Miami Republican David Rivera is attempting to clear up some questions about a $500,000 in secret payments he received from a campaign to expand slot machine gambling, the Associated Press reported.
Rivera filed amended state ethics forms and has already released his U.S. House of Representatives financial disclosure form for 2010, which wasn’t due until May 15. Said the AP:
Rivera insisted he never received any income from a $500,000 contract, which was arranged through a firm called Millenium Marketing Strategies that was co-managed by Rivera’s 70-year-old mother and run out of the condominium of a family friend.Rivera’s documents submitted Monday show that he had a contingency loan from Millenium for between $100,001 and $250,000 that was repaid last year. He told The Associated Press the loan totaled $137,000 and predated the slot machine contract.
“Mr. Rivera has not been contacted about any investigation, nor do we believe there are any grounds for an investigation,” Rivera spokeswoman Sarah Bascom said in a statement.
As the AP recounts, Rivera’s finances “first drew scrutiny shortly before the November elections, following media reports he had listed contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development on financial disclosure forms covering 2003 to 2009. Those forms, which elected officials must file with the state, listed work performed on behalf of a Puerto Rico-based company he helped found in 2002.”
The congressman-elect has refused to say what sort of work he did for that foreign company, InterAmerican Government Relations, and USAID said it has no record of him working for the company, the AP said. Rivera amended his state financial disclosure forms after they were published in October to remove references to work outside his position as state representative.
“I am completely focused on doing my job as a congressman. Neither the Democrats nor anyone else is going to distract me from doing the work of the 25th congressional district,” Rivera said in an interview with the AP.
We’ve requested a copy of the disclosures from Rivera’s office. We’ll update if we hear back.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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