The Washington Post has run two articles about Rubio and his brother-in-law over the last few weeks. The first of them described the drug dealing activities of the brother-in-law during the 1980’s in some detail (he sounds a bit like a character from “Scarface”); the latter discussed Rubio’s efforts to help him get a real estate license after he was released from jail.
I have two reactions to this information:
- Articles like these don’t appear for no reason; for the opposing candidates, they are a great way to engage in negative campaigning in a very passive-aggressive way. Since the events in question took place in Florida, it is probably fair to assume that at least some of the inspiration for the articles came from the Bush campaign.
- While I’m no fan of Rubio, he didn’t get to pick his brother-in-law. The families of other candidates in this race have had legal issues, as well. I don’t think there is anything in the articles that should make any difference to the voters.