Consultant: Marco Rubio charged $4K in home remodeling work on GOP credit card

Marco Rubio had hoped that months ago he'd put behind him the controversy over questionable personal spending on his Republican Party credit card.

But now a Republican political consultant and former vocal Rubio supporter says Rubio told him he had charged thousands of dollars in home remodeling expenses on his state GOP American Express card.

``I raised the issue very casually, `Are there any issues you need to worry about that could cause you a problem?' The biggest concern of his was this charge of $4,000 to $5,000 for a kitchen flooring renovation in his house that he said somehow wound up on his (party) credit card,'' said Chris Ingram of Tampa, adding that Rubio assured him he had paid for that charge.

The Rubio campaign dismissed Ingram as a petty campaign operative who wanted to get a job with Rubio. However, a spokesman declined to say whether Ingram's recollection was inaccurate.

``None of it is even worth me or anyone from our campaign commenting about because this is a guy who is clearly disgruntled who has a history of making accusations like this against people he's worked for,'' senior advisor Todd Harris said, noting that Ingram has criticized former employers, including 2006 Senate candidate Katherine Harris.

`THE BOTTOM LINE'

``The bottom line is that it is absolutely untrue that party money was ever used to pay for something like this,'' Harris said.

The Times/Herald earlier this year obtained Rubio's party credit card statement from 2006 and 2007. It showed he routinely charged personal expenses on the party credit card, from groceries to family reunion expenses. He said he paid off those expenses directly, though after the Times/Herald made those records public Rubio had to pay the state GOP $2,400 for double-billed plane flights.

Former state House Speaker Rubio of Miami is the front-runner in the U.S. Senate race against Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as an independent, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami.

The Crist campaign has called for greater disclosure by Rubio, such as releasing tax returns and all party credit card statements.

``Rubio already admitted to using his party credit card to the tune of $16,000 in just two years for meals, trips, car repairs and family reunions. If Rubio wasn't using political contributions as his own personal ATM for longer than that, why not release all of the credit card records?'' Crist campaign spokesman Danny Kanner said.

Harris of the Rubio campaign said no further credit card records would be released.

``We would be spending the rest of the campaign answering ridiculous charges if we jumped to action every time a disgruntled political consultant made some accusation,'' he said. ``Our campaign is going to stay 100 percent focused on the issues that got us where we are today. If Charlie Crist or Chris Ingram want to create a sideshow they can do it together.''

Ingram also writes biting commentary about politics on his website, IrreverentView.com . He was a critic of Gov. Crist well before his popularity sunk in the GOP, and for months Ingram touted Rubio's campaign.

E-MAIL EXCHANGES

He provided the Times/Herald with e-mail exchanges where he urged Rubio to release any negative information about his credit card to minimize damage.

``This has been addressed. There is no issues (sic) with my card. (I spent less in 4 years than Sansom did in 2.),'' Rubio e-mailed on Dec. 23, referring to indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom. ``If there was an issue they would have released them long ago.''

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