beaten severly over the head with the “appearance” and not the true facts of the case.

    Wer I mr. Rubio, I would put that darn card in the shredder for the duration.

  • http://www.redstate.com/biggator5/ BigGator5

    That is my biggest nightmare right now.

  • thebelle

    Charlie is somewhat desperate. He is going to get down and dirty before this is all over.

    Wait–this will get worse. If he runs as an independent which he said on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace he would never do–it will hurt Rubio and Florida will wind up with Christ.

    It is time for Christ to shut up and if he has merits to tell us about them or fade quietly into the night..

    Rubio may still pull this off. If Christ talks to much, he will hang himself.

  • Hugh
  • Locked and Loaded

    Aspiring leaders from our side must be above reproach – and keenly attentive to the details of how to make it so. Sure, we all have problems in our past, but they had better be in the past.

  • indyjohn

    He thought that he could damage Rubio’s campaign with the claim that Marco improperly using a party credit card. But when he opened that door, he also spread light on the dark corners of his own behavior and that of his direct subordinates. Now the national Dems have ammo that they will no doubt use in an attempt to wound the entire Florida GOP apparatus. They see this as their best chance of improving the electoral odds.
    I am convinced that Marco Rubio is the ultimate target of this investigation. The Dems fear him. They want to take him out now, before he becomes a popular and forceful national figure.

  • The_Rebel

    for their backing of Crist. Will they ever learn?

  • Frank Zaber

    .. that when and if the truth comes out about what started this investigation, it’s going to lead right to Crist. Whistleblower, Hero, American. (snark)

    He supports Obama’s agenda, and the Chosen’s administration takes out his rival for him. Or tries to, that is. I dont think they’ll find anything worthy of anything but Olbermann and Maddow ranting about for 3 days, and people who watch MSNBC are not going to vote for Rubio anyway.

    Honestly, I dont think this is going to wind up being any more than a short speed bump for Rubio.. as long as he didnt charge prostitutes or crack on his GOP card, that is.

    Amazingly, the Koskids arent drooling all over themselves on this one yet, and its already 9:45 EST..

  • Frank Zaber

    .. that when and if the truth comes out about what started this investigation, it’s going to lead right to Crist. Whistleblower, Hero, American. (snark)

    He supports Obama’s agenda, and the Chosen’s administration takes out his rival for him. Or tries to, that is. I dont think they’ll find anything worthy of anything but Olbermann and Maddow ranting about for 3 days, and people who watch MSNBC are not going to vote for Rubio anyway.

    Honestly, I dont think this is going to wind up being any more than a short speed bump for Rubio.. as long as he didnt charge prostitutes or crack on his GOP card, that is.

    Amazingly, the Koskids arent drooling all over themselves on this one yet, and its already 9:45 EST..

  • Frank Zaber

    (n/t)

  • cabanon

    Claim the party is too corrupt, go independent and then relentlessly pound Rubio with his involvement. Politics at its finest.

  • zollistar

    RUBIO – Acted unwisely but appears to be otherwise principled.

    CHRIST – Desperate, without shame and (other than his re-election) lacks informing convictions and principles.

    DEMS – Interested in taking out Rubio early and for good; will do almost anything to succeed.

    This is setting up to be a high-stakes, action-packed movie.

  • Hugh

    This is a link to a WaPo story today regarding spending at the DNC & the RNC. Ouch! If the RNC spends 68 cents to raise each dollar I want to be a staffer with them. Living the good life.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/20/AR2010042005183.html?wpisrc=nl_headline

  • RedBeard

    …I have to point out the rather stark difference between Crist and Christ.

    But your points are well taken.

    Rather idiotic for Crist to hand this issue to the Dems on a silver platter. But then, what smart things has he done?

  • iluvit

    about this issue at all. What is important to me is that I know that Rubio shares my values as a true conservatives and I have a pretty much know how he will vote regarding those core issues. So unless they find that Rubio is a rapist or child molester he has my support.

    I suspect that this is getting a push in DC and hesitate to give Christ the full credit here. Strange though that Holder supported the pardon of Frank Rich and dropped the case that had already been won with an admission of guilt by the Black Panthers in the voter intimidation case.

  • iluvit

    Get a reasonable password system. this is rediculous! have to look it up all the time. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.

