AXP American Express Company

By Patrick O'Connor 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, under fire for his use of a Republican Party charge card, released two years of previously undisclosed American Express statements Saturday in an effort to turn the page on a controversy that has started to weigh on his White House bid.

The Rubio campaign released previously undisclosed billing records Saturday for 2005 and a portion of 2006. The charge-card statements included $1,745 in personal expenses for a 2005 trip to Las Vegas, $3,756 that he previously acknowledged for paving stones for his home, and roughly $600 to the Honda dealership owned by one of his top financial benefactors, according to the billing records.

The Florida senator released the detailed billing statements amid mounting criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, who have questioned Mr. Rubio's discretion for using the Florida GOP charge card for personal expenses. The scrutiny also provoked renewed criticism of Mr. Rubio's personal finances.

Donald Trump, one of Mr. Rubio's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, talked about the Florida senator's personal finances repeatedly this past week, saying Mr. Rubio lives "above his means" and telling one audience, "He is a disaster with his credit cards."

An outside group backing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, questioned Mr. Rubio for not releasing the missing statements.

By releasing the statements, the Florida senator seems to be trying to get beyond a story that is weighing on his campaign just as it shows signs of gaining steam. He is currently in third place, according to an average of national polls compiled by Real Clear Politics, trailing retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Mr. Trump.

Mr. Rubio had already disclosed the biggest personal expense listed in the records released Saturday--$3,756 to Iberia Tiles in October 2005. In his 2012 memoir, "An American Son," he wrote that he mistakenly pulled the wrong card from his wallet when he paid for them. The records released Saturday show a payment to American Express in November 2005 in the exact amount Mr. Rubio was charged by Iberia Tiles.

Mr. Rubio had access to one of the Florida Republican Party's official American Express charge cards in his capacity as the speaker of the state House in 2007 and 2008 and as the speaker-designate in 2005 and 2006. The card is supposed to be used for official party business, primarily fundraising and other political travel. An ethics panel in Florida officially cleared Mr. Rubio of wrongdoing in 2012.

Many of the charges disclosed Saturday are for mundane expenses, such as $6.19 at Burger King in August 2005 and countless gas station expenses. Others are more lavish, such as $1,625 for a room at the St. Regis Hotel in New York in October 2006. But there is no way to tell in the billing statements what expenses are personal and what expenses are political. On Saturday, the campaign said eight of the 484 newly released charges were personal, pointing to the instances in which the senator reimbursed American Express.

According to the campaign, over the four years Mr. Rubio had access to the card, 73 of the 1,307 total charges were personal. Those charges added up to $22,003.19, or 12%, of the $182,072.55 Mr. Rubio billed to the party's credit card.

The disclosures appear to show Mr. Rubio paying American Express whenever he used the card for personal reasons. One of the newly released records, for example, shows a $180 charge for Hoop It-Kick, an activity center; the following month's American Express bill shows a payment in that amount. An the statement from August 2005 shows a pair of charges for the Venetian, a resort casino in Las Vegas. The first is for $3,343.58 and the other is for $1,455.40. The next month, American Express received two payments, including one for $1,745, matching what the Rubio campaign said he paid to extend his hotel stay and rental car in Las Vegas to visit family.

"Marco paid his personal charges directly to American Express," the campaign said in its release Saturday. "The Republican Party of Florida did not pay for any of Marco's personal expenses. Further, taxpayer funds were not used for any political or personal charges on the card."

Mr. Rubio's use of the Republican Party charge card first surfaced during his 2010 Senate race. Two years of charge-card statements were leaked to the media during that campaign, but the charges from 2005 and much of 2006 had not been previously released. Politico first broke the news Saturday.

The Florida senator has repeatedly expressed regret for using the Florida GOP card for personal expenses. "In hindsight, I wish that none of them had ever been charged," Mr. Rubio wrote in "An American Son." "When the statements were later leaked during my Senate campaign, they invited press skepticism, confused some of the public and allowed an opponent to suggest the party had paid for personal expenses."

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2015 20:21 ET (01:21 GMT)

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