Fed grand jury alert: suspected David Rivera-ringer changes financial reports amid investigation

A failed Democratic congressional candidate whose campaign is under federal grand jury investigation abruptly amended his financial disclosures to show he loaned himself nearly $53,000 more than he originally reported.

Before filing the new report, Justin Lamar Sternad, 35, insisted his finances were in order and steadfastly refused to say how he paid for tens of thousands of dollars worth of campaign-mail services.

Many of the transactions were in cash — sometimes in the form of $100 bills stuffed in envelopes, a campaign vendor said.

The big cash payments drew the attention of the FBI, which began examining the working-class hotel employee, a political unknown who now claims to have dropped about $64,000 of his own money in his Aug. 14 primary loss.

Campaign vendors told The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald that Sternad’s congressional Democratic primary run was backed by Republican Rep. David Rivera, who says he has never met or helped Sternad. During the campaign, Sternad bashed Rivera’s main rival, Joe Garcia. Garcia handily won and faces Rivera in November.

Rivera and Sternad have denied working in concert. Rivera has publicly attacked Sternad’s campaign vendors who spoke about his role, calling them liars or Herald lackeys. Sternad has blamed them for his reporting problems.

“I did not previously report this loan because I was unaware of the final monetary obligation incurred by my campaign,” Sternad wrote to the Federal Election Commission, which posted his letter Thursday. “I have now received invoices for the expenditures ... and this amendment represents satisfaction of those invoices.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/2965170/suspected-ringer-candidate-backed.html#storylink=cpy

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FBI, Miami-Dade cops investigating Democrat's campaign linked to Congressman David Rivera

The FBI and Miami-Dade police have opened separate criminal investigations into the campaign of a Democratic congressional candidate who, vendors say, was aided by GOP Rep. David Rivera.

Federal agents gathered campaign records, invoices and began interviewing employees at two mail and data companies used by Democrat Justin Lamar Sternad’s primary campaign. Sternad spent about $43,000 in unreported cash and checks on mail services, a witness told The Herald and authorities. Some of the money was stuffed in envelopes bulging with $100 bills.

Federal law required Sternad to quickly report any contributions — including loans —just before the Aug. 14 primary, which he lost to Democrat Joe Garcia, a longtime Rivera rival who Sternad bashed in one of his 11 mailers.

Rivera, investigators suspect, was behind the sophisticated mail campaign run by Sternad, who was an unknown political newcomer and hotel night auditor.

John Borrero, the owner of Rapid Mail and Computer Services in Hialeah, said he and his employees have met with investigators.

“I have been truthful with you, and I have been truthful with them,” said Borrero, referring all questions to police.

But Rivera strenuously denied the allegation Wednesday night in a televised interview on Spanish-language América Tevé’s (Channel 41) A Mano Limpia, insisting that he has no connection to the Sternad campaign, claiming Borrero lied and that The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald produced "nonsense and slander" in league with Garcia’s campaign.

“I’m going to move forward, focused on my work," Rivera said.

Rivera — who denies ever knowing Sternad — also produced a copy of a new campaign report for Sternad that purported to show, for the first time, that the Democrat’s campaign had paid Rapid Mail. Earlier in the day, a reporter for América Tevé said the congressman called her and told her to go to see Sternad’s lawyer, where she would get a scoop on the new campaign report. The lawyer never gave it to her.

Rivera didn’t explain how he got the report and Federal Elections Commission officials told The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald on Wednesday that the document had not been received yet by the FEC.

Even if Sternad amended his report, however, it might not be enough to avoid more questions from investigators.

Sternad referred all calls to attorney Enrique “Rick” Yabor, who refused to comment.

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/22/2963954/fbi-dade-police-probe-democrats.html#storylink=cpy

Vendors: Congressman David Rivera aided Democratic ringer candidate, used cash-stuffed envelopes

Fueled with $43,000 in secret money, Republican Rep. David Rivera helped run a shadow campaign that might have broken federal laws in last week’s Democratic primary against his political nemesis Joe Garcia, according to campaign sources and finance records.

As part of the effort, a political unknown named Justin Lamar Sternad campaigned against Garcia by running a sophisticated mail campaign that Rivera helped orchestrate and fund, campaign vendors said.

Among the revelations: The mailers were often paid in envelopes stuffed with crisp hundred-dollar bills.

Rivera and Sternad have denied working together in his campaign, which ended Aug. 14. But Hugh Cochran, president of Campaign Data, told The Herald this week that Rivera contacted him in July and requested he create a list of voters who were ultimately targeted in the 11 mailers sent by Sternad’s campaign.

“David hired me to run the data,” said Cochran, who is a retired FBI agent.

Cochran said he spoke numerous times with Rivera, produced the lists of targeted voters and emailed it to Rapid Mail and Computer Services in Hialeah, which mailed the fliers. Cochran cc’d the owner and Rivera in a July 29 email, which he provided to The Herald.

When contacted by the Herald for comment, the Rivera campaign responded via email Tuesday night: “Congressman Rivera has never met or spoken to Mr. Sternad and knows absolutely nothing about him or his campaign.”

