Discussion:

Discussion for article #242623

So will he release bank statements showing that he paid the amounts he claims to American Express? I’m gonna take a wild guess that he will not.

“Now can we please get back to how Obamacare is killing jobs and Hillary’s emails ordering the attack in Benghazi?” the campaign asked.

No Republican has any business talking about fiscal responsibility. They are private dancers channeling money to the oligarchs, while at the same time shifting blame for falling wages from the .1% to the government. See: trickle down, union busting, and government is the problem.

What a dork!

So many cards, so much debt, so many excuses…

Rubio has long said he would occasionally pull out his party American Express card to pay for personal items by mistake.

I’ve never mistakenly used the wrong card, ever.

Anyone else?

He’s a fucking liar.

I would like to see independent verification from AmEx that the statements are correct and unaltered. I just don’t trust him.

As much as the GOP is fond of saying the government should be run like a business. Why is the same not true for them? Any business would have fired him for ethics violations long before it happened 73 times.

Never. And I’ve had a corporate card for more than 30 years.

Rubio was among several state GOP lawmakers given access to American Express cards through the Republican Party of Florida, which offered a way for lawmakers to get around the state’s strict ban on accepting gifts that was put into law in 2006.

So he’s griftng on two levels. Clearly breaking the intent of the law by finding a loophole to accept gifts. And that’s in addition to paying for personal expenses on the Republican Party’s dime.

I’d think that in the real world, making that mistake would get one fired.

Rubio was among several state GOP lawmakers given access to American Express cards through the Republican Party of Florida, which offered a way for lawmakers to get around the state’s strict ban on accepting gifts that was put into law in 2006. The ban prevents lawmakers from taking gifts from lobbyists, but the state party doesn’t face the same restrictions. The Florida Republican Party was responsible for paying off the cards on a monthly basis.

So, basically, a lobbyist-funded political slush fund for select GOP lawmakers.

Perfectly legal, apparently – well, as long as you use the funds for “party business.” But Rubio did as so many politicians will do when given access to a political slush fund – he started using it as a personal slush fund.

My guess is as he was pulling out the party charge card, he was making up some cockamamie justification in his mind for how the expense was party business related, and somebody – his own accountant, someone from the state GOP, etc, called him on it and made him pay it back. Of course that’s assuming he’s telling the truth that he paid it back. And even if he did, the fact that he did it over and over suggests he was too busy spending like a drunken sailor to be too concerned about the line between personal and political finances.

Given that there are plenty of Federal employees who have gotten into trouble-- with sanctions ranging from bad performance reviews to firing to jail time-- for EXACTLY the same behavior as Rubio has done with his party charge card, how could he possibly Preside over the system without folks having the perfect “out”?

I don’t have a corporate card but I’ve used the wrong card before. It happens.

Do I believe Rubio, no.

Eight times in a two year period? That’s beyond an occasional mistake.

Folks without AmEx cards, but checking accounts do the same thing. It’s called ‘check kiting’.

"Rubio has punched back at Trump, telling reporters: “I find it ironic
that the only person running for president that’s ever declared a
bankruptcy four times in the last 25 years is attacking anyone on
finances.”

They (GOP) candidates remind me of little kids the way they attack one another,BTW, the other day when Ben Carson was mounting his defense,was it just me ? But at one point his voice reminded of Mike Tyson.

The stand-by excuses:
Mistakes were made
Someone (not I) dropped the ball
The dog ate all my other credit cards…

AmEx cards don’t have restrictions, and Rubio knows it. When the Visa or Master Card are maxed, AmEx will work. My mother in law had one, and when the bank was dicking my wife and I around on underwriting our mortgage, she got the realtor to call the bank and tell them she was about to buy the house on her AmEx card if they didn’t speed it up, and pay it off the card with a mortgage from another lender. They complied. The realtor says they have two or three like that a year.