[Washington, D.C.] Yet another scandal is rocking the political future of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio long considered a contender for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination.
On Friday, Politico reported that back in March, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) found that during his run for the U.S. Senate, Rubio collected $210,000 in improper campaign contributions. The FEC deemed those contributions “prohibited, excessive and … impermissible.”
Rubio was fined $8,000 (which is small compared to the nature of the illegal act, don’t you think?).
Apparently, the rule-breaking donations came from more than 100 individuals. The campaign also took two contributions from corporations, which is illegal, according to Politico.
Surprised? Sunshine Slate isn’t. Rubio has a long history of unethical behavior dating back to his earliest days in Florida politics:
- Failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses as required by state law
- He doled out tens of thousands of dollars to his wife and relatives through political action committees he controlled
- The I.R.S., U.S. Attorney and the FBI is looking into whether or not Rubio and others used Republican Party of Florida credit cards illegally
- He once received a $50,000 from a political group run by a Broward County eye doctor indicted on corruption charges
- While he was running for the U.S. Senate, a home he co-owned with another Miami-area politician was foreclosed on
Then there’s Marco Rubio’s “embellishment” of his famous back story, you know the one where he has always claimed that his parents were Cuban exiles. Well, they are Cuban, but they weren’t exiles. They fled the island nation before the communist regime of Fidel Castro took over.
That doesn’t make you an exile, that makes you an immigrant. Rubio claims it was an error, that he simply did not know the date facts until recently. Not likely – Cuban-Americans are very in tune with the facts and dates related to their time on the island.
That’s not all: Sunshine Slate also reported that there was another factual inaccuracy in Rubio’s star-making legend. National Public Radio caught Rubio telling a tall tale about his mother, who took a trip from the United States to Cuba to see her father who was hospitalized at the time.
During a radio interview, Rubio made a big deal about the fact that his mother was forced to stay in Cuba for nine months by the communist Castro regime. Too bad it wasn’t true. She left after a month or so without any difficulty, said Rubio on a different occasion.
Will any of this be covered in Rubio’s much-anticipated 288-page memoir An American Son to be released June 19?
By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate
Image: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s YouTube Channel
Marco Rubio
