Florida Republicans Drowning In A Sewer of Sleaze-- Meet David Rivera

It can hardly come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention that Florida's Republican establishment is rotten to its core... top to bottom.

Miami Republicans are calling upon their party chairman and candidate for Congress, David Rivera, to step down over reports he's been lying to local media outlets about his relationship with a South Florida businessman with financial dealings in Cuba. We've looked at a lot of GOP miscreants since DWT got going and, I'll tell you, David Rivera is like a microcosm for everything that's gone so terribly wrong with the Florida Republican Party.

This story in the Miami Herald and the accompanying video (below) by one of Rivera's primary opponents sums up pretty nicely what's going on...



Rivera is a sleazy and self-serving state legislator and self proclaimed "disciple" of Marco Rubio with whom he seems to have been running a real estate scam in Tallahassee that has recently come apart. He rose to political prominence inside the state GOP via divisiveness in promoting anti-Cuba cold war attitudes and legislation designed to screw over the Cuban people and hurt Cuban Americans in South Florida who want to help and see their families. This is the kind of lowlife who calls opponents "communists" for disagreeing with his callous and cynical play acting while he screeches hysterically that the five decade old failed and worthless American policies towards Cuba can't be changed.

Now it turns out this two-bit clown has been lying to the Miami Herald and others in the Florida media about his relationship with Ariel Pereda, a Miami businessman who helps American companies do business in Cuba. There's nothing wrong with what Ariel Pereda does. He sells food and medicine to Cuba. Most Americans-- and more and more Cuba-Americans-- believe the embargo is absolutely useless and should have been lifted a long time ago. But Rivera told the Herald he barely knows Pereda and has not seen him in four years. The Herald responded with the video (from Rivera's own website), devastating his campaign, at least among people who think integrity and honesty are qualities to be looked for in potential candidates for high office. You can't make this stuff up-- the clip shows the two together at his campaign launch. Apparently, Rivera's close friendship with Pereda is no secret and is fairly common knowledge in the community. Even Rivera's fellow Republican lawmakers have come out and called him a liar. 

Rivera, chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party and House budget chief, is publicly distancing himself from Ariel Pereda, the former chairman of a political fundraising committee Rivera was associated with and principal of the Havana Group, a firm that advises companies on how to trade with Cuba... State Rep. Juan Zapata laughed when he heard Rivera and Pereda denied their friendship. "They're not only friends but they're good friends,'' said Zapata, who has served in the House with Rivera since 2002.

Said Mary Ellen Miller, former Miami-Dade Republican Party chairwoman: "I know Ariel and I know David and they are friends. They've been friends probably since they got involved in Republican politics.'' (Two days after her comment, Miller said she had gotten a call "from a friend'' she decline to identify and wanted to change her statement to deny the two men had ever been friends.)

Rivera recently accused Gov. Charlie Crist of "cavorting with collaborators of a communist dictatorship'' for raising money for his Senate bid from business leaders who advocate open travel to Cuba. Pereda attended that event, according to organizers.

David Rivera-- who is seeking to pick up the Miami-Dade House seat Mario Diaz-Balart is abandoning in order to run for the safer seat his brother Lincoln is retiring from-- is a douchebag on three counts...

First, for being a hypocrite and red-baiting those who disagree with his anti-Cuba bullshit while one of his closest friends and associates does a very profitable business with Cuba

Second, for being a liar and telling the Miami Herald he barely knows Ariel Pereda when they're actually good friends.

Third, and worst of all, for throwing his friend under the bus. The only thing worse than being a lying hypocritical Republican scumbag is being a lying hypocritical Republican scumbag who denies his own friends and throws them under the bus. These characteristics make him even more attractive to national GOP bosses in Washington who are pushing him against former Marine officer Paul Crespo, who keeps harping on Rivera's legendary corruption, and attorney Marili Cancio in the primary. He's been endorsed by Huckabee and was added to the NRCC Young Guns program. Most observers concur that the likely winner in November will be Democrat Joe Garcia, who scared Diaz-Balart out of the seat, in any case.