Marco Rubio Releases Two Years of American Express Statements
November 07 2015 - 7:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Patrick O'Connor
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, under fire for his use of a Republican
Party charge card, released two years of previously undisclosed
American Express statements Saturday in an effort to turn the page
on a controversy that has started to weigh on his White House
bid.
The Rubio campaign released previously undisclosed billing
records Saturday for 2005 and a portion of 2006. The charge-card
statements included $1,745 in personal expenses for a 2005 trip to
Las Vegas, $3,756 that he previously acknowledged for paving stones
for his home, and roughly $600 to the Honda dealership owned by one
of his top financial benefactors, according to the billing
records.
The Florida senator released the detailed billing statements
amid mounting criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, who
have questioned Mr. Rubio's discretion for using the Florida GOP
charge card for personal expenses. The scrutiny also provoked
renewed criticism of Mr. Rubio's personal finances.
Donald Trump, one of Mr. Rubio's rivals for the Republican
presidential nomination, talked about the Florida senator's
personal finances repeatedly this past week, saying Mr. Rubio lives
"above his means" and telling one audience, "He is a disaster with
his credit cards."
An outside group backing former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, questioned Mr. Rubio for not
releasing the missing statements.
By releasing the statements, the Florida senator seems to be
trying to get beyond a story that is weighing on his campaign just
as it shows signs of gaining steam. He is currently in third place,
according to an average of national polls compiled by Real Clear
Politics, trailing retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Mr.
Trump.
Mr. Rubio had already disclosed the biggest personal expense
listed in the records released Saturday--$3,756 to Iberia Tiles in
October 2005. In his 2012 memoir, "An American Son," he wrote that
he mistakenly pulled the wrong card from his wallet when he paid
for them. The records released Saturday show a payment to American
Express in November 2005 in the exact amount Mr. Rubio was charged
by Iberia Tiles.
Mr. Rubio had access to one of the Florida Republican Party's
official American Express charge cards in his capacity as the
speaker of the state House in 2007 and 2008 and as the
speaker-designate in 2005 and 2006. The card is supposed to be used
for official party business, primarily fundraising and other
political travel. An ethics panel in Florida officially cleared Mr.
Rubio of wrongdoing in 2012.
Many of the charges disclosed Saturday are for mundane expenses,
such as $6.19 at Burger King in August 2005 and countless gas
station expenses. Others are more lavish, such as $1,625 for a room
at the St. Regis Hotel in New York in October 2006. But there is no
way to tell in the billing statements what expenses are personal
and what expenses are political. On Saturday, the campaign said
eight of the 484 newly released charges were personal, pointing to
the instances in which the senator reimbursed American Express.
According to the campaign, over the four years Mr. Rubio had
access to the card, 73 of the 1,307 total charges were personal.
Those charges added up to $22,003.19, or 12%, of the $182,072.55
Mr. Rubio billed to the party's credit card.
The disclosures appear to show Mr. Rubio paying American Express
whenever he used the card for personal reasons. One of the newly
released records, for example, shows a $180 charge for Hoop
It-Kick, an activity center; the following month's American Express
bill shows a payment in that amount. An the statement from August
2005 shows a pair of charges for the Venetian, a resort casino in
Las Vegas. The first is for $3,343.58 and the other is for
$1,455.40. The next month, American Express received two payments,
including one for $1,745, matching what the Rubio campaign said he
paid to extend his hotel stay and rental car in Las Vegas to visit
family.
"Marco paid his personal charges directly to American Express,"
the campaign said in its release Saturday. "The Republican Party of
Florida did not pay for any of Marco's personal expenses. Further,
taxpayer funds were not used for any political or personal charges
on the card."
Mr. Rubio's use of the Republican Party charge card first
surfaced during his 2010 Senate race. Two years of charge-card
statements were leaked to the media during that campaign, but the
charges from 2005 and much of 2006 had not been previously
released. Politico first broke the news Saturday.
The Florida senator has repeatedly expressed regret for using
the Florida GOP card for personal expenses. "In hindsight, I wish
that none of them had ever been charged," Mr. Rubio wrote in "An
American Son." "When the statements were later leaked during my
Senate campaign, they invited press skepticism, confused some of
the public and allowed an opponent to suggest the party had paid
for personal expenses."
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 07, 2015 20:21 ET (01:21 GMT)
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