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/21/2962351/campaign-vendors-say-republican.html#storylink=cpy

Suspected Rivera-ringer drops at least $24k in cash on campaign mailers, might've broken law

A Democratic congressional candidate may have violated federal campaign-finance laws after spending at least $24,000 in cash on mailers without disclosing the source of the funds.

Justin Lamar Sternad, one of several candidates who lost Tuesday’s District 26 Democratic primary election to Joe Garcia, paid for the mailers in cash. The work was done by Rapid Mail & Computer Services, a well-known Hialeah mail firm, owner John Borrero told The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald.

Borrero estimated that each of Sternad’s six mailers cost $4,000 to $5,000. He said Sternad paid him, beginning in August, on repeated occasions. The payments could have totaled as much as $30,000.

“He came in and paid for them in cash,” Borrero said, adding that other campaigns had paid with cash but that many pay with a check.

Garcia and Democratic candidates in the other campaigns have claimed Sternad was a plant from the campaign of Republican Rep. David Rivera, who faces Garcia in the general election.

Rivera and Sternad, a 35-year-old Cutler Bay resident, have denied that he is a ringer.

Rivera, like many Republicans, is among Rapid Mail’s former clients. Rivera’s congressional campaign spent about $16,000 with Rapid Mail in 2010, when he bested Garcia.

Asked by The Herald if there was a connection to Rivera in the mailings, Borrero said that Sternad came to his warehouse to make the payments by himself.

Sternad’s Federal Election Commission reports and personal financial filings give little indication that he could afford the mailers or the nearly $11,000 he loaned his campaign.

Married to a wife with no income, Sternad earned less than $30,000 working for two South Beach hotels last year, according to his financial disclosures. As of this July, when his sole employer was the Wyndham Garden South Beach, he earned $14,490.

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/15/2953896/suspected-rivera-ringer-might.html#storylink=cpy

Rep. David Rivera-Joe Garcia rematch has the making of bloodsport

The Democratic race to face one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress ended Tuesday when Joe Garcia fended off three challengers to capture his party’s nomination.

Now the tough work begins for Garcia: Taking on Rep. David Rivera, a popular Republican who narrowly escaped a multi-count state indictment for campaign finance violations and still faces a federal investigation.

“No one should turn on their television, open up their newspaper or listen to the radio to find out their congressman is under FBI investigation," Garcia said to loud applause from supporters Tuesday night at La Casona restaurant. "It’s time to turn the page and leave these scandals behind."

But Rivera is no easy foe.

Popular in Miami’s vocal Cuban-exile community, Rivera is a fixture on Spanish-language radio and has never lost an election. Rivera bested Garcia in 2010 by double digits. And he faulted Garcia for opposing Cuba sanctions, supporting President Obama’s agenda and working for “Big Energy” companies after he regulated utilities on the Public Service Commission.

“Joe Garcia is the single-most corrupt career candidate in America,” Rivera said. “Joe Garcia wants to go to Congress to promote the failed economic policies of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi. I look forward to contrasting my vision of creating jobs with his record of cronyism and corruption.”

How can suspected Rivera-ringer Justin Sternad spend big on $822 budget? "Kiss my 'lily-white' ass," he says

Suspected of being a ringer in the Democratic race to face GOP Congressman David Rivera, Justin Sternad (who's using his middle name "Lamar" to campaign as "Lamar Sternad") won't explain how he can spend big in a campaign with a minuscule budget.

Here's the math: He has raised $11,262 (nearly all from himself) and spent $10,440 to qualify in his quixotic bid for congressional office, despite having no public record of political engagement or political contacts.

That leaves about $822, according to his most recent campaign finance report. That's not enough cash to spend on mailers (considering that he has reported spending campaign cash on phones and postage) So far, he has sent at least six pieces out in the Key West-to-Kendall District 26 race.

How does he afford all this?

"Kiss my 'lily-white' ass," Sternad said by email. 

For some reason, that phrase didn't appear on one of his mailers that kept his Anglo mug off mailers featuring President Obama, Martin Luther King and the Bullards, a family of Miami-Dade black politicians. (Note: "lily-white" is in quotes from Sternad because it's drawn from the above-linked blog post).

It's a violation of campaign finance laws to receive and spend money without reporting it.

The mailers come from the same Hialeah outfit that did nearly $100,000 worth of work for Rivera in 2010. It also repeats the same false charge about Democrat Joe Garcia from Rivera: That Garcia left his cancer-stricken wife.

Both Rivera and Sternad deny Sternad's a plant. Garcia's campaign believes otherwise. The campaigns of Democrats Gus Marin and Gloria Romero Roses, untouched in Sternard's mailers, are watching from the sidelines. Rivera beat Garcia in 2010. There's not much love between the two.

Another Rivera-Republican tie: Sternad said by email that GOP consultant Ana Alliegro is running his campaign. Unable to be reached via cellphone or Twitter, Alliegro has been called a "friend" by Rivera. She's also a former girlfriend of sometime-Rivera pal/rival, state House candidate and former state Sen. Alex Diaz de La Portilla. Her outfit is called "OnTarget Hispanic Marketing, Inc.," an interesting niche, considering that one of the mailers Sternad sent out had immigration-hardliner English-first language that would make most Miami Hispanic consultants a little nervous in Miami.

