Two Charts That Help Explain Why Pelosi's Hopelessly Inept DCCC Isn't Capable Of Winning Back Congress

Just above we have the election results for two blue Miami-Dade congressional districts, FL-26 and FL-27. The Republican House incumbents, respectively Carlos Curbelo, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, won both.

In 2012, Obama won Miami-Dade 540,776 (62%) to 332,602 (38%). This year, Hillary did even better than Obama did-- 623,006 (63.7%) to 333,666 (34.1%). Even the hapless Patrick Murphy-- the worst possible Senate candidate the DSCC could find-- won in Miami-Dade (Rubio's home base) 528,555 (54.6%) to 419,623 (43.3%).

Obama beat Romney in FL-26 53-46% and beat him in FL-27 53-47%. I don't have the final numbers for the presidential campaign by congressional district but Hillary did better than Obama did in winning both FL-26 and FL-27. Although the Democrats had a fatally-flawed candidate-- corruption mired conservative Joe Garcia-- they fought hard and the DCCC and House Majority PAC wasted $6,101,294 in the district, one of their top spends of 2016. They spent nothing at all in FL-27. That may seem odd, considering it's right next door and just as blue as FL-26, perhaps bluer now.

But that's easily explained. FL-27's Republican incumbent, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is under the protection of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She makes sure no viable opponent is ever nominated against Ros-Lehtinen and that no money is ever spent against her. Washerman Schultz has gotten away with this for a full decade, even though she was caught doing it and publicly chastised (or gentled wrist slapped anyway). This time the opponent was Scott Fuhrman, a worthless millionaire who self-funded $694,718 into the race but brought in only $7,488 in small contributions, and had nothing whatsoever to offer working families. But he still managed to do substantially better than the Blue Dog/New Dem-endorsed Garcia who the DCCC spent all those millions of dollars on. Fuhrman got 129,548 votes (45.1%) and Garcia got 115,348 votes (41.2%). That can of thing only makes sense in DCCC-world. The DCCC will do the same thing next cycle as well, throwing away two prime pick-ups because no one wants to get in a mud-wrestling match with a disgusting, vicious animal like Wasserman Schultz.

And here's another chart, this one showing the two sprawling congressional districts in northern Wisconsin, WI-07 and WI-08. Trump surrogate and former reality TV actor Sean Duffy represents WI-07 to the west and Reid Ribble retired, leaving an open seat in WI-08 to the east. Obama won both districts against McCain (with 53% in WI-07 and with 54% in WI-08) and then lost both districts against Romney, 51% to 48%. The DCCC decided to go for what looked like the easier district, WI-08, which had no incumbent. So they threw $551,076 for garden variety moderate Democrat Tom Nelson. They gave exactly zero to progressive Berniecrat Mary Hoeft, by every standard (except the DCCC's), the far better candidate. A half million dollars for Nelson bought him 135,648 votes (37.3%). Mary would probably have won with any reasonable amount of support. She managed to raise $105,417 from the grassroots-- to Duffy's $2,155,137. (She received a modest boost from the Working Families Party, which spent $128,528 against Duffy independently.) She got more raw votes than Nelson and a greater percentage of the vote to boot-- with zero investment from the DCCC or House Majority PAC. Her total was 137,910 (38.2%).

Clearly, something is wrong with the way the dummy-conservaDems who run the DCCC-- Ben Ray Lujan, Steve Israel, Cheri Bustos and Kelli Ward-- are recruiting candidates and funding campaigns. And that didn't start in 2015. It goes back to the way Rahm Emanuel shaped the DCCC to be a vehicle for the Republican-wing of the Democratic Party. And the Democrats have lost not dozens of seats, but scores of seats, under the Pelosi chairmen and their miserable and corrupt, failed, unaccountable staff.

Instead of trying to figure out what went wrong, they just deny anything went wrong, pat each other on the back, find someone or something else to blame and declare it could have been worse if not for their own brilliance. If they don't even recognize that going from 257 seats in 2008 to 193 seats in 2010 and to 188 in 2014 (a loss of 69 seats) is a disaster, how will they ever deal with the core philosophy, strategy and tactics that have the House Dems sink lower and lower?

2018 could be a banner year for House Democrats-- but not with this turgid DCCC that is incapable of winning. Remember, in 2010, 65,237,840 Americans voted for Democratic House candidates (and 52,249,491 voted for Republicans). This year just 35,624,357 Americans bought the DCCC's non-message, while 40,081,282 Americans voted for Republican candidates. The Democrats had a net gain of six seats this year where they needed 30 and the bar for success was a minimum of 15-20. But even where the Democrats had 4 of their most important successes in building a worthwhile team for the future-- WA-07 (Pramila Jayapal), CA-44 (Nanette Barragan), MD-08 (Jamie Raskin) and NH01 (Carol Shea-Porter), the DCCC had no involvement whatsoever and spent zero dollars. If you would like to help Blue America congressional recruiting efforts for 2018, this is the place.

