Heavy-hitters back school board's Carlos Curbelo to unseat U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia

@MarcACaputo

Carlos Curbelo, a Miami-Dade school board member and Republican consultant, today announced a congressional exploratory committee and finance team in a possible bid to take on U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in District 26, which stretches from SW 8th Street all the way to Key West's Southernmost Point.

Garcia is no easy target. He won his district by 11 percentage points against scandal-plagued U.S. Rep. David Rivera; and President Obama carried it by about 7.

But in some models, the district leans Republican or is a toss-up.

Curbelo brings political savvy, an emerging name in politics and a heavy-hitting finance team to the race. If Curbelo runs, it'll be tough to see how Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall can win the GOP primary.

Some names to watch for: Cesar Alvarez (Chairman of Greenberg Traurig), Armando Codina (Jeb Bush friend, developer; American Airlines and Home Depot Board of Directors), Remedios Diaz-Oliver (President of All American Containers and Director of US Cuba Democracy PAC), Tirso del Junco (past chairman of the California GOP and of the US Postal Board of Governors); media/political figure Justin Sayfie (founder of the Sayfie Review, former Bush spokesman), George LeMieux (former U.S. Senator), Kathleen Shanahan (businesswoman, Bush insider), Dean Cannon (lobbyist, past Florida House Speaker), Stanley Tate (Republican financier).

One name stands from the rest: Fred Estrada. He's a frequent Democratic contributor. And he's on the Republican's side.

The press release:

Cutler Bay mayor to kick off congressional campaign against Rep. Joe Garcia

@PatriciaMazzei

Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall, who has spent the past few months opposing the Miami Dolphins' now-defunct push for a subsidized stadium renovation, plans to challenge Democratic Congressman Joe Garcia.

MacDougall, a Republican who has already opened a fundraising account, will kick off his campaign Wednesday night.

"I've lived in South Dade for 50 years -- this is where I grew up," he said. "My children live here, my grandchildren live here. This is part of my soul, South Dade, and I don't believe it's had proper representation."

MacDougall is the first candidate to file paperwork to run against Garcia for the 26th Congressional district that stretches from Kendall to Key West. Former Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez said earlier this year he would also seek the seat but has yet to begin fundraising. Both MacDougall and Martinez are former police officers.

Will do-nothing Congress kill lawmakers call to fight $5b tax-ID fraud industry?

@MarcACaputo

Tax Day is no longer just a deadline for citizens to rush and file their returns.

It’s now a day for members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike —to file legislation or announce ways to prevent an estimated $5 billion in tax-identification fraud, which is particularly virulent in Florida and especially South Florida.

The effort by local lawmakers is nothing new, nor is the fact that the measures have died year-after-year in a do-nothing Congress.

On Monday, Miami-area Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Garcia and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen all promoted legislation to put an end to the practice. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson announced a bill last week.

“Something needs to be done,” said Jon Simpkins, a Miami-Dade businessman who appeared with his wife, a tax-ID fraud victim, at Garcia’s press conference.

It took the Internal Revenue Service until April 8 to supply the family their tax-refund money from last year — a week before this year’s tax-filing deadline.

“I’m surprised they haven’t fixed this yet,” Simpkins said, detailing the delays and difficulties of just getting the IRS to do its job.

Nicaragua-exiled gal pal of David Rivera: "I am not a fugitive," witness in criminal case "lying"

 @MarcACaputo

One who flees is a fugitive, according to Webster's Dictionary.

But Ana Alliegro, who fled to Nicaragua amid a federal-grand jury investigation for her involvement with a criminal congressional campaign linked to boyfriend David Rivera, has her own definitions of things.

"I am not a fugitive," Alliegro tells Miami New Times in an exclusive interview. "I am tired of being depicted as one."

Alliegro has refused to talk to The Herald ever since we unmasked the criminal campaign of one-time congressional candidate Justin Lamar Sternad, her role in it and then reported her own criminal record. Sternad, used as a proxy to trash Rivera's political opponent Joe Garcia, pleaded guilty to campaign-finance and conspiracy violations. He is cooperating with the feds. He said he was "used."

In The New Times piece, Alliegro suggests she didn't do the using.

Alliegro doesn't shed much light on what she did for the campaign or why, as a Republican, she would help run a Democrat's campaign. She doesn't explain why, as a girlfriend of Rivera, she ran the campaign of Sternad, who theoretically would have faced Rivera had he not lost Aug. 14 to Garcia, who went on to beat Rivera in the general election.

