Rubio: Dangerously Reduced Highway Patrol is What People of Florida Need

With Murders Up 14%, Speaker Celebrates Jeopardizing Public Safety

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Delusional Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio claims that his drastic cuts to the law enforcement budget somehow leaves Floridians "better off."

"We are dangerously close to not having a highway patrol in this state, unfortunately," Rubio said. "It is the kind of budget the people of Florida need at a time like this..." [Palm Beach Post, 4/1/08]

"Murders are up 14% in Florida, and we're supposed to be happy about these drastic cuts?" Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said. "Maybe Speaker Rubio should use his loan to pay for the highway patrol, too."

Yesterday, Rubio callously joked about using a corrupt home equity loan to restore certain Medicaid funds in the final Health and Human Services budget. [Miami Herald Naked Politics blog, 3/31/08]

Rubio, who claims to "over-disclose," failed to disclose two home equity loans, amending his reports only after a Miami Herald investigation exposed the circumstances surrounding one of the loans. In 2005, Rubio obtained a $135,000 home equity loan when a bank run by his supporters appraised his new house at almost $200,000 more than he bought it for only a month earlier.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's 2007 mid-year report, murders are up 14% over the previous year. Overall crime is up 4%. Also, data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show violent crime skyrocketing in many major Florida cities - most notably, 25% in Jacksonville, 20% in Port St. Lucie and 17% in Hialeah. Murders are up 40-150% in several South Florida cities, even in places where overall violent crime did not see a significant increase.