Marco Rubio’s youthful escapades: He jaywalked, too
Last week, the Washington Post turned a biographical piece on Marco Rubio that began thusly:
He resolved to go back to Florida and get his life on a path to success. Instead the 18-year-old added to his troubles after returning to Miami for summer break: He was arrested one night in May 1990 for being in a crime-plagued public park after closing time, according to police records and an interview with a friend who was cited with Rubio that night.
The previously unreported misdemeanor, which eventually was dismissed, tugged Rubio into the criminal-justice system just one year after the conviction of his brother-in-law in a major drug-trafficking case had exacted a devastating toll on his family. But that summer also marks a turning point for Rubio, the moment when a somewhat aimless young man found a direction and purpose that shaped the highly focused politician who now sits among the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.
One suspects that the Rubio camp thinks the Post nugget was the result of opposition research by one of his opponents. But they're not sure which one. You can see it in the Rubio campaign’s sarcastic, "crime spree" response:
About the Author
Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.