The New Times piece provides more insight into Alliegro's personality and relationship with Rivera (it got a hold of some of her emails and confirmed that Rivera booked a romantic Nicaraguan vacation for the two). Alliegro blames her problems on "liberals" and said she flew to Nicaragua after she was jailed in an unrelated matter.

And Alliegro's no stranger to jail.

As The Herald reported and the New Times notes as well, she was busted for shoplifting and for pulling a gun on her ex-husband after comparing the weapon to her version of a powerful penis. In another sexually charged matter, Alliegro sent racy pictures of herself (two in a nighty and one topless photo of herself in the shower) to a Miami political consultant years ago in the hopes, the consultant tells us, that he'd leak them to blogger and stir up controversy in the hopes of getting clients (yes, we have the pictures).

Alliegro does accuse her ex, Moshe Cosicher, of domestic violence. But Cosicher's daughter told The Miami Herald that Alliegro self-inflicted her injuries -- claiming initially that she was attacked by a raccoon -- and tried to use the wounds and phony domestic-violence claim to blackmail Cosicher into staying married. Prosecutors didn't buy her story and she didn't press charges.

Even Alliegro acknowledges she's "crazy." Now, according to New Times, she's claiming she had a horse-riding head injury that has impaired her memory. What a coincidence. Maybe a raccoon knocked her off the horse.

As for the latest crime that involves her, Alliegro says she's innocent. She said she didn't ferry illegal campaign money to and from Sternad, who has told prosecutors that she did.

Sternad's not the only one. John Borrero, who runs the mail house that Sternad used to send out his campaign fliers, told The Herald and then the FBI that Alliegro delivered stacks of cash and checks for his services.

"Borrero is lying," she tells New Times. "I'm crazy, but I am not stupid."

Alliegro also told New Times she didn't have a central role running Sternad's campaign.

"Let's be clear: I was never Justin's campaign manager," Alliegro said. "He never paid me a dime."

Sternad told us in August that she was his campaign manager. She didn't return our calls on the matter, so when I reached out to her on Twitter, she ducked the question Aug. 14, the day of the District 26 Democratic primary that saw the end of Sternad's campaign.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU CALLED MY VERY PUBLIC TELEPHONE NUMBER? YOU DID NOT AND YOU CALL REACHING OUT VIA TWITTERS," she said. "LOL."

Nothing says reasonable discourse like ALL CAPS evasions.

"I called the number I was given, called your ex and tried this. And you still haven't answered," I responded.

"how about you do your job. Caputo-I am tired and going to sleep. Again, highly unprofessional and wreckless," she wrote back.

And on it went.

In the New Times piece, Alliegro said she's willing to testify and will be back in Miami to renew her passport. She said she's not hiding. "She admits she wanted to lay low," New Times reports.

"I haven't abandoned my country," she said. "I feel my country has abandoned me. But if I have to testify I will. Make no mistake about it, I will not take the Fifth. I will answer what ever questions they ask me."

If that happens, she'll have to give honest answers as well.

A message from Joe Garcia: $550k cash haul shows he's tough to beat in battle for House

@MarcACaputo

With a whopping $550,000 hauled in his first three months in office, Miami-Dade Democrat Joe Garcia signaled he’s a top freshmen fundraiser in Congress.

And the money, the lifeblood of campaigns, sends a message to Republicans: He won’t be easy to beat in 2014.

Garcia’s self-reported fundraising totals rival that of fellow Democratic freshman Patrick Murphy of Jupiter who also said he raised $550,000. But Murphy’s far more vulnerable.

Both Florida freshmen are considered at-risk, even by Democrats. They’re on the frontlines of the battle for the U.S. House – and therefore President Obama’s agenda. Just 16 Republicans stand in the way of Democrats controlling the House and all of Congress.

“My job is not to worry about people’s political perceptions. My job is to represent the people,” said Garcia, who bested a scandal-plagued Rep. David Rivera by nearly 11 percentage points in November.
Republicans say they won’t let Garcia rest.

They say they need the right candidate and the absence of the Obama voter-turnout machine to beat the Democrat. Florida Republicans tend to fare better than Democrats during non-presidential election years.

Rep. Joe Garcia: To avoid airport & seaport delays, Congress should give customs more money

@PatriciaMazzei

With federal budget cuts to blame for slow lines for passengers and cargo entering South Florida, U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia wants Congress to give Customs and Border Patrol Protection more money to speed things up.

In a letter he plans to send Thursday, Garcia will ask the House appropriations committee to "support strong funding levels" for customs officers.

"Arbitrary CBP cuts at our air and sea ports, in communities like Miami-Dade County, will only weaken our economy and destroy middle class jobs," wrote Garcia, a Miami Democrat.

