Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Trey Radel could be trying to stage a comeback — at least on the radio.
Radel, who resigned from Congress in 2014 following a cocaine scandal, has been an occasional fill-in host on “Daybreak with Drew Steele,” a conservative talk radio show on 92.5 Fox News in Southwest Florida, for the past few weeks. On Tuesday, the Naples Daily News reported he would be interested in getting back on the airwaves.
Radel told the Naples Daily News he would be interested in taking over the hosting position when Steele, the current host, leaves his post. Steele is leaving the show to go to a larger media market, the newspaper reported.
If Radel were to get the gig, it would be familiar territory for the Fort Myers Republican. Radel, once a popular television and radio personality, hosted the morning talk before his 2012 congressional run. He was also an anchor for several years on the local CBS affiliate.
Radel was elected in 2012, defeating several well-known Southwest Florida Republicans, including Chauncey Goss and Paige Kreegel, in the primary.
He quickly made a name for himself in Congress, where he portrayed himself as a hip hop congressman. But in November 2013, he plead guilty to cocaine possession charges in a Washington, D.C. courtroom. He was accused of buying $250 worth of cocaine from an undercover officer — an act that earned him the nickname “cocaine congressman.”
Radel took a leave of absence and returned to Congress in January 2014. But just a few weeks after returning to work, Radel resigned. His resignation put an end to a U.S. House Committee on Ethics investigation into whether Radel violated House rules following the 2013 drug bust.
In the months immediately following his resignation, Radel kept a low profile. But in the past year, he has slowly started to re-emerge. Radel is once again an active presence on Twitter. Earlier this year, he appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher.” And in January he announced he was writing a book, which is due out in early 2017.
But getting back his old show back isn’t a done deal. While Radel said he was open to the job, the newspaper reported the station is also talking to other candidates.