  • PaladinLostHour

    This is right in line with the desperate Crist smears that have characterized his campaign against Rubio. Even if he didn’t directly push for this investigation, he’s played the role of useful idiot for the Dems. And Good Time Charlie should stop a minute and think – because, while (so far) Rubio and his backers have stayed on the high road, they’ have to be sick of the endless character assasination. Ultimately, they’ll hit back with stories like this one:

    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sex-dawn/201003/is-governor-charlie-crist-gay-should-we-care

    Its been done before – the NYC1977 Mayoral campaign, where ‘Vote for Cuomo, not the homo” signs appeared after Koch smeared Cuomo as an anti-Semite. (apologies for the slur, but that is, historically, what the signs said.)

  • earlgrey

    I had the same problem, but I played around with the profile settings and was able to easily change my password. I just don’t remember exactly what I did.

  • RedBeard

    At least in the sense that I have a hard time remembering which securely indecipherable gibberish I used where.

    Tempting to use a password of 11111111 or *password* for everything, but that sort of defeats the purpose.

  • Death_of_the_Donkey

    I am sorry, but I would go nuts if a Dem did this and I am equally upset that Rubio appears to at best acted unethically (if not criminally) here. I have gotten so sick of this “our guys can be sleezeballs so long as they vote (sometimes) the way I want” mentality that has seemed to pervade our party. While I couldn’t vote for Christ (because I don’t agree with his positions), I could neither vote for Rubio for crap like this (it seriously calls into question his ethics). Thankfully, I live in Ohio so I have a much easier choice to make.

  • RedBeard

    Apparently the rules are different here than in the rest of life, but still I want to know the whole story before I start gathering bags of feathers and heating the tar.

  • Frank Zaber

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/us-attorney-irs-and-fbi-investigating-florida-gop-credit-card-use/1088979

    “Rubio billed the party for more than $100,000 during the two years he served as House speaker, according to credit card statements obtained by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald. The charges included repairs to the family minivan, grocery bills, plane tickets for his wife and purchases from retailers ranging from a wine store near his home to Apple’s online store. Rubio also charged the party for dozens of meals during the annual lawmaking session in Tallahassee, even though he received taxpayer subsidies for his meals. “

  • acat

    It’s very easy to come up with a simple, memorable, and hard-to-crack password.

    Take two four-letter words. Milk and Roll. for example.

    Change the letter i to the number 1.
    Change the letter o to the number 0.

    Congrats, you’ve got a password that’s hard to crack and, as long as you can remember two simple words, you’re good.

    This has been your helpful security tip for the day.

    Mew

  • RedBeard

    “Rubio said the billings all related to party business ? the minivan, for example, was damaged by a valet at a political function ? and that he repaid the party for about $16,000 in personal expenses.”

    I’ll feel better waiting until all the facts are known before grabbing my torch and pitchfork.

  • zollistar

    And I actually really do know the difference. Really.

  • zollistar

    I’m completely by-passing The Powers That Be.

    I’ve sent money directly to Rubio (and others) in the past.

    Just yesterday I sent $$$ to Marlin Stutzman in Indiana. I’m also going to make phone calls for him (even though I live in New York).

    Really: it’s becoming less and less necessary to support bureaucracies. And thanks to technology, it;’s possible for work for “your” candidate, wherever he or she may be.

  • CincoSolas_del_Bronx

    I bet nobody in a million years would ever guess

    r1ckr0ll

    On my own intranet server, it’s sad the number of people who try to work this old standard into their pws.

  • chabsentia

    The movements are pretty obvious. Crist tries to ambuh Rubio with the credit card accusation It doesnt have that much of an effect. Crist gets the poll that he will lose to Rubio if he runs as a Repubican but if he runs as an Independent then he is ahead of Rubio by three points, .Crist in his position as Governor gets wind of the investigation of everybody in the RNC and asks his guy who is a former Florida governor to leave the RNC and manage his Independent run for Senator or visa versa. The guy steps down but doesnt give a reson for it.Shortly you will hear Crist annouce that he got wind of the investigation etc and decided to dis-associate himself with the RNC because it no longer represented his principles.

  • soljerblue

    Twice this spring I’ve responded to RNC fund raising letters with personal notes saying they’ll get no more money from me until they start acting, and spending according to their professed principles. That is, put the republic back in “Republican”. I’ve sent money to Rubio and Stutzman, and to conservative congressional candidates in my own state. “Stuff” the Party — they’re running against the will of the people.