Matt Gaetz Is the GOP Version of Rob Andrews

Unless you are from New Jersey, especially South Jersey, the name Rob Andrews probably means nothing to you. Andrews served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1990 to 2014, representing the 1st congressional district that encompasses parts of Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester counties.

NJ-1 is a Democratic stronghold and has been since 1974 when Rep. John Hunt was defeated in his re-election bid by Jim Florio in the aftermath of Watergate. Florio held the seat until 1990 when he was elected governor, but before leaving Washington D.C. for Trenton, NJ, Florio chose Andrews to be his handpicked successor.

With a “D” next to his name and the backing of the powerful Norcross Democratic machine, Andrews was easily re-elected every two years with very little (and sometimes no) opposition. For instance, in both 2000 and 2006, the GOP failed to field a candidate… which was one of the major reasons why I ran against him in 2008 and 2010. Although I lost both races, I was able to uncover gross FEC (Federal Election Commission) violations such as using campaign funds to pay for family vacations to Scotland, Beverly Hills, and Ocean City, NJ.

Unfortunately for Andrews, the Newark Star-Ledger followed up on his financial improprieties in 2011, including his use of campaign funds to pay for a $10,000 graduation party for his daughter and a $12,500 donation to the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, where his wife was on the board of directors and his daughter was auditioning for a part.

When CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) filed an official complaint that same year, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the matter in August 2012 and formed a special panel to further review the allegations in March 2013. Sensing that the walls were closing in on him and that censure or expulsion by the full House was imminent, Andrews took the coward’s way out and resigned his seat midterm on February 4, 2014, presumably to take a job with a Philadelphia-based law firm.

I don’t know whether Matt Gaetz is aware of the scandal that brought down Rob Andrews, because he wasn’t elected to the House until 2016. However, the way Gaetz has handled allegations about his personal behavior is eerily similar. Known as a consummate party animal during his six years in the Florida state legislature, Gaetz has also been accused of having sex with an underaged girl (which is statutory rape) and engaging in the sex trafficking of minors.

The U.S. House of Representatives opened an ethics investigation into Gaetz’s behavior in 2021 but put it on hold when the U.S. Department of Justice started its own investigation of Gaetz for “allegedly sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl in 2017… and whether he had violated federal sex trafficking laws (including the Mann Act) by paying her to travel with him across state lines.” According to the New York Times and CNN, DOJ investigators “also examined whether Gaetz used campaign money in his relationships with young women for travel and expenses, whether cash and drugs were involved…and whether he had asked women to recruit others for sex.”

Hang in there, folks, because it gets much, much worse…

According to his Wikipedia biography, Gaetz “joined marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon Jason Pirozzolo on a trip to the Bahamas” in September 2018. Pirozzolo allegedly paid for all the travel expenses including luxury accommodations and escort services. “Federal investigators reportedly explored whether the escorts were sexually trafficked for Gaetz and whether he accepted paid escorts in exchange for political access or legislative favors for Pirozzolo, who at the time chaired the board of the Medical Marijuana Physicians Association. Gaetz made two speeches for the organization while in Congress, and Pirozzolo gave two separate $1,000 donations to Gaetz's campaign arm 'Friends of Matt Gaetz', in March 2016 and May 2017.”

DOJ investigators also believe that Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg “met women through a website for sex and introduced them to Gaetz, who also had sex with them… Evidence included mobile payment receipts reportedly suggesting Gaetz had illegally exchanged money for sex, such as May 2018 Venmo transaction records showing Gaetz sending $900 (with a memo referring to a woman) to Greenberg, who then relayed the money (with the memos "tuition" and "school") to three women, one of whom was 18.”

Unbelievably, the Justice Department decided not to press charges against Gaetz in February 2023 – despite Greenberg being convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison, plus 10 years of supervised release – because prosecutors felt that “a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions about the two central witnesses.”

Undaunted, the House Ethics Committee reopened its investigation of Gaetz in July 2023, amidst claims that he “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift."

With a "highly critical report" scheduled to be released within the week, Gaetz resigned his congressional seat on November 13, 2024 – shades of Rob Andrews – resulting in the Ethics Committee losing the jurisdiction to continue its probe.

More to follow this afternoon under the heading, “Matt Gaetz Is Unfit to be Attorney General”.