Did Carlos Curbelo pay for Mitt Romney endorsement?

On the first day of early voting, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo — who already has soft, squishy endorsements from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, his political mentor, and Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart — announced he was also backed by former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

I guess you get what you pay for.

Because what Curbelo didn’t say in the press announcement that was apparently only sent to the Miami Herald (maybe there’s an exclusivity deal for the endorsement from the Herald he got on Sunday?) is that he’s been using former Mitt Romney media consultants for a few months and the Romney email list for a couple of weeks, at least.

“I am proud to stand with Carlos Curbelo, a young conservative leader who will work hard to reform our government, balance the budget, and improve the quality of life for the people of Miami-Dade and Monroe counties,” Romney said in a statement put out by Curbelo’s campaign and just regurgitated by the Herald.

“As an education reformer, Carlos puts students first. In Washington, he will put his community and our country first. I urge my friends in Florida’s 26th Congressional District to vote for Carlos Curbelo,” Mitt allegedly wrote.

More likely, the message was written by GOP insider strategist Curt Anderson, managing partner at On Message Media and the co-author of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s book “Leadership in Crisis.”

Because what the Herald story doesn’t tell voters is that Curbelo’s second largest single expenditure during his campaign, about $30,500 in May, was for a media buy to On Message Media, the same Maryland-based firm that got paid $4.6 million by the National Rifle Association of America to do Romney’s online advertising (the company also got an $8,000 retainer from Curbelo’s campaign in February). The story also doesn’t mention that Curbelo has been using Romney’s email list for a couple of weeks, at least.

Guess he was holding on to the eventual endorsement until the first day of early voting.

Ladra couldn’t ask Curbelo about it. He’s been ignoring my calls for weeks now, ever since I wrote that he has been hiding the client list of his lobbying firm by putting it in his wife’s name. Maybe it’s because he knows I would ask these questions and make these connections.

Curbelo has been the GOP establishment pick from the beginning even though there are four other Republicans in the primary vying for a chance to unseat Rep. Joe Garcia in November, including former Congressman David Rivera, a longtime Curbelo foe who lost to Garcia in 2012 amid headlines about his alleged role in the financing of a Democrat candidate against him. The others are Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, constitutional attorney Lorenzo “Larry” Palomares-Starbuck.

In his apparently exclusive statement to the Herald, Curbelo praised Romney for his vision.

“Governor Romney is a great leader who has dedicated many years of his life to serving our nation, with a vision for future generations, and always striving to make us better and stronger. In the last election he earned the support and respect of many millions of Americans,” Curbelo wrote, according to the Herald (or did Anderson write it?).

“I am honored to have his endorsement, and I share his vision for a smaller, limited government that will lead to more freedom and a robust economy for every American.”

There’s just one thing: Romney lost.

Carlos Curbelo, Congressional district 26

Did Carlos Curbelo pay for Mitt Romney endorsement? added by Ladra on August 11, 2014
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