The St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald reported late Tuesday night that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tallahassee, as well as the FBI and the I.R.S. are all involved in an investigation into the use of American Express cards issued by Florida Republican Party to elected officials and staff, including Ray Sansom, Marco Rubio, former party chair Jim Greer and former party executive director Delmar Johnson.
The paper says that the Rubio camp feels that they have nothing to worry about, however:
The IRS opened the so-called “primary” investigation into Rubio, the leading Republican candidate for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat, and the two former state GOP officials to see if there’s enough evidence to support a full-fledged criminal inquiry, according to a source familiar with the IRS examination.
Rubio campaign adviser Todd Harris said Tuesday that the former lawmaker from Miami has not been contacted by any federal investigators.
“There is absolutely nothing to this,” he said. “Anyone who is looking into it or investigating will quickly come to the same conclusion.’
Before Crist aficionados start cheering, they should hold their applause. Though Charlie Crist has avoided any hint of a scandal because he never used such credit cards, he is closely linked to the former party chairman, Jim Greer, who is also being investigated.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2010.
