Well, this isn’t surprising.
On Tuesday night after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio based his rebuttal on two major points: more government is bad, and he’s a middle class citizen, just like the rest of us.
VIDEO: The Thirst! Marco Rubio Awkwardly Grabs Bottle Of Water During SOTU Rebuttal
Thing is, Rubio is a liar.
In fact, his message about more government limiting opportunities and holding America back is interesting when you consider that more government has helped bolster Rubio’s career…and his pockets.
According to a report from the Tampa Bay Times, Rubio has mixed politics with personal gain for quite some time:
As Rubio climbed the ranks, he began to use little-noticed political committees to fund his travel and other expenses and later had a Republican Party of Florida credit card.
What emerged, records show, is a pattern of blending personal and political spending. Over and over again Rubio proved sloppy, at best, in complying with disclosure requirements.
Virtually broke, the 31-year-old lawmaker began campaigning to be House speaker in 2003 and created a political committee — Floridians for Conservative Leadership — to help elect other Republican candidates and curry their support.
With his wife serving as treasurer, Rubio did not wait for the state to authorize the committee before accepting campaign donations.
The committee listed its address as Rubio’s home, a modest place he and his wife bought in West Miami in 2002, but reported spending nearly $85,000 in office and operating costs and $65,000 for administrative costs.
Over 18 months, nearly $90,000 went for political consultants, $51,000 went for credit card payments and $4,000 went to other candidates…As he accumulated power, Rubio’s income also grew. The $72,000 he made as a lawyer in 2000 climbed to $92,000 in 2003, then rose dramatically to $270,000 a year later, when he locked down the race to become House speaker. During the time, he was employed by three separate law firms.
In 2005, Rubio got a $300,000 job with Broad and Cassel, a large Miami firm that had done millions of dollars of legal work for the Florida House.
Interesting.
VIDEO: The Republican Savior: 5 Things We Learned From Marco Rubio’s SOTU Rebuttal
But even more shocking is Rubio’s testimony that he still lives in the modest middle class neighborhood he grew up in.
In his speech Tuesday, Rubio spoke about the desire to defend his neighbors from Obama’s tax-and-spend policies. “Mr. President, I still live in the same working class neighborhood I grew up in. My neighbors aren’t millionaires,” he said.
Get this. Rubio just put his home up for sale for $675,000.
The hell kind of middle class is that? Someone is way out of touch with what it means to be “middle class” in this country.
To see a full list of the extent to which the government and private sector overlap for Rubio, click here.
- SOURCE: Huffington Post
