Lincoln Does It AgainÂ… Diaz-Balart Hiding Over $303,000 in Campaign Cash

Diaz-Balart’s 2008 Q1 report ending on 3/31/08, reports $1,451,793.60 cash on hand at the end the quarter, however, his 2008 Q2 report beginning 4/1/08 has been amended showing a $1,755,490.70 beginning cash on hand balance rather than the $1,451,793.60 beginning cash on hand balance that was a previously reported, a difference of $303,697.10 appearing out of thin air from one calendar day to the next that is not accounted for in contribution records.

“Maybe Lincoln has the missing $303,000 stashed in the same place as the $114,000 he got caught hiding from the public a few years ago,” said Martinez Communications Director Aaron Blye. “Despite being found guilty of breaking the law and fined over $35,000 he continues to disrespect the rule of law and the people he is supposed to serve in Congress.”

Congressman Diaz-Balart has a long history of ethics violations and breaking the law.

In March of 2000, the FEC released an eighteen-page report announcing that Diaz-Balart’s campaign would be fined $30,000 for numerous violations discovered during a year-long audit of the campaign’s finances for the 1997-1998 election cycle. The report detailed the collection of $114,000 in contributions that were never accounted for. In 2001, the FEC announced that they fined Diaz-Balart’s congressional campaign $5,500 for filing late campaign finance reports during the 2000 election cycle (Miami Herald, 2/17/01).

During the current election cycle, Diaz-Balart is already under investigation by the FEC for having an illegal fundraiser, has hid the source of nearly $5,000 in campaign contributions from the voters during Q2 2008, and was caught by the Sun-Sentinel using his taxpayer-funded federal office to shoot campaign commercials in violation of U.S. House ethics rules (Miami Herald 7/22/08; Sun-Sentinel 7/29/08).

If it weren’t for the campaign finance laws that Diaz-Balart has continually broken he never would have been caught by the Miami Herald taking $7,100 in campaign contributions from a medical company under federal investigation for Medicare fraud weeks before he co–sponsored a bill on March 13, 2008 that would bring the company millions of dollars in profits. Diaz-Balart received an additional $4,750 from Hanger during the second fundraising quarter of 2008 (Miami Herald, 6/2/2008; Miami Herald 6/2/2008).

It is no surprise that Diaz-Balart continues to break the law. He has condoned the culture of corruption in Washington for far too long. In 2006, Diaz-Balart voted twice to prevent the House Ethics committee to begin an investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal (HRS 762, Vote #87, 4/05/06; HRS 746, Vote #76, 3/30/06). In 2005, Diaz-Balart voted to protect indicted Congressman Tom Delay from investigation (HRS 5, Vote #6, 1/04/05).