Marco Rubio may be young, but he already has more than his share of skeletons in his political closet. Recently, Rubio’s campaign has been dogged by his credit card problems and friendship with the sketchy figure David Rivera. Now, Rubio may face questions about his donors’ ties to Puerto Rico’s debt.
Take a look at the latest from Fusion:
When presidential hopeful Marco Rubio announced last month that he opposed letting Puerto Rican government entities declare bankruptcy, he said he that didn’t believe in a “silver bullet solution,” and Puerto Ricans should tighten their belts.
The junior senator for Florida didn’t mention that his campaign had received thousands of dollars from hedge fund executives who would lose big if the commonwealth is allowed to declare bankruptcy.
According to public campaign-finance documents, at least six executives of hedge funds that hold Puerto Rican debt have donated to Rubio’s presidential campaign. Rubio appears to be among the only major presidential candidates who has explicitly opposed bankruptcy reform for Puerto Rico.
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But unlike the other candidates, Rubio has a unique position on this issue that would save his donors millions. While Rubio opposes Chapter Nine except as “a last resort” after substantial reforms are made on the island, he’s said that he does support reforming some of the unequal tax laws that keep Puerto Ricans from claiming tax credits that other Americans benefit from.
The decision last week by hedge fund tycoon Paul Singer to endorse Rubio—and what many observers see as Singer’s ability to drive donations from Wall Street investors—suggests that these hedge fund donations are only the beginning for Rubio, and that he’ll soon have more supporters who have interests in preventing bankruptcy reform.
Published: Nov 4, 2015