Neither did I…

narcorubio?

❝Marco Rubio’s presidential aspirations have long been dogged by vague unsubstantiated allegations that he is a “risky bet” with skeletons in his closet that could prove damaging in a high-profile election. This week, Scott Higham and Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post became the first reporters to put some meat on these bones with a story alleging that as Majority Whip of the Florida House of Representatives Rubio “used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier.”

❝…One question, after all, is whether Rubio should have used his official position to help get his brother-in-law the legal right to sell real estate in Florida. Another question is whether a person with a cocaine conviction who wants to sell real estate in Florida should need to call in a favor from his brother-in-the-law the powerful politician in order to be able to do so legally…

❝…Two years after Cicilia’s release from prison he and Rubio’s sister were added to the deed of Rubio’s childhood home, where the couple now lives with the senator’s mother, Oriales Rubio. Cicilia served as the real estate broker commissioned with finding office space for Rubio’s 2010 Senate campaign, and Rubio’s PACs and campaigns have paid more than $130,000 to Cicilia’s sons Daniel and Orlando in consulting fees…

❝When recommending Cicilia to the board, Rubio neglected to mention that the applicant in question is married to his sister, a decision Rubio spokesperson Todd Harris defended to the Post on the curious grounds that Rubio “believed Orlando should be judged on his own merits and felt it would be highly inappropriate, and could be perceived as exerting undue pressure, if his letter stated that Orlando was a relative.”

And on and on. The sort of family ties tales all too common in politics – not just in America. Anywhere corruption involving public office-holders is “traditional” — this happens. Some countries try to deal with it, more or less successfully. Still, I don’t know if I’d vote for someone who believes this to be appropriate.