Snitker calls for Crist, Rubio to drop out of race

June 3, 2010 - PRLog -- In the wake of the arrest of former Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) chairman Jim Greer for fraud, Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Alexander Snitker is calling on both Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio to withdraw from the race.   Greer was arrested Wednesday, accused of funneling $125,000 of RPOF through his company into his own pocket, and misappropriating millions more.

Crist endorsed Greer for RPOF chair, and continued to support Greer amid growing demands from within the Republican leadership for investigations into his lavish spending and questionable accounting.  Greer was forced to resign in January, and the RPOF immediately launched an audit into spending during his three-year term.  They found that 31 party members, including Marco Rubio, had racked up $7-million in credit card charges.

“It’s disgraceful,” said Snitker. “If either Crist or Rubio have a shred of honor left, they should drop out of this race.”

“Gov. Crist handpicked Greer to chair the RPOF, and then watched as Greer embezzled donor contributions.  Rubio was also quick to get in on the action, using the RPOF credit card like his personal piggy bank,” said Snitker.  “It’s been a pattern for Rubio.  He used his political muscle to milk $69,000 per year from FIU.”

Snitker was referring to the criticism that Rubio faced after accepting a high-paying, part-time job at Florida International University after being forced out as speaker of the house due to term limits.   FIU offered him the job, even though they were in the midst of layoffs and a $32-million budget shortfall.  Ray Sansom, Rubio’s successor as house speaker, resigned over a similar scandal involving a sweetheart job at Northwest Florida State College.

Snitker expressed his outrage at the rampant corruption in politics.  “This is what you get when you continue to elect career politicians to office.   This is why we need regular citizens -- like me -- running for office,” said Snitker.  “I sell copy machines for a living.  I’m not doing this because it’s my life-long dream to be a politician.   I’m doing this because somebody needs to step up to the plate and weed out the corruption.  It’s our duty to fix this.”

Snitker, who served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps, has never run for public office.  He plans to serve only one term if elected, and one of his key platforms is term limits for Congress.

While Gov. Crist and former speaker Rubio have not been brought up on criminal charges, the culture of corruption within the leadership of the Republican Party during their tenure is becoming very troubling to many observers and voters.

Snitker acknowledges that some in the media will see this call for his Senate rivals to withdraw as a political stunt.  He counters by saying he firmly believes that these are just more examples that he is doing the right thing by running, and adds that politicians like them are why our country is broken.  

“If they had America’s best interest at heart, they would step aside,” said Snitker.