A billboard went up a few days ago in Sarasota as Buchanan's yacht has become an election issue.
Source: Tampa Bay Times
A Monday report detailed how the Republican congressman, who represents parts of Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough counties, financed the purchase of a 73-foot luxury ship with a seven-figure loan from BMO Harris, a subsidiary of a Canadian bank — while helping to craft the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Buchanan's likely Democratic opponent in November, attorney David Shapiro, pounced on the report, published by a partnership between the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, MapLight and Capital & Main.
"Today, we learned the Congressman financed his yacht with a loan from a foreign bank lobbying on the tax bill," Shapiro said in a statement. "It's time Vern Buchanan answer the question once and for all: is he representing Florida families in Washington, or his special interests?"
According to FCIR, Buchanan borrowed as much as $5 million from BMO Harris to buy the yacht while he sat on the House Ways and Means Committee. That committee is the one that initially crafted the 2017 tax bill — on which BMO Harris heavily lobbied Congress, according to the investigative news outlet. The bank benefitted tremendously from the legislation, which slashed corporate tax rates.
