Paul Crespo

Crespo ran twice unsuccessfully for public office first in 2010 for U.S. Congress in Florida's District 25 and later in 2012 for Florida House of Representatives in District 105. Crespo's campaign themes highlighted his service as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and his role as the outsider in this race running against a career, machine politician. He stated his belief in the concept of "citizen legislators" and while running for U.S. Congress pledged to term limit himself to eight years and to not accept nor participate in the generous Congressional pension plan, stating, "If your 401k retirement account tanks because of a bad economy your Congressman should be in the same boat."

In 2010, Crespo made controversial remarks in an op-ed titled "Absentee vote fraud destroying Miami-Dade elections". Crespo alleged there were voting irregularities and a conspiracy to steal hundreds of votes in the City of Sweetwater that went to his political opponent through the abuse of absentee ballots. This event transformed Crespo into an electoral reform advocate, who later joined the Florida Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C.

During his service he earned numerous awards and distinctions including a DIA Joint Service Achievement Medal (JSAM), a DIA Joint Service Commendation Medal (JCOM), and various letters of commendation. Crespo later returned to the Pentagon as a consultant, working between 2007 and 2009 as a senior manager developing, launching and managing a major media project for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Florida.

Between 2005 and 2007, he served on the Board of Directors, and was the project director for, the new Bay of Pigs Museum project, helping to launch an effort to build a new Bay of Pigs Museum to honor those who fought to try to liberate Cuba from communism.

Crespo has appeared nationally and internationally on CNN, Fox News, Sky News, Telemundo and Univision, as well as on numerous local TV network outlets as an expert on U.S. politics, national security and international affairs. In 2003, he was the on-air military analyst for the local WSVN 7 TV news (Fox affiliate) in Miami during the Iraq War.

In 2003, Crespo received a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship from the Phillips Foundation.

Crespo has been active with various Republican Party political campaigns in South Florida and elsewhere. During the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign, he founded and co-chaired the South Florida Young Professionals for Bush (YP4W) and later was part of the Bush/GOP Florida Recount Team, where among other things he ensured the absentee military vote was properly counted. In 2004, Crespo was the South Florida Media Coordinator for the George W. Bush re-election campaign, serving as one of the Bush campaign's primary on-air media surrogates in both Spanish and English languages.

Crespo served as an artillery and intelligence officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for 12 years, on both active duty and in the Reserves, receiving an honorable discharge (honorary retirement) as a captain in 1998. He served in numerous countries on four continents in artillery, infantry and airborne units, and spent six months aboard a helicopter assault ship in the Far East as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit—Special Operations Capable (MEU-SOC). Assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), he was posted in a diplomatic capacity (military attaché) at several U.S. embassies in the Balkans, Middle East and Latin America. There Captain Crespo served as Acting U.S. Naval Attaché in Croatia, U.S. Defense Attaché Liaison in Qatar, and Assistant U.S. Naval Attaché in Venezuela.

Paul Crespo (born June 8, 1964) is a conservative political commentator, consultant and activist. A former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, he has had a varied military and civilian career, and gained notoriety for his strong political opinions. He is best known for his conservative and free market views and passion for the constitutional and founding principles of the United States of America.

Crespo was born in Los Angeles, California to Luis and Elsa Crespo, Cuban exiles who fled Cuba in the early 1960s. Crespo attended Catholic grammar school, Don Bosco Tech(Rosemead, CA) and later went on to graduate from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor's degree in international politics. He also has a master's degree in war studies from King's College London and a master's degree in international relations from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.