The Marco Rubio camp is apoplectic this morning following the leak reported by the Miami Herald/St Pete Times last night of personlized items that the former House Speaker charged to a Republican Party credit card from 2005 to 2008.
Among the embarrassing charges that Rubio used the credit card for include a $133.75 trip to an upscale barber shop in downtown Miami called Churchills.
These are the key graphs in the story written by Beth Reinhard and Scott Hiassen:
Rubio said the party allowed him to put personal expenses on the card — and the party reviewed his bill monthly.
“I was as diligent as possible to ensure the party did not pay for items that were unrelated to party business,'' Rubio said in a written statement. “There was no formal process provided by the Party regarding personal charges.''
Party spokeswoman Katie Gordon said the card was not supposed to be used for personal expenses. “The RPOF American Express card is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses.''
Donations to parties must go exclusively toward influencing elections under IRS rules.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2010.