Why doesn't U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy own up? Act like a grown up. If he's under investigation, he should level with Florida voters.
Transparency, Patrick, remember? You promised Florida that.
Suddenly -- as reported in The Miami Herald -- the Democratic candidate for Senate is racking up legal expenses for his U.S. Senate campaign at a rate of knots -- averaging $1,288 a day over less than six weeks this summer.
Murphy's campaign brushes off the exorbitant expenditure, attributing it to normal and unremarkable campaign costs. But the Herald says the Jupiter congressman's pre-primary disclosure to the Federal Election Commission this month "shows his political legal expenses mounting at an atypical pace."
Figures don't lie.
On Murphy's reported spending disclosure, he forked over $52,800 for legal services between July 1 and Aug. 10. That's almost double the $27,200 he spent on legal fees for the entire second quarter -- and something like half of what he's spent on legal fees in the past 13 months combined.
Now Ian Prior of the Senate Leadership Fund -- Murphy's own personal Javert, the obsessed policeman from "Les Miserables" -- tells us that money's been spent on the kind of lawyers a member of Congress only hires if he's under some kind of investigation.
Murphy's hired Miller & Chevalier.
How telling is that? Let's look:
- "Rep. Gutiérrez racks up thousands in legal fees" (Hires Miller & Chevalier)
- Maxine Waters uses Miller & Chevalier to defend against investigation
- "Mike Honda Lawyers Up" (Hires Miller & Chevalier)
- "Chu Chastised for Interfering in House Ethics Investigation" (Hires Miller & Chevalier)
I've mentioned in a previous story the FOUR FEC complaints filed against Murphy's campaign in less than a year. Could one or more of these be what's costing him so dearly now?
- The Leadership Fund, a non-profit independent 527 political organization, filed an FEC complaint alleging Murphy participated in an illegal straw donor scheme with his friend and convicted domestic abuser Ibrahim Al-Rashid. This is also the very kind of scheme that more often than not sparks a federal criminal investigation (see here, here, here, here, and here).
- A progressive activist filed an FEC complaint, congressional ethics complaint, and a Department of Justice complaint alleging Murphy traded favors for campaign cash.
- The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed an FEC complaint alleging Murphy had illegally coordinated with the super PAC funded by his construction company.
- A Democratic Party official in Florida filed an FEC complaint asking for an investigation into a donor swap scheme between Murphy’s campaign and that of Ami Bera, whose father went to jail for ... orchestrating an illegal straw donor scheme.
Says Prior, "the question Murphy needs to answer is this: Why has he hired a law firm that specializes in representing members of Congress who are under investigation?"
Could the answer to that question lead to a game-changing story in the Florida Senate race? Is that what's making the congressman scuttle toward a dark corner?
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
