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Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day: John Rutherford [1]
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Date: 2022-09-12
U.S. House Rep. John Rutherford, of Florida's 4th Congressional District, who won office on his bold declaration that "Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization", will now run in the new FL-5.
Welcome to what is the 1136th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling the sitting U.S. House Representative from Florida’s 4th Congressional District, John Rutherford, a former sheriff of Duval County, Florida, who was first elected to Congress back in 2016. Perhaps one of the more telling parts of his biography is that he went to Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in the late 1960s and immediately went to school to get a degree in criminology to serve 41 years in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. During his tenure as sheriff, a national report on police shootings between 2007 and 2012 placed Jacksonville ninth in the nation in “justifiable homicides” among the 105 largest police departments in the nation. He easily became beloved among the Republicans competing in the GOP Primary for his seat in 2016 by declaring in the debate that “Black Lives Matter is a Hate Group”.
He went on, because of course he did:
Once reaching office, Rutherford has not become any more level-headed in what rhetoric he uses, and there’s this weird pattern of him getting his hackles up when talking about people of color. Take, just for example, how he defended the Trump administration’s “Family Separation” policy for migrant families crossing into the United States, or his defense of Trump for ordering the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, when he got on Twitter to single out Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal for criticizing Trump for it:
He doesn’t have much patience for the Squad, or their ideas, referring to the Green New Deal they pitched as a “Socialist Manifesto”, which comes as little surprise from a man who denies that climate change is man made.
Now for the “crooked” phase of the discussion… since taking office six years ago, per an Office of Congressional Ethics board report filed in February of 2002, that there was “substantial reason to believe” Rutherford had not filed timely disclosure reports as required by federal law and House rules. Perhaps not coincidentally, Rutherford himself was named to the House Committee on Ethics to start his latest term, almost like he was trying to cut off this news at the pass… anyway, The committee released a report on May 31, 2022, indicating that it was investigating one of its members over repeated reporting violations of the STOCK Act (Give you one guess whose name is coming), which was enacted in 2012 to prevent insider trading using non-public information by members of Congress and other government employees. Members of Congress are required to report any stock transaction over $1,000 within 45 days. Violations of that are subject to a $200 fine.
From the time he took office back in early 2017 through all of 2021, Rutherford had racked up 157 late reports involving trades worth between $652,000 and $3.5 million. That’s uh… a lot of activity and in far larger sums than the minimum. While the majority of those were from his first term, he still kept up the problem throughout his first two and a half terms in office. The OCE report noted that Rutherford paid a $800 fine late in the process in November 2021 but had to ask if that may have been insufficient given the volume of his violations. The OCE report also noted that both Rutherford and Jen Bailey, his chief of staff, were uncooperative by refusing to meet and answer questions with investigators. Which, a former cop who thinks he’s above the law? THE HELL YOU SAY.
The actual fine for 157 violations would total $31,400. During his time in Congress, Rutherford had "several trainings on his disclosure obligations” for reporting stock transactions, according to the OCE report, but none of that seems to have stuck. Rutherford initially contended that the stock trades are made by the manager of his IRA, so he should have been exempt from the reporting requirements. You see, it’s not a crime if you have someone else do it by proxy.
As for his voting record…
In 2022, after redistricting, Rutherford has decided to run in Florida’s new 5th Congressional District. Regrettably, both Democrats who were running against John Rutherford for this seat withdrew from the ballot, or were disqualified from it, so now this corrupt white nationalist dips*** can go back to Washington to simply use his position as a Congressman to commit insider trading and pay a fine far less than what his ill-gotten gains are.
A former sheriff who’s a poster child for stricter punishments being needed for a white collar crime. It’s truly a Republican concept.
One Year Ago, September 12th, 2021: Rob Weber (OH)
Two Years Ago, September 12th, 2020: Sharon Barry Newby (FL)
Three Years Ago, September 12th, 2019: Dave Brat (VA)… 2019 Update
Four Years Ago, September 12th, 2018: Dave Brat (VA)… 2018 Update
Five Years Ago, September 12th, 2017: Dave Brat (VA)… 2017 Update
Six Years Ago, September 12th, 2016: Dave Brat (VA)… 2016 Update
Seven Years Ago, September 12th, 2015: Dave Brat (VA)… Original Profile
Eight Years Ago, September 12th, 2014: Trey Radel (FL)
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/12/2122484/-Fanatical-Republican-Extremist-of-the-Day-John-Rutherford
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