Marco Rubio’s Billion-Dollar Sugar Addiction
by Elaina Plott November 13, 2015 4:00 AM @elainaplott
When Marco Rubio announced his bid for president in
April, he delivered a message of opportunity. He lamented the increasingly
hollow promise of the American Dream, as small-business owners find themselves
crippled by “the weight of more taxes, more regulations, and more government.”
He walked off the stage to thunderous applause and into the embrace of Jose “Pepe”
Fanjul, the billionaire sugar baron who for years now has helped
bankroll Rubio’s political career.
It’s another relationship between Rubio and a top donor
that could raise eyebrows. Back in May, the New York Times penned an exposé on Norman Braman,
who has donated $10 million to the super PAC supporting Rubio’s campaign, and
whose charitable foundation has employed Rubio’s wife. The revelations were
embarrassing for Rubio, but carried no implication that he’d adjusted his
political positions to serve Braman’s interests.
The same can’t be said of Rubio’s longstanding patrons
the Fanjul brothers, the shadowy kings of Florida sugar who have long been
labeled the First Family of corporate welfare. Ted Cruz sparked the wires in
Tuesday’s Fox Business debate in Milwaukee, throwing a veiled jab at Rubio’s
support for the federal sugar subsidies from which the Fanjuls profit, which
cost nearly $2 billion annually.
Rubio stayed mum.
After the debate, Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan
dismissed the significance of Cruz’s veiled attack on Rubio’s support for sugar
subsidies, telling reporters that “.0000001 percent of the American people”
would understand it. He may be right, but Rubio’s support for the subsidy raises
questions about whether his relationship with a top financial supporter is
pushing him into positions that contradict his broader policy platform.
The latticework of loans and tariffs that make up the
U.S. sugar program force Americans to pay about twice as much as the rest of
the world for the sugar they eat, and few have benefited more from the industry
subsidies than Pepe Fanjul and his family, whose company, American Sugar
Refining, is the largest sugar-processing conglomerate in the world. The company’s
American brands include Domino, Florida Crystals, Redpath, Tate & Lyle,
and C&H. American Sugar Refining controls refineries by ownership or
shareholder status in four states and six countries.
Rubio’s relationship with the Fanjuls began during his
time in the Florida
legislature and deepened during his Senate race, when he was battling
establishment favorite Charlie Crist. He wrote in his memoir, American Son,
that the “crown jewel” of his fundraising efforts during the 2010 race was an
event headlined by the Fanjul family in the Hamptons, where Rubio and his wife
joined the Fanjuls over Labor Day weekend, and where Pepe introduced him to
Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani would go on to enthusiastically endorse Rubio over
Crist, and Pepe Fanjul and his son each doled out the maximum contribution of
$2,400 during the campaign.
Before these fundraising efforts, Rubio had attacked
Crist for promoting a bailout of U.S. Sugar, the Fanjuls’ principal industry
rival. In an interview with Glenn Beck on March 8, 2010, Rubio slammed Crist
for “ramming down the throats of taxpayers a bailout of a sugar company.”
The Fanjuls’ relationship with Rubio stuck and, since
2009, Florida Crystals ranks as Rubio’s fourth largest donor, having given him
a total of $105,500. That number doesn’t include the family’s itemized
individual contributions to Rubio’s Senate race and to his presidential bid or
the dollars the Fanjuls have bundled from others. This spring, just eight days
after Rubio announced his candidacy, Pepe Fanjul Jr. and his wife, Lourdes,
hosted a fundraiser for Rubio at their Palm Beach home, where tickets ranged
from $1,000 to $2,700 a pop. “They have supported Rubio for a very long time,”
confirms Gaston Cantens, vice president at Florida Crystals. “And there’s a lot
of ethnic pride they have in Rubio’s accomplishments.” (Both Rubio and Pepe
Fanjul are Cuban-Americans.) Rubio hasn’t been shy about expressing his
gratitude. “My thanks . . . to the Fanjul family for believing in me when few
did,” Rubio writes in the acknowledgements to American Son.
Rubio has remained a consistent, vocal supporter of the sugar subsidy during his rise to national prominence.
Rubio has remained a consistent, vocal supporter of the sugar subsidy during his rise to national prominence.
Rubio has remained a consistent, vocal supporter of the
sugar subsidy during his rise to national prominence. Defenders compare the
sugar industry in Florida to the ethanol industry in Iowa and the Midwest more
broadly, and say that just as lawmakers from Iowa, including Republicans are
virtually obliged to support the controversial Renewable Fuel Standard, so
lawmakers from Florida are expected to support sugar subsidies.
And Rubio has. At a Koch brothers’ Republican summit in
August, Rubio gave a defense of the federal sugar program that left many in the
audience of staunch free-marketeers scratching their heads. If the U.S.
eliminates the program, he argued, “other countries will capture the market
share, our agricultural capacity will be developed into real estate, you know,
housing and so forth, and then we lose the capacity to produce our own food, at
which point we’re at the mercy of a foreign country for food security.”
