The Inept Shenanigans Of Rep. David Rivera (R-FL): Fake Democrats, ‘Bad Girls,’ And Electoral Fraud

[flamingdem]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/09/25/rivera-shenanigans/


t’s almost like a Carl Hiaasen novel. A corrupt Republican politician with Saint Reagan hung in a place of honor on his office wall (and his fingers in too many unethical pies) who tried to hide his tracks via the generous application of — wait for it! — correction fluid on the damning documents. A fake Democrat “shadow candidate” deployed to influence an election in Rivera’s favor, who hid his race (white) on fliers targeted at African-American communities. A Republican political operative who bragged about how bad-ass she was and how rough she liked to play, who liked to crow about the time she stripped bare and fired a gun at her ex-husband, and who has mysteriously disappeared. An increasingly testy herd of unsmiling Government Suits who are circling around like hungry sharks. Oh, Florida! Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Florida Representative David Rivera has been the subject of five different ethics violation investigations since 2006, which include tax evasion, campaign finance fraud and money laundering. Rivera apparently felt that he needed to add to his criminal résumé and so he tried some election tampering on for size by funding a fake Democrat to siphon votes, donations and support away from his real Democratic opponent in a primary challenge.
Part One: Rivera pisses off the Suits

Our story starts in the autumn of 2010, when Miami-Dade county prosecutors and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents first started giving Rivera the squint-eye for what appeared to the law enforcement officers — and to the Miami Herald, which had expressed some concern about discrepancies between Rivera’s stated income and his financial disclosures – to be campaign finance fraud. Meanwhile, Rivera, a politician who had been around long enough to be a familiar face in his jurisdiction, was in the process of campaigning for a congressional seat (and he won).

Rivera spent thousands of dollars a month on four different credit cards from 2006 to 2010, and dipped into at least $65,000 in campaign funds to pay personal credit card bills for restaurant checks, medical expenses and vacations with his girlfriend. As the Miami Herald reports, “The agents also believed that Rivera used campaign funds to pay for expenses that also had been billed to the state, which covers travel and other costs for lawmakers doing legislative work. They estimated that Rivera double-billed the state for more than $25,000 — an accusation Rivera repeatedly denied.” MORE AT LINK

NOTE: Rivera is best friends with Marco Rubio, they owned a house together in FL, wonder where Marco learned his party credit card using techniques...

Read up on Rivera's friend conservative bad girl Ana Alliegro and her fraudulent ways at the link:

[goclark]

1. very interesting...

So Prince Marco lived with her?
"Birds of a feather flock together " they say.

[flamingdem]

2. Marco Rubio and Rep. Rivera bought a house together

in Tallahassee, FL -- that is or already did foreclose. I don't know if Marco was using his repug credit card for expenses on that but he was using it for other expenses -- here's the story:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/article1075692.ece

I hope that there's dirt on Marco that will come out when the Feds haul Rivera in for questioning.

Ana Alliegro lived with Joe Carollo, ex-Mayor of Miami - right wing crazy

and a few other questionable pols as well as the guy she pulled a gun on and kept hostage!

[goclark]

3. Sounds like he overspent

that card BIG TIME!

[HooptieWagon]

4. I imagine Marco will figure heavily in Jim Greer's testimony...

...when his case goes to trial.

[flamingdem]

5. hmm. All adds up to too much dirt for him to make a run in 2016

Jeb is the favorite anyway I suppose

==

If Rubio were to end up on the GOP presidential ticket or mount his own national campaign in the coming years, he all but certainly would face questions about the scandal over the use of state GOP funds when he was the speaker of the Florida House.

The head of the party, Jim Greer, was forced to resign following revelations he and his second-in-command charged $1.5 million on party credit cards, much of it on luxurious hotels, fancy restaurants, chauffeured sedans and lavish entertaining. Greer's trial is set to start July 30, just ahead of the Republican convention, and many Republican observers anticipate he will detail unethical use of party money by other high-ranking GOP officials.

Rubio spent more than $100,000 on the party card between 2006 and 2008, paying off about $16,000 in personal expenses and claiming the rest as official party business. His records from 2005, when he was lobbying to become Florida House speaker, never were released. When asked about using the party card for personal expenses, Rubio has said he sometimes just pulled the wrong card out of his wallet and he has called it a "lesson learned."

He also has had to answer criticism for how he spent money donated to two political committees he formed - including payments to relatives. He has acknowledged the bookkeeping for at least one of the accounts was sloppy.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/05/19/marco-rubio-past-political-vulnerabilities/#ixzz27vi88NmI

[HooptieWagon]

6. Yes. That is a significant reason why he wasn't picked as VP candidate.

I'm not sure about '16. Can he whitewash his record? Will there still be his teabagger base? Would he even run against Jeb? Jeb def won't select Rubio as VP... two FLs on the ticket won't fly, IMO.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Update: David Rivera defends himself in TV interview

Posted on Sunday, 10.14.12
David Rivera defends himself in TV interview

U.S. Rep. David Rivera played a tape recording to try to discredit a vendor who has said Rivera had a hand in a Democratic primary candidate’s campaign.

By Patricia Mazzei
[e-mail]

In his first sit down English-language television interview in weeks, U.S. Rep. David Rivera defended himself Sunday against a federal grand-jury investigation into his alleged involvement in a primary campaign against his Democratic opponent.

At one point, Rivera pulled out a black Sony tape recorder and held it up against his lapel microphone to play a recording of what he said was a telephone message from an FBI witness in the case.

The FBI is investigating whether Rivera illegally funneled secret money to Justin Lamar Sternad, who lost in the Aug. 14 primary to Joe Garcia. Garcia now faces Rivera.

“No federal agency has ever stated or confirmed that I am under investigation for anything,” Rivera told WPLG-ABC 10’s Michael Putney on This Week in South Florida.

More: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/14/3049995/david-rivera-defends-himself-in.html#storylink=cpy

[flamingdem]

8. The stunt with the tape recorder is wacky

This guy is off the rails! I'm guessing Joe Garcia is still way ahead in the polls