Overtime pay for customs officers shrunk as part of the automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequester. In March, a busy month for South Florida tourism, that led to long waits for Miami International Airport for international passengers, many of whom missed their connecting flights and had to spend the night at the airport. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had warned about the coming understaffing in a February visit to MIA.

Cargo traffic has also been delayed -- including time-sensitive deliveries for South Florida's flower import industry, Garcia wrote.

Garcia plans to hold a news conference at the airport Thursday to draw attention to the problem and to his letter asking for support from other members of Congress. He will be joined by representatives from the airport, PortMiami, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Association of Floral Importers of Florida.

The headline of this blog post has been changed to remove the word "patrol." 

Marco Rubio's immigration expert draws fire from hardliners

Sen. Marco Rubio's decision to hire immigration lawyer Enrique Gonzalez, a longtime friend and practicing expert in the field, is drawing fire from the conservative Daily Caller (and its readers if you check the comments section):

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s top lawyer in the closed-door effort to draft a new immigration bill is a Democratic donor who earns his living by bringing foreign workers into the country on behalf of corporations and universities.

The lawyer, Enrique Gonzalez, is a partner at the nation’s largest immigration firm, whose future depends on the outcome of Gonzalez’s closed-door work.

Rubio hired Gonzalez in January, when he was a partner at the Coral Gables, Fla., office of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.

On offense with Ryan budget, GOP bashes Joe Garcia vote in opening '14 salvo

@MarcACaputo

Yup, it's 2014 already. A conservative Super PAC is up with an ad already bashing new Congressman Joe Garcia for voting against the latest iteration of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's plan.

What makes the ad intriguing is that the GOP is on offense over the Ryan plan, something that caused them to scurry in the 2012 election cycle. Democrats pointed out changes it made to Medicare and that spooked Republicans.

Now Republicans seem ready to counter the attack by making it a debate about debt (and, yes, there's an argument to be made that Ryan's plan has its own financial problems).

The press release is after the ad

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC ), the super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and growing the House Republican Majority, released today their first ad of the 2014 cycle against Congressman Joe Garcia (FL-26) for voting against balancing Washington’s budget yesterday.

The House-passed budget would balance Washington’s budget, preventing our coming debt crisis and growing the economy. The ads will run on cable shows targeting women and will be accompanied by a similar paid digital ad campaign.

"Joe Garcia refused to support balancing Washington’s budget even though Florida families have to every month," said CLF Communications Director Dan Conston. "South Florida moms deserve to know why Congressman Garcia thinks Washington shouldn't follow the same rules they do."From 2011-2012, CLF raised a combined $55 million with their sister-organization the American Action Network, a 501c4 primarily focused on advocating for center-right policy solutions and the center-right movement.

Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation rated the $21 million in independent expenditures spent by AAN & CLF the #1 and #2 Highest "Returns on Investment" of conservative groups.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez to visit Congress

@PatriciaMazzei

Yoani Sánchez, the dissident Cuban blogger who since last month has been on an international tour after being granted a passport, will meet with U.S. senators and representatives on March 19, Sen. Bill Nelson's office announced Monday.

Nelson, of Florida, and Miami Rep. Joe Garcia, both Democrats, invited Sánchez to visit. She plans to spend a couple of days in Washington D.C., and she is scheduled to stop in Miami in April.

"I look forward to this meeting and her unique view of the realities of life in Cuba," Nelson said in a statement.

Read the full statement after the jump.

Miami U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia: Aid Venezuelans who fled Hugo Chávez

Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Miami, announced Monday that when the immigration reform debate begins in the House he will present an amendment that would grant permanent residence to tens of thousands of undocumented Venezuelans living in the United States.

“Many of these people have spent a big part of their lives here,” Garcia said at a press conference at his office in west Miami-Dade County. “Many are people who attend schools with our children, who are business partners with us and who live in a very difficult status and we want to give them a forward solution.”

Garcia’s Venezuelan Liberty Act is a response to requests from leaders of the growing Venezuelan community nationwide to provide immigration relief to undocumented Venezuelans, many of whom not only lack immigration papers but also fear they will be persecuted and tortured if they are sent back to their country.

Garcia’s proposal is the first concrete action in the form of a bill that would benefit Venezuelan immigrants who are in the country illegally and do not have a police record. If the proposal were to become law, it would grant green cards to Venezuelans who have arrived in the U.S. from Feb. 2, 1999, when Hugo Chávez took office as president of Venezuela, until now, according to an explanatory sheet from Garcia’s office.

More from Alfonso Chardy here.