We have heard about the Florida GOP using credit cards for lavish expenses
and now former FL GOP chair Jim Greer is under criminal investigation for allegedly awarding himself a lucrative party fundraising contract.
He also spent $134.00 on a haircut (ring any bells?)
But this is only the latest spending scandal, so it's worth looking back at the other revelations that have rocked the state party and ensnared Florida's top Republicans, including both candidates for U.S. Senate: Gov. Charlie Crist, who picked Greer to be party chair, and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, whose own spending habits have become a political problem.
According to the Miami Hearald today Greer was paid hush money:
Despite the scandal swirling around Greer when he stepped down in January, top party officials offered him a fat severance package that included $124,000 in consulting fees for another year of work, the Miami Herald is reporting today. The Herald further reports that, according to Greer's lawyer, "associates" of the incoming state Senate president and speaker of the House offered Greer $200,000 in "hush money" to keep quiet about the severance package. The lawyer for the state GOP dismisses this claim.
Marco Rubio can't hide from this either:
Now the conservative darling candidate for U.S. Senate, was given a GOP American Express card in 2007 and 2008 while he was speaker of the Florida House. He routinely used the card for personal expenses, and to repair his damaged family minivan and rent a car for several weeks.
At the same time, Rubio's former chief of staff, Richard Corcoran, reportedly used a party credit card on tens of thousands in questionable expenses, including "$1,200 for handcrafted chairs for top Republican officials and $6,773 at a Georgia resort for a Rubio family reunion."
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