{"id":107240,"date":"2018-11-01T11:07:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T15:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=107240"},"modified":"2018-11-02T14:17:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T18:17:46","slug":"andrew-gillum-under-serious-investigation-for-private-use-of-municipal-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=107240","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Gillum under serious investigation by FBI for private use of municipal funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Gillum used city funds for private travel, docs show, in latest finance snafu for insurgent Florida Dem<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Gregg Re | Fox News<\/p>\n<h5><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=5852658327001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\">foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><\/h5>\n<p>Fox News Decision Team digs into key Senate races<br \/>\nNew Fox News Polls show races coming down to the wire in Arizona, Missouri and Indiana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate and Tallahassee mayor\u00a0Andrew Gillum may have broken state law by using city funds\u00a0for a private round-trip flight on a developer&#8217;s plane to meet campaign donors, contradicting his previous account of the flight, emails released earlier this week as part of a state ethics probe show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The revelation marks the latest headache for Gillum, coming days after it emerged\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/andrew-gillum-got-hamilton-tickets-from-undercover-fbi-agent-records-show\">he had accepted\u00a0pricey<\/a>\u00a0tickets to the Broadway musical &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; from an undercover FBI agent named Mike Miller posing as a developer in the summer of 2016. Gillum has maintained he got the tickets from his brother,\u00a0Marcus, and assumed his brother had paid for them.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/states\/f\/?id=00000166-c167-d7e3-abef-e97fd8a50000\">document releases<\/a>\u00a0from GOP-connected\u00a0lawyer Chris Kise, who represents Gillum backer and former campaign treasurer Adam Corey, followed a subpoena by the\u00a0Florida Commission on Ethics, which along with the FBI has investigated potential corruption at the highest levels of the Tallahassee city government. Gillum has not been formally identified as a target of either\u00a0probe, and he has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>Gillum took a round-trip flight from Tallahassee to Tampa Bay&#8217;s\u00a0St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>on Feb. 12, 2016, to attend an event at the posh\u00a0Capital Grille restaurant described in the documents as &#8220;MEET AND GREET TAMPA DONORS.&#8221; Among the prospective donors were lobbyists, local business executives, and high-profile trial lawyers.<\/p>\n<p>But, last August, The Tallahassee Democrat reported that Gillum&#8217;s office maintained the trip was for official business, saying Corey had set up the trip for his client, local developer Peter Leach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mayor was invited by Peter Leach to a meeting at his office to learn about some of the work he was doing to advance wrap-around social services in schools and housing developments,\u201d Gillum spokeswoman Jamie Van Pelt said at the time. \u201cWhile visiting Tampa the mayor also met with local political leaders before returning to Tallahassee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>City expense accounts, by Florida law, can be used &#8220;only for legitimate expenses in connection with the candidate\u2019s public office,\u201d and any violation is considered a misdemeanor\u00a0punishable by up to a year in jail.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida Division of Elections has ruled that it is &#8220;the responsibility of the elected candidate to determine whether an expense to be paid out of these surplus funds is an expense incurred as a result of and due to that person\u2019s public office or position as opposed to an expense that is personal in nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The documents released on Monday and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/states\/florida\/story\/2018\/10\/29\/latest-documents-claim-gillum-paid-for-fundraising-trip-with-official-office-account-668982\">flagged by Politico<\/a>\u00a0showed that both Leach and Corey worked closely with Gillum to arrange the Feb. 12 event, and openly discussed its apparently political nature.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Does lunch on that day work?&#8221; Gillum wrote to Corey\u00a0in January 2016, referring to Feb. 12. &#8220;I would like to try to make this work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In one email, Leach appeared to confirm the arrangement was a campaign function, as part of an effort to comply with campaign finance laws that would require documentation and reimbursement of some expenses. \u201cI have reserved the room in my name, but perhaps under campaign regs it should be in Ruth\u2019s List\u2019s name,\u201d Leach wrote. \u201cI\u2019ll reimburse Ruth\u2019s List if that is preferred.\u201d Ruth&#8217;s List is a pro-choice organization aimed at getting progressive Democratic women elected to Florida offices.<\/p>\n<p>Leach added in another note: &#8220;Adam, can I assume we\u2019ll need [an]\u00a0invoice for this trip to the Gillum campaign for the prevailing [round-trip] ticket cost [from Tallahassee] to Tampa International?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gillum&#8217;s campaign did not respond a request for comment from Fox News. But in a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/news\/2018\/10\/29\/more-documents-show-andrew-gillums-tampa-trip-campaign-related\/1808018002\/\">statement to a local newspaper<\/a>, his team alleged a witch-hunt.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/florida-gov-candidate-gillum-grapples-with-probe-fallout-back-home-while-basking-in-media-limelight\"><strong>GILLUM TAKES ON TRUMP, AS PROBE FALLOUT MOUNTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce again, Chris Kise, one of [former Florida Republican Gov.] Rick Scott\u2019s most high profile political hatchet men, is trying to confuse and distract voters with information that has long been public,&#8221; Gillum communications director Geoff Burgan said.<\/p>\n<p>Top Republicans immediately pointed to Gillum&#8217;s&#8217; increasing finance woes:\u00a0&#8220;On top of this bombshell revelation, the documents show that Gillum may have used official office funds to pay for a campaign trip,\u201d the Republican Governors Association wrote in an email earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>The mounting charges against Gillum led\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-rejects-blame-for-packages-sent-to-top-dems-says-suspect-was-insane-a-long-time\">President Trump to call him a &#8220;stone-cold thief&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0in an exclusive interview Monday on Fox News&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/shows\/ingraham-angle\">&#8220;The Ingraham Angle.&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0Critics accused the president of racism and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/10\/29\/politics\/donald-trump-tweet-andrew-gillum\/index.html\">\u00a0making a &#8220;racially loaded&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0attack.<\/p>\n<p>At a recent debate, Gillum pointed a finger at his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, after reports emerged that he\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/florida\/statements\/2018\/oct\/24\/andrew-gillum\/fact-checking-gillums-claim-about-desantis-145000-\/\">hasn&#8217;t provided detailed records<\/a>\u00a0explaining how he spent $145,000 on travel using taxpayer funds during his six years as a congressman.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis isn&#8217;t legally required to provide those records, and all members of Congress receive a budget to defray expenses associated with representing their constituents &#8212; including travel to conduct interviews and answer questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to the $145,000 in receipts of public taxpayer money that he has yet to reveal?\u201d Gillum asked last week, saying DeSantis has disclosed only a general ledger of his expenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSix years of congressional travel, every single member of Florida does the same thing. One hundred percent legal. I followed the law,\u201d DeSantis replied.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/midterms-2018#\">currently assesses<\/a>\u00a0the Florida governor&#8217;s race as a toss-up, with most polls\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/desantis-not-worried-about-trailing-gillum-in-polls-talks-hamilton-tickets\">showing DeSantis trailing<\/a>\u00a0by a small margin.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/gillum-used-city-funds-for-private-travel-documents-show-in-latest-finance-snafu-for-dems-insurgent-campaign\">http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/gillum-used-city-funds-for-private-travel-documents-show-in-latest-finance-snafu-for-dems-insurgent-campaign<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gillum used city funds for private travel, docs show, in latest finance snafu for insurgent Florida Dem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}