Alliegro, whose Twitter account describes her as a "Republican Political Guru and Conservative Bad Girl!," appears nowhere on his expenditure reports.

Other mailers misappropriated President Obama's logo. The president's campaign said he should stop. Sternad said by emails that he hadn't heard from the Obama campaign. Here's why: They say they can't reach him and have no clue (like most Democrats) who he is, a campaign official said. Sternad is an employee of the Wyndham hotel chain on Miami Beach.

Sternad denied his campaign was behind robocalls last night that touted his candidacy and that played a message of Garcia speaking in Spanish. That latter message might have primarily been sent to Anglo households -- a nice way to annoy voters and turn them off to Garcia.

 

Obama campaign to rumored David Rivera ringer: Stop stealing our logo

Justin Lamar Sternad has sent out campaign mailers claiming he wants to support President Obama's agenda, but the president's campaign team doesn't seem too interested in helping the suspicious candidate for Congress who appears to have misappropriated the president's campaign logo.

"We have not endorsed or authorized the use of any campaign materials by this candidate and are notifying him that he must stop using it immediately," an Obama For America campaign official, speaking on background, told The Herald.

Sternad, who has sent at least six mailers, hasn't disclosed where he's getting the money or how he's paying for it, according to the Federal Elections Commission website, which shows he hasn't yet filed a pre-primary report ahead of the Aug. 14 vote.

Democrats, who had never heard of Sternad until he decided to run this year, are starting to suspect he's a plant from Republican Rep. David Rivera. A charge they both deny. But there are curious links: the Wyndham hotel company worker is using the same Hialeah mail outfit that did nearly $100,000 worth of work for Rivera in 2010. Sternad has avoided saying anything negative aboutt Rivera, but has gone out of his way to bash Garcia. And one Sternad mailer repeats some tough (and likely false) comments from Rivera about another Democratic challenger, Joe Garcia, who lost to the congressman in 2010. Two other mailers have decidedly hardliner messages on immigration -- positions that are pretty far from those espoused by Obama, whom Sternad claims he's backing.

Background here.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/08/the-suspicious-campaign-of-justin-lamar-sternad-a-david-rivera-ringer.html#storylink=cpy

SEIU boosts Joe Garcia, bashes Congressman Rivera, in Olympic prime-time ad

The Services Employee International Union is providing what could be crucial help to Democrat Joe Garcia, who is facing a tough challenge from fellow Democrat Gloria Romero Roses and a potential ringer in the Aug. 14 primary, Justin Lamar Sternad, who is running a pretty suspicious campaign but denies being a plant from Republican Rep. David Rivera.

Romero Roses, who has spent about $425,000 on mailers and ads, fell afoul of the union for working at a condo management company implicated in union busting, which happened before her watch. However, her husband Tom worked at the company.

This ad is an indication that SEIU, normally one of the least-effective unions in Florida, might finally get its act together by paying money where its mouth is. Whether the ad is effective is another matter (it might be). It's certainly visible, airing last night during the Olympics.

The suspicious campaign of Justin Lamar Sternad. A David Rivera ringer?

Political unknown Justin Lamar Sternad is running as a Democrat but sounds awfully like a Republican in his mail pieces, some of which have an immigration-hardliner ring and just so happen to emanate from the same Hialeah outfit that did $100,000 $113,200** worth of work for incumbent Republican Congressman David Rivera in 2010. One Sternad mailer repeats some tough (and likely false) comments from Rivera about another Democratic challenger, Joe Garcia, who lost to the congressman in 2010.

Just how Sternad came on the scene and how the hotel administrator is paying for at least five mail pieces is unclear. His campaign-finance reports with the Federal Elections Commission don't appear complete .

Endorsement war in Dem race to challenge Rep. David Rivera

Emily's List, which supports aborton-rights women candidates, this morning said it was endoring District 26 Congressional candidate Gloria Romero Roses, which could be a big deal if it spends some hard-to-come-by dollars to advertise the little-known Democrat.

Romero Roses could use the help. She's in a three-way race with Gus Marin and Joe Garcia, a relatively well-known Democrat from Miami who has run for Congress twice before and who was head of Miami-Dade's Democrats.

Garcia last week scored the endorsement of the Kendall Federation, which represents homeowners in the heart of the Key West-to-Kendall district. Marin was co-endorsed with Garcia by the United Faculty of Miami-Dade College.

Whether the endorsements mean something is yet to be seen. The primary is Aug. 14. What they do indicate, however, are the flavor of the campaigns. Garcia is more of a local candidate (though only Marin lives in the newly drawn district). Romero Roses was recruited by Washington types affiliated with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But it's not as if Romero Roses doesn't have local ties. She's a graduate of UM and FIU, where she still mentors. And she scored the endorsement of The Miami Herald, Key West The Newspaper and the Ocean Reef Community Association.

Which of all this means more? We'll find out more.