Report Says Florida's Rubio Used GOP Credit Card for Personal Items

Marco Rubio, a conservative Senate candidate in Florida, charged personal expenses such as car repairs and groceries to a credit card issued to him by the state Republican Party while he was speaker of the Florida House, two newspapers reported Thursday.

The items, charged to an American Express card between 2005 and 2008, amounted to at least several thousand dollars, according to the Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times.

Rubio, who is running against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in the Senate Republican primary, insisted that he paid for all of the personal expenses billed to the credit card and that all of the other charges were legitimate. A Florida Republican Party spokeswoman said the credit card was not supposed to be used for personal expenses.

"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."

Crist jumped on the story. It seems as "if every expense is political" and thus chargeable to the party, said Crist aide Andrea Saul, "even the trip to the local liquor store paid for by Republican donors."