In race to replace Rubio, Democrats open fire in Florida | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Rep. Patrick Murphy called on Rep. Alan Grayson on Wednesday to quit Congress over a House ethics investigation into allegations that Grayson had parlayed his post in the House of Representatives into personal financial gain.

The increasingly bitter Senate primary campaign between the Democratic lawmakers from Florida ratcheted into still harsher territory as Grayson countered by demanding that Murphy stop defiling his reputation.

Grayson and Murphy are the leading Democratic contenders to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, who quit the Republican White House race last month after losing badly in his state’s presidential primary. The Senate primary is Aug. 30.

A day after release of a detailed referral by the Office of Congressional Ethics to the House Ethics Committee, Murphy spoke as if the referral’s allegations against Grayson had been proved.

“The committee has voted to keep the investigation of Congressman Alan Grayson going because he broke the law,” Murphy told reporters in a conference call. “He broke the law to make money with an offshore hedge fund. It’s that simple.”

Murphy added: “With this unethical action, I believe, quite frankly, that he’s disqualified himself to be a public servant.”

Grayson’s Senate campaign fired back.

“Patrick Murphy needs to stop wasting the time of voters and taxpayers with his political-smear campaign and start talking about the issues,” said David Damron, Grayson’s campaign communications director. “Rep. Grayson wants to expand Social Security and Medicare, and ensure that everyone can see a doctor and make a livable wage at $15 an hour. That’s what this race is about.”

The referral released Tuesday said “there is substantial reason to believe” the multiple allegations against Grayson, but it is up to the House ethics panel to investigate those allegations and determine whether they are true.

Among the allegations are claims that Grayson lured investors to his multimillion-dollar Cayman Islands hedge fund by marketing his access to information and decision-makers as a congressman. Grayson also is accused of omitting information from annual financial-disclosure forms, receiving fees from litigation involving the government and keeping ties to companies that hold federal contracts.

Grayson firmly denied the allegations, as had his Senate campaign aides Tuesday when the House Ethics Committee publicized them.

On Wednesday, Murphy denied Grayson’s claims that Murphy’s campaign had paid a prominent law firm, Perkins Coie, to bring the allegations against Grayson to the attention of the Office of Congressional Ethics.

“I can assure you it had nothing to do with this,” Murphy said of a $10,000 payment from his campaign to Perkins Coie.

The Grayson-Murphy primary campaign to replace the Republican Rubio takes place as Democrats hope to gain control of the Senate from Republicans in November. Rubio’s is one of 24 seats currently held by Republicans that are being contested in the fall election; only 10 Democratic-held seats are in play.

Even as Murphy attacked Grayson, Murphy was forced to defend himself against allegations of impropriety by the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee dedicated to maintaining Republican Senate control.

The Senate Leadership Fund said in February that Murphy had pushed legislation to strengthen the federal EB-5 visa program used by developers to gain foreign investment and bring workers from other countries to the United States. It said the measure would benefit a company, Coastal Construction, owned by Murphy’s father in which the congressman holds a large stake.

That company, the Senate Leadership Fund said, is one of two main contractors on a mega-project called SkyRise Miami, whose developer, Jeffrey Berkowitz, is a major employer of EB-5 workers and wants to use them to help build his planned 1,000-foot-high tower overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The bill died in the last session of Congress, but it remains an issue. Murphy denied that his support for the measure had anything to do with the family business.

“I’m not actively involved in the Coastal Construction family business,” Murphy said. “As far as I know, they have not done any projects having to do with EB-5” workers.

He added: “This is legislation I support because it creates jobs. I support legislation that creates jobs for working Americans and Floridians.”