Rep. Radel will not resign after coke bust
MIAMI (AP) – A month after pleading guilty to cocaine-possession charges, Republican Rep. Trey Radel of Florida refused to resign Thursday, saying he wants to “rebuild the trust” of voters.
At a news conference held the same day he left a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, the 37-year-old freshman told a news conference at his Cape Coral office that he will cooperate with congressional investigators who are looking into his conduct.
“I love what I do and I’m going to return to what I do, what you sent me to do in Washingon, D.C., which is working for you and your family while I relish mine,” Radel told voters watching on live television in his district. “No one will take away my passion when it comes to serving Southwest Florida.”
On Nov. 20, Radel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession and was sentenced to a year of probation. He admitted to purchasing 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover officer in Washington on Oct. 29.
Several GOP leaders, including Gov. Rick Scott, had asked him to resign. The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it was launching a formal investigation of him.
Former Rep. Connie Mack IV, who represented the area for eight years before a failed run for Senate last year, has been mentioned as a possible primary challenger if Radel runs for re-election next year.
Radel had been in office for 10 months when he was charged. His district includes the Gulf Coast cities of Fort Myers and Naples.
The drug arrest derailed a seemingly promising career.
After a career as a TV news anchor, he started a media-relations firm and hosted an early-morning conservative talk-radio show in Southwest Florida. He married another news anchor and they had a baby.
When he decided to run for Congress, he became involved in a bruising, six-way GOP primary, openly targeting opponents on the Internet and facing criticism for his firm’s ownership of explicitly named websites. But he was backed by the local tea party movement and Republican luminaries, including Mack and Sen. Marco Rubio, and clinched the GOP nomination. He cruised to victory in November.
Things were seemingly going well for Radel. His wife was featured in a glowing local news segment about how the couple were adjusting to life in D.C., he had sponsored a handful of bills, and he was interviewed by several inside-the-Beltway publications. He was active on Twitter and wrote pieces for Buzzfeed about rap music. (He dubbed Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” a conservative anthem “because I believe when government expands it be-comes a political tool meant to oppress.”)
He supported drug testing for food-stamp recipients and championed cuts in sheep-farm subsidies, keeping good on his conservative promise.
Then, on Oct. 29, Radel attempted to buy $250 worth of cocaine from an undercover police officer in a Washington, D.C., neighborhood.
According to court documents, federal agents confronted the congressman and he invited them to his apartment, where he turned over a vial of the drug. A DEA official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the case in his own name said Radel was identified to authorities as a cocaine buyer by his suspected dealer. Court documents said the lawmaker had purchased the drug on several previous occasions.