March: Rubio denies responsibility for ‘Taj Mahal’ courthouse funding
From March on Politics: Marco Rubio, who was state House speaker when a controversial courthouse in Tallahassee called the ‘Taj Mahal’ was put in the state budget, is denying responsibility for it.
Rubio said Wednesday the proposal for the courthouse, which has been criticized as too luxurious in a time of severe budget constraints, originated in the Senate, not the House, which he controlled; and that it wasn’t the Legislature’s job to scrutinize building plans.
A Republican running for the U.S. Senate, Rubio also denied responsibility for another controversial project pushed through the state House during his tenure as speaker, an airplane hangar disguised as an educational building.
That project led to indictment of former state Rep. Ray Sansom, whom Rubio had chosen as House budget chief. It allegedly was intended to benefit a private jet business owned by a political contributor allied with Sansom.
Rubio said the legislation for the airport project was so well disguised it fooled all legislators and that disguise was the basis of the indictment.
Asked about the courthouse in an interview with the Tampa Tribuneeditorial board, Rubio, said, “That specific spending priority emerged from the Senate.”
He said funding courts is “a core governmental function,” but, “How that money is spent and what it’s spent on is not what the Legislature does. The Legislature doesn’t approve architectural plans, it doesn’t approve purchasing orders.” Continue reading here.
