This is outrageous stunning campaign ending a nothingburger: [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ]’s house of horrors.

It is also a sign that a) the Hillary Clinton campaign is taking [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] seriously, b) that POLITICO is seriously in the bag for Hillary (we’ve sort of known that since they proclaimed her violating federal law as “badass”), and c) that Rubio might be the most squeaky-clean candidate to have run for president in living memory.

This is the scandal.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] is friends with David Rivera.

David Rivera is a former member of the Florida legislature and a former member of the US House of Representatives. Rivera looks like one of those guys who loves flying close to the sun. He has been surrounded by a miasma of ethical problems, he is alleged to be under investigation for campaign finance violations, but, to date, he hasn’t been indicted or convicted of anything.

Rubio’s friendship is based on two things: first, they were roommates for for a few months. Though, tellingly, POLITICO tells a huge lie about that relationship then backtracks in a way calculated to not correct the record.

Rubio’s critics are waiting to make hay of any revelations that may come of the federal investigation of Rivera and to point to their status as roommates during the years when Rivera allegedly engaged in illegal campaign activities.

the correction, appended to the story with the above quote says:

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the amount of time Rubio and Rivera lived together in Washington. They roomed for the first few months, until March 2011.

“Previous version?” Really. The only version on the POLITICO site still has the false allegation.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] and David Rivera bought an investment property together.

As the two climbed the rungs of power together in the Florida House, they decided to buy the home at 1484 Bent Willow Drive in the Timber Lakes subdivision for $135,000. The March 2, 2005, deed was executed about a week before the 60-day lawmaking session began that year. When Rubio was formally voted speaker, he was nominated by Rivera, who served as chairman of the Florida House Rules Committee during Rubio’s speakership in 2007 and 2008. The post gave Rivera life-and-death power over much of the legislation in the House.

There is no allegation that Rivera wasn’t eligible for the committee chairmanship. And, you know what, even if Rubio promised Rivera the chairmanship in exchange for his support… which seem unnecessary as they were already friends… there is really nothing illegal about that.

The house had a troubled history.

This is not like Hillary’s cattle futures.

In many ways, it has been a house of horrors for Rubio, a financial and political liability heading into the 2016 election. While he and Rivera were state legislators, they paid way too much for it in 2005, only to see foreclosure proceedings embarrassingly initiated against them during Rubio’s 2010 Senate race. At another point, a tropical storm flooded the entire neighborhood so badly that neighbors used canoes to get around.
…
In June 2010, Deutsche Bank hired a company to initiate foreclosure proceedings on the house he co-owned with Rivera, claiming the mortgage had not been paid for five months. During that period, Rivera had been in Tallahassee for pre-session committee weeks and the regular 60-day lawmaking session that begins in March. The two men characterized the dispute as a disagreement with the bank over the interest-only mortgage they had on the property.

News of the foreclosure rocked Rubio on the campaign trail. Rivera, running for his first and only successful congressional bid, quickly hand-delivered a $9,525 cashier’s check to cover missed payments and fees.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] and David Rivera lost their ass on the investment.

Last week, they put the 1,228-square-foot house up for sale. The list price is $125,000 — $10,000 less than what the two men paid for it a decade ago.

You read that right. A 1200 sq-ft house. Assuming they sell it for list price… and for a small house in a marginal neighborhood in a flood plain, that is a huge assumption… once Rubio and Rivera pay realtor fees they will be out of about $16,000.

Guilt by association.

What POLITICO has done in this article is try David Rivera’s case, find Rivera guilty, and hang that guilt on [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ]:

Now, the three-bedroom property stands as a stubborn symbol of both a politically problematic friendship and lingering questions about Rubio’s personal finances, which dogged him on the campaign trail in 2010 and may do so again.

That’s right. Having a friend who may — or may not — be ethically challenged and making a bad investment will “dog” Rubio on the trail. How do we know that anyone cares about this? Because Hillary Clinton’s super PAC tells us it is an issue and if there is one thing POLITICO can do it is take stenography from Hillary Clinton:

“This will be an issue,” declared Craig Smith, a top adviser for the Ready for Hillary super PAC, echoing the views of many supporters and detractors alike. “When you run for president, voters and the press have an insatiable appetite for people’s histories, what they’ve done, who they are. … It raises questions about his judgment, about the kind of people he would bring with him into government, into a campaign.”

Thank God, Hillary Clinton has no such issues. Because if she did we know POLITICO would be all over them.