France’s Presidential Frontrunner Already Has Presidential-Level Controversy

France’s financial prosecutor is investigating François Fillon after a newspaper alleged that his wife, Penelope, was paid around €500,000 from parliamentary funds as compensation for a made-up “Parliamentary Assistant” job. Fillon, a current frontrunner in the French election which concludes in May, has said that he has been “scandalized” by the claims. “I see the stinkbomb season has started”, he told reporters in Bordeaux.

These claims do Fillon no favors seeing as he has built his platform on being the candidate of honesty and irreproachability, a breath of fresh air for the French Right which has been plagued by corruption scandals in recent years. To add insult to injury, Fillon has also previously stated that he hopes to cut wasteful spending and get rid of 500,000 civil servant jobs. Smooth… In totally unrelated news, if any politicians are reading this and willing to shell out €500,000 for a parliamentary assistant, please let us know.