Not that long ago a Democrat I was speaking with said she didn't know that much about Kendrick Meek (that's something you haven't heard much this year. Not). But one thing she did know about was that he was in a bit of an ethical mess up, as if that alone should be the only determinant on who to support for Senate this year.
Perhaps if the other candidates had clean hands. But that's never been the case, as the Washington based group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) informs all in their new listing of the 11 candidates with "scandal-littered pasts and questionable ethics."
Florida voters should be proud that of the 2,300 candidates running, CREW has selected the Big 3 in Florida's Senate race – Meek, Governor Charlie Crist, and former House Speaker Marco Rubio as all being qualified to head the list.
Of Crist, CREW writes:
Gov. Crist handpicked Jim Greer to head the Florida Republican Party. Despite multiple calls for Mr. Greer’s resignation by fellow Republicans, due to extravagant spending at the party’s expense, Gov. Crist defended Mr. Greer. Mr. Greer is now facing six counts of grand theft, fraud and money laundering. He is accused of secretly setting up a shell company, Victory Strategies, and signing a deal that would give Victory Strategies 10% of GOP donations – a deal that Gov. Crist allegedly approved.
On Congressman Meek, CREW says:
Rep. Meek has been criticized for his relationship with developer Dennis Stackhouse, who is now awaiting trial for grand theft and organizing a scheme to defraud. Rep. Meek earmarked $1,072,750 million for Mr. Stackhouse’s development project and requested an additional $4 million in earmarks for Mr. Stackhouse, which were never awarded. In addition, both Rep. Meek and his former district director, Anthony Williams, served on the Miami-Dade Urban Revitalization Task Force, which loaned $2.2 million to Mr. Stackhouse’s project, but Rep. Meek did not vote on that particular loan.
At the same time Mr. Stackhouse employed Rep. Meek’s mother, former Congresswoman Carrie Meek, as a consultant paying her $90,000, giving her the free use of a leased Cadillac Escalade and donating the use of a 2,600 square foot office for her foundation. Mr. Stackhouse further curried favor with the congressman by contributing thousands to Rep. Meek’s campaign in 2003. Furthermore, Mr. Stackhouse gave Mr. Williams $13,000 to help him buy a house. Police tried to make a case against Mr. Williams for mortgage fraud, but prosecutors believed the evidence gathered was insufficient.
And let's not forget Marco Rubio. CREW doesn't:
Mr. Rubio is currently implicated in a federal criminal investigation for the misuse of Florida Republican Party credit cards during his time as Speaker. Specifically, the IRS is examining records to determining if Mr. Rubio and other party leaders personally benefitted from the credit card scheme. Legally, party credit cards can only be used for political activities, but Mr. Rubio and his staff charged many seemingly personal expenses on the cards including car repairs and grocery purchases. Mr. Rubio’s chief of staff racked up thousands of dollars in expenses on behalf of Mr. Rubio on his card including dinners and a Rubio family trip to a Georgia resort.
Mr. Rubio also admitted he double-billed both the Republican Party and state taxpayers for eight flights totaling about $3,000 in 2007. Mr. Rubio promised to refund the party, because the trips were for official business, but had not as of April 20,2010.
Perhaps too late to make CREW's list is Florida's other Democrat in this Senate race, billionaire Jeff Greene.
But according to an article in Tuesday's Johnson City (Tennessee) Press, Greene's interest in a company called Sunshine Energy and its subsidiaries is now an issue. Greene had previously told the Miami Herald that he no longer had an interest in that company, but according to the new story, that conflict's with new information.
For his part, Greene has tried to distance himself from the issue when asked about the troubles by Florida reporters. In a June 15 post on the Miami Herald’s political blog, “Naked Politics,” Herald writer Beth Reinhard quoted Greene as telling the Herald editorial board this about the APPCO stores just after the bankruptcy:
“You talking about the energy company? I no longer have an interest in that company as an owner. I got out of my interest in the company.”
Monday, though, Brown said Greene did still own the company — or at least the company that owns the company. He said Greene is the sole member of “Sunshine Acquisitions, LLC,” of Overland Park, Kan.
The “Schedule F” filed Thursday in the local bankruptcy case confirms that in a listing of “current partners, officers, directors and shareholders” of the bankruptcy filer. That schedule indicates each of the three subsidiaries making up the former APPCO is a “wholly owned subsidiary of Sunshine Energy, LLC,” which in turn is “a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunshine Acquisitions, LLC,” and that the “sole member of Sunshine Acquisitions, LLC is Jeff Greene.”
Greene campaign spokesman Paul Blank explained Greene’s comments to the Herald this way on Monday night: “Jeff was transferring ownership of the company and believes the transfer had taken place.”
What's it all mean? Frankly, we're not sure, other than to go back to the beginning of our story. Which is that Florida Democrats continue to find ways to diminish Kendrick Meek – in this case because of his scandal, but again can't help but show their love for Charlie Crist despite his extremely close association with former party chair Jim Greer, who is in some serious doo-doo at the moment.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.