March 31, 2010
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News: Crist In Hot Water
Oops! Busted! Florida's Governor Charlie Crist is under fire for questionable credit card charges on his Republican Party's card just days after the Governor criticized his running mate for his inappropriate spending. Crist has made it no secret how he feels about the party's former House Speaker Marco Rubio's use of the party's credit card, is now having to answer to questions about questionable expenses relating to a high profile fishing tournament that he hosted in Key West two years ago. Sources say there have been several other incidents of questionable credit card spending as well where expenses pertaining to Crist's campaign may be inappropriate.
According to some party members, Crist also used the party's credit card to pay for a flight to Orlando totaling over $1,000 for his campaign communications director. Then there's that $17,000 credit card charge for reimbursement of campaign expenses. According to party leaders, the reimbursement would be a violation of Federal law since government parties are prohibited from donating more than $5,000 to a candidate in a primary. Repayment of the expense at this stage of the game would be futile since the Federal Election Commission would view the advance as a violation. Crist explained the $17,000 reimbursement for t-shirts, hats and other marketing merchandise for the GOP fishing trip fundraiser.
According to Eric Eikenberg, Crist's campaign manager, the fishing trip had originally been named the Charlie Crist Fishing Tournament, but when the Governor threw his hat in the race for U.S. Senate, party members changed the name to down play Crist's role However, much of the memorabilia had already been purchased with the original name. Eikenberg said they paid for the items so that the party would not get stuck with the bill since the fishing trip was hosted by GOP and developer Rodney Barreto of Miami and Key Largo as a state party fundraising weekend, not a Crist campaign event. The reimbursement on the credit card statement was to cover those items. Despite the change in names, the Crist campaign still benefited from the fishing trip; the campaign raised nearly $260,000 over that same weekend, including $9,600 from Barreto and his wife.