* We now know that key aides to Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen were among those taking an all expenses-paid trip to China last month. It was done under the auspices of the non-profit U.S.-Asia Institute, with the Chinese government picking up the pricey tab. It’s a popular Capitol perk, but doesn’t typically involve staff of vehemently outspoken anti-Communist lawmakers.
Ros-Lehtinen, a strident critic of China over human rights abuses and military build-up, said she would never have approved the trip had she just known the Chinese government was paying for it.
“It’s hard to believe,” she said. “When it comes to a Communist county, I’m in the loop on everything. They know I’m a China hardliner. I’m shocked, shocked to find that freebie junkets to Red China are going on here.”
As for fellow Cuban-American Rubio, who has called out the Chinese over human rights violations and illegitimate territorial claims, his spokesman downplayed any hint of inconsistency involving another Communist country–Cuba.
“The senator has consistently condemned the totalitarian nature of the Chinese government, whose human-rights record is awful,” said Alex Conant, Rubio’s spokesman. “But, let’s be honest, the Chinese are awfully impacting.
“Cuba, although less repressive than some of our ‘allies’ and trade partners, is a geopolitical gnat. Who really cares, except for the U.N., this Hemisphere and some Castro apologists? For the senator, it’s personal as well as self-serving politics. You know that. Next question.”
* Syniverse, the New Tampa-based telecom company with global reach, was in the news recently on two fronts. It was at least one more front than Syniverse expected–or preferred.
First, it named Stephen C. Gray as its interim CEO, replacing the recently resigned Jeff Gordon. But then it had to deflect inquiries about whether it was planning to relocate to downtown Tampa–specifically as an anchor tenant for the 200,000-square-foot office building that Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik wants to build near the Forum.
“Syniverse has a lease for our global headquarters in New Tampa through October 2016,” said the company’s chief financial and administrative officer David Hitchcock. “We do not have any plans to enter into any arrangements for a new headquarters building in downtown.
“But you can sure in hell bet we’re less than pleased that the Vinik rezoning application survey included a ‘Syniverse office new zoning’ reference,” added Hitchcock. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. Makes it look like we’ll be rethinking our New Tampa lease when it runs out in two years. Makes it look like we want in on new, customized space in a downtown hot spot likely to be a techie-millennial magnet. Makes it harder to say we love New Tampa for the next 25 months.”