Bad deal:
Rubio bought
this house in Tallahassee in 2005 with now-shamed political ally David
Rivera.
It went into
foreclosure after the pair failed to make mortgage payments for five months,
although they later ponied up.
Rivera must pay back
nearly $58,000 for double-billing taxpayers for state travel
Marco Rubio worth
thousands
How Marco Rubio
charged thousands in personal expenses on his Republican Party credit card
including $4,000 flooring for his Miami home – and hired his ex-Dolphins
cheerleader wife
Senator Marco Rubio
is a front-runner for the Republican nod for 2016
But as a member of
the Florida House, he used his home as a base for a political committee
He spent nearly
$85,000 on 'office/operating costs' and $65,000 on administrative costs.
His wife, Jeanette,
was treasurer for one, receiving $5,700 in expenses, for 'gas and meals'
He charged car
repairs, Apple products, fancy dinners and even a $134 haircut on Republican
Party American Express card
Rubio only repaid
the state party once he was caught out, claims a former supporter
In his last
financial statement to Congress he said he had at least $450,000 in liabilities
Republican
presidential front-runner Marco Rubio charged thousands of dollars of personal
expenses on a party-issued credit card, used his home as the base for his
political committee and hired his wife, who billed $5,700 in 'gas and food'
expenses, a Daily Mail Online investigation into his finances has revealed.
Car repairs, fancy
dinners and even a $134 haircut were among the items he charged on the American
Express card, which was supposed to pay for only Republican Party-related
expenses.
One former supporter
even revealed the Florida senator confided to him that he charged more than
$4,000 to the card to pay for new flooring in his Miami-area home.
'We were in a
Starbucks in Tampa and we sat down to get to know one another,' former
political consultant Chris Ingram told Daily Mail Online. 'I asked him if there
was anything that might be a problem in his upcoming campaign. He told me
"I have this issue with an American Express card where we accidentally
charged $4-5,000 for home flooring."'
Rubio's history of
mingling of personal expenses with those of his political party - he says he's
paid them all back - are bound to come up during what promises to be a
hard-fought primary battle and, if he is successful, to become a major part of
next year's race for the White House.
'What worries me is
if Marco Rubio were to win the party's nomination, you can be sure that
Democrats will make a big deal of it in the general election,' said Mike
Fazano, a former Majority Leader in the Florida House of Representatives, who
gave Rubio an early leg-up on his political rise by appointing him a party
whip.
Rubio's campaign
dismissed the allegations as 'old stuff that we have addressed in the past.'
His communications director Alex Conant told Daily Mail Online that a 2010
report by law firm Alston & Bird into the claims of wrongdoing had found
that charges were related to party business.'
Rubio, 43, is among
the least well-off of the Republicans running for the White House. When he left
the Florida House of Representatives in 2008 he said he had a net worth of
$8,351 while having hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt from mortgages and
$115,000 in student loans. In his last financial statement to Congress he said
he had at least $450,000 in liabilities.
The new focus on
Rubio's financial dealings comes as the New York Times reported on how his rise
from being the son of impoverished Cuban immigrants to one of the country's
most enigmatic and powerful senators has been largely bankrolled by one man.
The paper called
billionaire car dealer Norman Braman a 'remarkable and unique patron' to Rubio.
'He has bankrolled
Mr. Rubio's campaigns. He has financed Mr. Rubio's legislative agenda,' wrote
the Times. 'And, at the same time, he has subsidized Mr. Rubio's personal
finances, as the rising politician and his wife grappled with heavy debt and
big swings in their income.'
Braman hired Rubio
as a lawyer, gave his wife, former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Jeanette
Dousdebes a job advising his family's philanthropic foundation, covered Rubio's
salary as a college instructor and let him use his private plane.
'Even in an era
dominated by super-wealthy donors, Mr. Braman stands out, given how integral he
has been not only to Mr. Rubio's political aspirations but also to his personal
finances,' said the Times.
But it is Rubio's
apparent difficulty keeping his personal finances separated from those of his
party that has Republicans concerned.
The credit card
bills show Rubio charged items including $765.05 at Apple's online store, as
well as the $134 haircut and items such as $114.70 at Mario the Baker, $10.50
at an AMC movie theater and $68 at Happy Wine liquor store near his home. Rubio
claims the Happy Wine charges were 'to buy sandwiches for working lunches in my
office, a legitimate expense.'
Other charges on the
American Express card included $1,456.87 at Disneyworld, $761.54 at Costco and
$171.15 at the Flower Mart of Hialeah, Florida as well as several hundred
dollars in delinquency payments.
Rubio also charged
the party $1,000 for repairs - carried out by one of Braman's companies - to
his family's minivan, He said the vehicle was damaged by a parking valet at a
Republican Party event.
He then charged a
further $2,976.15 for an Avis hire car he says he needed for five weeks.
Columnist Carl
Hiaasen of the Miami Herald took him to task for one AmEx bill for $412 charged
at All Fusion Electronics in Miami for 'computer repairs.'
'If you visit All
Fusion, you won't see many computers. However, the company does sell drum kits,
guitars and karaoke machines,' wrote Hiaasen.
A 2006 family
reunion in Georgia is another classic example of questionable financial
judgment on the part of Rubio.
His former
chief-of-staff Richard Corcoran put thousands of dollars on his card to pay for
a Rubio family trip at the plush Melhana Plantation in Georgia, now called
Coalson Plantation. However Rubio said that was an error as Corcoran had given
the resort his card to pay for a dinner for senior staffers to celebrate his
Senate victory.
That dinner was
canceled and the card, Rubio claims, was inadvertently used to pay for the
reunion.