re: #204 Dark_Falcon

Radel hasn’t gone bonkers like Ford. Plus he’s from southern Florida, where powder cocaine has been an issue since the 1980’s.

Drug smugglers are quite happy to supply politicians, since they can use the resulting contact to gain favors and insight into government action against them.

This isn’t Miami Vice - it’s recreational usage. His being from Florida makes for a convenient narrative, but he was busted in DC. How does a sitting congressman get busted doing cocaine? By going to a dealer.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., was caught buying drugs as part of a federal investigation into a Washington, D.C., drug ring last month and is being charged with cocaine possession, according to a senior Drug Enforcement Administration official.

The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said several federal agencies working as part of a task force arrested a dealer who told them one of his cocaine customers was a congressman. The dealer, working with federal agents, set up a buy on Oct. 29, and Radel, a freshman congressman first elected last year, purchased the cocaine, the official said.

usatoday.com