When Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.If history is any indication, Rubio will skate on this. Voters have given a pass to many presidents with questionable relatives -- go here for a quick rundown on ethically challenged and/or shiftless presidential brothers such as Billy Carter, Neil Bush, and Roger Clinton, not to mention Clinton brothers-in-law Hugh and Tony Rodham. The public just doesn't hold candidates accountable for their no-'count relatives, even if the candidates have tried to use clout to help those relatives.
In July 2002, Rubio sent a letter on his official statehouse stationery to the Florida Division of Real Estate, recommending Orlando Cicilia “for licensure without reservation.” The letter, obtained by The Washington Post under the Florida Public Records Act, offers a glimpse of Rubio using his growing political power to assist his troubled brother-in-law and provides new insight into how the young lawmaker intertwined his personal and political lives.
Remember, a lot of people have dodgy kinfolks. There's nothing odd about having a drug dealer in the family, for Republican voters or anyone else in America. I think most Americans assume that pulling whatever strings you can to help troubled family members is the decent thing to do. And yes, I realize this is Miami Vice-level crime, not tawdry street dealing:
Rubio also declined to say whether he or his family received financial assistance from Cicilia, who was convicted in a high-profile 1989 trial of distributing $15 million worth of cocaine. The federal government seized Cicilia’s home; the money has never been found.But when we're voting for president we shrug this sort of thing off all the time. We probably will with Rubio.
5 comments:
Rubio's about done, unless something unforseen happens.
And you're right, that this issue won't hurt him.
At least not now.
If, however, IF, he was the front-runner, I could see opponents in both parties trying to make a big issue about this. This guy was no Billy Carter, Neil Bush, or RogerClinton. He was far, beyond far, worse. If it's true, what his crew did to an undercover agent is an unspeakable crime! He was lucky that he wasn't put away for life, with no chance for parole.
Having said that, the man served his sentence, and deserved a chance. And I'll credit Rubio's sister, and his family for sticking with this guy.
However, Rubio should have been more circumspect before he used his new position of power to help his brother-in-law get that licence. It was not a poltical savvy thing to do.
There are other things which could be used against him if/when his lot improves soon, or he runs again.
The money this guy made off of being a big drug king-pin was never recovered.
Where is it?
Did Rubio make use of any of it, in his rapid political rise?
Then, there's the quesion of whether Marco used his political power, to steer real estate business his brother-in-laws way.
It's not ugly now, because he's not at the top of the GOP presidential polls. But, a skilled ratfuckers could do Marco a lot of harm in the future.
My guess, is that the (Jeb...) campaign was behind this.
You don't fuck with the Bush's.
Maybe they started with Rubio, and will next go after Cruz.
THEN, Trump.
Attacking candidates ahead of him, might be the only chance Jeb has of improving his position. But, if he and his campaign are indeed behind this, is it too little too late? And why not start with Trump, who makes it a point to ridicule Jeb every chance he gets?
Is it because Jeb's the wimp we all think he is?
It's certainly possible.
Maybe Jeb just decided that if he won't be the nominee, then he'll take out his disloyal protege before his campaign inevitably folds.
2016 will be a very, very interesting year.
Let the ratfucking begin!
I agree. It's just Business. What's good for Business is good for the USofA.
2016 may be the year I exercise my option to take the kids and grandkids "back" to "British Colombia".
Doesn't mean I'll go away.
I predict we won't get any fair test of Steve M.'s 'slick Mario's quick skates' on this front. I think it's likely to work against him as sub-text, at least; since Trump's constantly reaching for Drudge-worthy material, I also think there's a fair chance Trump'll use this more-or-less directly. Regardless, I fully expect Rubio to fail to win even one state during the GOP primary, that is, not even Florida, which he'll lose to Trump and may not come in higher than 4th.
What this means, IMO, is Rubio's existing big donor support will dry up and no new such sources will replace them. There's two aspects to this situation Rubio can't answer adequately: his use of his official office to get his brother-in-law a real estate license while excluding the relevant fact of the felon being his brother-in-law, and the issue that Booman's raised elsewhere: that since the police have stated they never recovered some $15M in money made in connection with his brother-in-law's major league drug dealing, Rubio won't be able to dispose of the suspicion that he and his political career have benefited from at least some of that missing money.
I second Unknown's comment. Rubio isn't going anywhere for numerous reasons, but I still wonder how much of the story about the missing $15 million has yet to come out and how much of Marco Rubio's career has depended on illicit funds from his brother-in-law's business. The real estate license is not going to hurt him (unless they can put together a story-line that establishes poor ethics as a pattern - that could hurt him in the general election), but it seems likely that there's more to it than this.
Anyway, we'll probably never know because Rubio will be out (officially or otherwise) in a couple months - that is, unless this brief bit of national scrutiny uncovers a thread which brings him down as a Senator. Unlikely, perhaps, but not unheard of...
Happy New Year!
I second Unknown's second of Unknown's comment:
http://tiny.cc/mxbs7x
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