Fiscally Lavish With Consultants

No one should be surprised that Marco Rubio's consultant Donna Arduin escaped the the budget cuts. She is still going to be well-paid.

He had paid her firm $70,000 for seven months of work, ending in June, to help articulate his plan to reduce or eliminate homestead property taxes and instead raise the sales tax.

This time her job is to provide "consulting services" on the budget cut bill that passed the House Friday. But she has provided no written reports, analyses or recommendations since her contract was renewed, according to Rubio's office.

The only document she turned over to the House was a single-page summary explaining that she had "provided consulting services" and that her firm "continues to participate in meetings and provide ongoing advice" regarding the budget and Florida's economy and is working on a "diagnosis of Florida's economic competitiveness."

Ms. Arduin is a parther in Arduin, Laffer & Moore: Econometrics. Arthur Laffer (of Laffer Curve fame) is a member of the company.

Why does Rubio need Arduin to tell him to cut social programs and support all tax cuts? Any Reaganite could tell him that and he wouldn't have to pay them $10,000-a-month. That is a fiscally conservative concept that never occurred to Rubio.