UPDATED Democrat calls for 'thorough' investigation into ballot scheme involving Rep. Joe Garcia's staff

@PatriciaMazzei

As Congressman Joe Garcia, a Miami Democrat, gave a press conference Saturday addressing his staff's role in a plot to submit fraudulent absentee-ballot requests, someone slipped into the back of the room.

It was Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. She, along with other party members, stood in Garcia's office in a show of support.

"I share in Congressman Garcia's anger, and I'm disappointed," Taddeo-Goldstein later told The Miami Herald. "I hope that what we get out of this is a thorough investigation of all the absentee-ballot tampering that has been going on for a long time."

Taddeo-Goldstein, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008, said as a candidate she learned of political operatives who promised to deliver scores of absentee votes.

"I was approached by people in 2008, and I said, 'No, I prefer to lose than to do that,'" she said. "Anybody who runs knows that these things exist, and it's unacceptable. We're never going to gain the public's trust if we don't fix this."

Taddeo-Goldstein said she learned that Garcia had dismissed his chief of staff and that another one of his employees and a former campaign manager had been served search warrants after getting a call from a reporter Friday. (Ouch.)

"Obviously, he's a friend of mine, and I believe in being a friend always -- not just during good times," she added of Garcia.

UPDATE: Read Taddeo-Goldstein's written statement on the matter below.

National Republicans question Joe Garcia's involvement in ballot scandal

@PatriciaMazzei

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Saturday questioned Congressman Joe Garcia's assertion that he didn't know some of his campaign workers apparently orchestrated a fraudulent absentee-ballot request scheme.

"This latest report of an alleged ballot fraud scandal surrounding Congressman Joe Garcia is very troubling," NRCC spokeswoman Katie Brill said in a written statement. "While voters deserve the truth, Congressman Garcia left a lot of questions unanswered. Floridians deserve to know what Congressman Joe Garcia knew about this voter fraud scheme and when did he know it."

The national attention comes after other local Republicans, including the Miami-Dade GOP chairman and potential Garcia opponent Carlos Curbelo have also called for further investigating on the congressman's involvement.

Joe Garcia: 'Flawed' absentee-voting system, 'reckless abandon' contributed to ballot scandal

@PatriciaMazzei

Congressman Joe Garcia on Saturday attempted to control the damage inflicted on his office a day earlier, when he dismissed his chief of staff for apparently orchestrating a scheme to submit hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests.

In a news conference held at his West Miami-Dade office Saturday morning, Garcia, a Democrat, maintained that he had no knowledge of the failed plot during last year’s primary election. He said he learned about his campaign’s involvement only the previous afternoon from chief of staff Jeffrey Garcia, who is unrelated to the congressman and has long served as his top political strategist.

“I cannot stress how angry I am at these events,” Joe Garcia said Saturday.

He called the plot “ill-conceived” but added: “I think it was a well-intentioned attempt to maximize voter turnout.”

Garcia said he had been on stage early Friday afternoon at John A. Ferguson Senior High School in West Kendall, shaking the hands of hundreds of graduates, when he began to get word that something was amiss.

Earlier Friday, law enforcement officers had raided the family homes of his communications director, Giancarlo Sopo, 30, and his former campaign manager, John Estes, 26, searching for computers and other electronic equipment in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office into the phantom ballot requests.

After the graduation ceremony, Garcia said he met with Jeffrey Garcia, 40, who took responsibility for the scheme. He then resigned at the congressman’s request.

Friday’s precipitous events came three months after a Miami Herald investigation found that hundreds of 2,552 fraudulent online requests for the Aug. 14 primaries originated from mystery hackers using Internet Protocol addresses in Miami. The Herald found those requests were clustered and targeted Democratic voters in Congressional District 26, which stretches from Kendall to Key West and where Garcia was competing against three other candidates.

More here.

Miami-Dade Republicans start the drumbeat: "What did Joe Garcia really know?"

@MarcACaputo

The absentee ballot-request-fraud scandal engulfing Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia's chief of staff, campaign chief and congressional emplyoee will be a top campaign issue in 2014. Garcia, who said he was unaware of the potentially illegal activity, was already seen as vulnerable by Republicans for the South Florida seat that stretches from Miami-Dade to Key West. Now they're sharpening their blades.

Here's last night's statement from Miami-Dade Republican Chairman Nelson Diaz:

The ugly truth has finally come out about Democrat Joe Garcia's employees doing everything they can to rig his election. We should all be demanding answers from Joe Garcia himself. How much did Joe Garcia really know about his Top strategist's fraudulent actions in an attempt to cheat the voters of District 26? Was Joe Garcia himself involved in fraudulent actions? Should his entire election be thrown out? The public demands answers and deserves nothing but the truth from Joe Garcia. We expect that a full of investigation will be conducted to determine whether Joe Garcia had any knowledge of his top strategists' election rigging activities or if Joe Garcia was himself involved in cheating his way into Congress.

Amid vote-fraud probe & staff chief resignation, Rep. Joe Garcia's opponent Carlos Curbelo pounces

That didn't take long.

A few moments after U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia's chief of staff quit amid a fraud probe involving phantom absentee-ballot requests, a top Republican opponent was quick to call on the Democrat to say all he knows. Here's the statement from Miami-Dade School Board member Carlos Curbelo:

"The news coming out of Congressional District 26 is deeply troubling and offensive to our community. Joe Garcia has to come clean immediately and tell the public if his campaign was involved in absentee ballot fraud," said Curbelo.

Curbelo has served on the Miami-Dade School Board since 2010, where he represents the residents of Southwest Dade. He is strongly considering running for Congress and recently launched a Congressional Exploratory Committee and Finance Team showing strong support from business and civic leaders of both political parties.

Curbelo continued: "The people of Southwest Dade and the Keys are sick and tired of politicians that will do or say anything to get elected. Every day it becomes more evident that we need to turn the page on this culture of corruption and get new leadership in Washington."

TO READ THE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE.

Congressman Joe Garcia's chief of staff implicated in phantom absentee-ballot scheme

@PatriciaMazzei

Congressman Joe Garcia’s chief of staff abruptly resigned Friday after being implicated in a sophisticated scheme to manipulate last year’s primary elections by submitting hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests.

Friday afternoon, Garcia said he had asked Jeffrey Garcia, no relation, for his resignation after the chief of staff — also the congressman’s top political strategist — took responsibility for the scheme. Joe Garcia took the action hours after law enforcement investigators raided the homes of another of his employees and a former campaign aide in connection with the investigation.

“I’m shocked and disappointed about this,” Garcia, who said he was unaware of the plot, told The Miami Herald. “This is something that hit me from left field. Until today, I had no earthly idea this was going on.”

Jeffrey Garcia declined to comment. He also worked last year on the campaign of Democrat Patrick Murphy, who unseated tea-party Republican Congressman Allen West. Murphy has not been implicated in the phantom-requests operation.

The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office served search warrants Friday at the homes of Giancarlo Sopo, 30, Joe Garcia’s communications director, and John Estes, 26, his 2012 campaign manager. Neither Estes nor Sopo responded to requests for comment.

The raids marked a sign of significant progress in the probe that prosecutors reopened in February, after a Herald investigation found that hundreds of the 2,552 fraudulent requests for the Aug. 14 primaries originated from Internet Protocol addresses in Miami that could be further traced. The bulk of the requests were masked by foreign IP addresses.

It is unclear if the requests from domestic and foreign IP addresses are related to the same operatives.

More on this developing story here.

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.