Writing for National Review, Windsor Mann was among those stumped by Rubio’s logic. “Let’s try to untangle this,” he wrote following Rubio’s remarks. “If we get rid of sugar subsidies, Americans will turn their sugar farms into condominium lots and start buying sugar from foreigners, who will starve us until we surrender to ISIS. Or something like that.”
“We have as much reason to grow our own sugar as Lithuania does to make its own cars: none,” Mann added. “The fact is that other countries produce certain things more cheaply and efficiently than we do. That is why we trade with them.”
Writing for National Review, Windsor Mann was among those stumped by Rubio’s logic. “Let’s try to untangle this,” he wrote following Rubio’s remarks. “If we get rid of sugar subsidies, Americans will turn their sugar farms into condominium lots and start buying sugar from foreigners, who will starve us until we surrender to ISIS. Or something like that.”
“We have as much reason to grow our own sugar as Lithuania does to make its own cars: none,” Mann added. “The fact is that other countries produce certain things more cheaply and efficiently than we do. That is why we trade with them.”
Edward Tuddenham, a lawyer who once battled the Fanjuls
in a lawsuit over their alleged mistreatment of migrant workers, says Rubio’s
insistent defense of the subsidy, in the face of much opposition from the
right, is proof positive that the brothers’ political influence is
“staggering.”
Indeed, the Fanjuls have long reaped the benefits of their political alliances. They’ve maintained a cross-party dominance of the sugar lobby by splitting allegiances: Alfred “Alfy” Fanjul has steadily given to Democrats and Democratic organizations, while his brother Pepe donates to Republicans. Their cozy relationship with the Clintons is such that when President Clinton was ending his affair with Monica Lewinsky, he halted their meeting to take a 22-minute call from the sugar baron, who was enraged about Al Gore’s proposal of a “polluter’s tax” on the sugar industry. The bill was quietly dropped.
Rubio has staked his candidacy on empowering the middle class, and has denounced the Export-Import Bank as a bastion of “taxpayer money” for “corporate welfare.” His support for sugar subsidies, and his tight relationship with their largest beneficiaries, flies in the face of that position, which may pose problems as the primary season develops.
“One of the best ways to attack Hillary Clinton is on crony capitalism and corporate welfare, and any marks that the GOP candidate has on his record where he’s in favor of these things will weaken him,” says Tim Carney, visiting fellow at AEI. He adds that it makes Rubio a “worse nominee” to tout his belief in free trade, “except for sugar,” as well as a “protectionism that helps some of his earliest fundraisers.”
When reached for comment, Rubio’s team pointed to statements the candidate made on Good Morning America following the Milwaukee debate, in which he said “I’m not going to wipe out an American industry that happens to have a lot of workers in Florida.”
They declined to comment on Rubio’s relationship with the Fanjuls.
Indeed, the Fanjuls have long reaped the benefits of their political alliances. They’ve maintained a cross-party dominance of the sugar lobby by splitting allegiances: Alfred “Alfy” Fanjul has steadily given to Democrats and Democratic organizations, while his brother Pepe donates to Republicans. Their cozy relationship with the Clintons is such that when President Clinton was ending his affair with Monica Lewinsky, he halted their meeting to take a 22-minute call from the sugar baron, who was enraged about Al Gore’s proposal of a “polluter’s tax” on the sugar industry. The bill was quietly dropped.
Rubio has staked his candidacy on empowering the middle class, and has denounced the Export-Import Bank as a bastion of “taxpayer money” for “corporate welfare.” His support for sugar subsidies, and his tight relationship with their largest beneficiaries, flies in the face of that position, which may pose problems as the primary season develops.
“One of the best ways to attack Hillary Clinton is on crony capitalism and corporate welfare, and any marks that the GOP candidate has on his record where he’s in favor of these things will weaken him,” says Tim Carney, visiting fellow at AEI. He adds that it makes Rubio a “worse nominee” to tout his belief in free trade, “except for sugar,” as well as a “protectionism that helps some of his earliest fundraisers.”
When reached for comment, Rubio’s team pointed to statements the candidate made on Good Morning America following the Milwaukee debate, in which he said “I’m not going to wipe out an American industry that happens to have a lot of workers in Florida.”
They declined to comment on Rubio’s relationship with the Fanjuls.
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio is a
member of the FL congressional
delegation, and the candidate for the 2016
Marco Rubio presidential campaign.
Note: Norman Braman is
a supporter for the 2016 Marco Rubio
presidential campaign, and was a contributor for the Conservative Solutions PAC.
Conservative
Solutions PAC is the supporter for the 2016
Marco Rubio presidential campaign.
Florida
Crystals Corporation was a contributor for the Conservative Solutions PAC.
Jose Pepe Fanjul
is the vice chairman & president & COO for the Florida Crystals Corporation, and Chloe Black is his executive assistant.
Chloe Black is Jose Pepe Fanjul’s executive assistant,
married to Don Black, and was
married to David Duke.
Don
Black is married to Chloe Black,
and was the leader of the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK).
David
Duke was married to Chloe Black,
the leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK),
and the founder of the National
Association for the Advancement of White People.
Donald Trump supported by former KKK leader David Duke:
'I hope he does everything we hope he will do'
BY Adam Edelman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Friday, February 26, 2016, 10:35 AM
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