The Case Against Corrupt Conservative Joe Garcia... In Miami-Dade

CROOK

I first met Miami Democrats Annette Taddeo and Joe Garcia at around the same time-- 2008. They were two of the three Democrats running for blue-trending congressional seats in Miami-Dade who were sabotaged by then DCCC Red-to-Blue chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She moved swiftly and effectively to cut off their legs and back her GOP cronies, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers. The DCCC's Red-to-Blue committee only has one job: defeating Republican incumbents and replacing them with Democrats. As chair, Wasserman Schultz made it clear she was on the other side. Eventually Pelosi and Chris Van Hollen felt enough pressure for enraged Democratic donors to fire Wasserman Schultz, although it didn't stop Obama from eventually replacing Tim Kaine with Wasserman Schultz as the head of the DNC, a grievous error which has helped make the Democratic Party into the failed and corrupt pig-sty it is today.

But back to Garcia and Taddeo. They both campaigned as progressives but were both--largely because of Wasserman Schultz's efforts against them-- defeated. Annette went back to the private sector and was elected chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee in 2012 and then ran for Lt. Governor on Charlie Crist's ticket in 2014. Garcia got a minor position in the Obama Administration's Energy Department and then ran against the scandal-enmeshed Republican David Rivera in 2010 (losing) and again in 2012 (winning). Garcia, unfortunately turned out to be as corrupt as Rivera and was defeated in 2014. Now he and Taddeo are running in a very tight primary against each other to see who the Democratic nominee to face Carlos Curbelo, the lobbyist who beat Garcia in 2014, will be.

Although Garcia campaigned as a progressive, his one term in Congress showed him to be a putrid conservative, first joining the New Dems and then establishing a very consistent Republican-lite record, one of the worst in Congress. When I called him in 2013 and asked him why he was voting against the issues he had campaigned on, he said he had to because of the district and that if he was reelected he would be a better progressive and even join the Progressive Caucus. Blue America refused to endorse him in 2014 and this year you can contribute to Annette Taddeo's campaign here.

Patrick Murphy and his network of banksters, corrupt relatives and Saudi corruptionists are, of course, backing Garcia.

Murphy and Garcia were consistently holding hands and skipping across the aisle together to vote with their Republican pals against Wall Street reform. But voting for the GOP's war against the modest reforms in Dodd-Frank were far from the only instances where crooks like Garcia and Murphy saw opportunities to please rich campaign contributors by voting against Democratic priorities and Democratic values. Like Murphy, once Garcia got into Congress, he abandoned any pretense of progressive politics, joined the Wall Street-owned New Dems and started voting consistently with the worst, most right-wing elements of the Democratic Party. And like Patrick Murphy, he voted again and again and again for the Keystone XL Pipeline and worked with conservaDems (again, like Murphy) and the GOP to delay and sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He was quickly a total disappointment to his supporters and soon got involved with a series of his own ugly scandals and in 2014, the FL-26 voters dumped him unceremoniously for Curbelo. Garcia and Murphy support warrantless spying on American citizens and opposed the Amash amendment to prevent that. Garcia's horrible voting record and scandals depressed Democratic turnout and although he outspent Curbelo gigantically-- $3,787,930 to $2,347,633-- of his 135,694 voters from 2012, only 78,306 bothered to come vote for him in 2014, allowing Curbelo to beat him 51 to 49% in an even bluer district than it had been 2 years earlier.

He was a thorn in President Obama's side, whining about the thaw in Cuban-American relations and working with Republicans to undercut his agenda. When we named him one of the 10 worst freshmen in 2013-- along with Murphy-- we noted their votes with the GOP to freeze the pay for federal employees, a vote to soften the blow of the sequester for the Pentagon while leaving all the other victims in the lurch, a GOP initiative to prevent the federal government from giving states greater flexibility when complying with a welfare program’s work requirements, a vote against the Senate budget bill, a vote for CISPA, a domestic spying bill, a vote to cut food stamps drastically, and a vote for HR 1613, a bill written by Oil lobbyists that amounted to big giveaways for offshore drilling businesses.

In the last week or so, Taddeo's campaign has been pointing out that Garcia consistently voted with the Republicans against Obama's reforms and initiatives when he was in Congress. She showed him no mercy after Obama's speech at the convention, telling voters in the district "Whether continually voting to weaken the Affordable Care Act, weaken environmental protections, support Big Oil, exempt the financial industry from regulations, or oppose Democratic budgets, Joe Garcia’s record makes clear that he meant it when he proudly declared last week that “I don't go to Washington to represent the president.” Taddeo's campaign made it clear that she "is running for Congress to build on President Obama’s legacy and protect the gains we have made. Joe Garcia has made clear through his actions and words that he can’t be trusted to stand for core Democratic values." That's my own experience as well.

Garcia repeatedly voted for bills that would weaken the Affordable Care Act and were opposed by the Obama Administration, which said Garcia’s votes “would roll back the progress made” on healthcare and “would raise health insurance premiums and increase the number of uninsured Americans.”

In fact, Garcia was even proud of these votes in his 2014 campaign, as the effort to win him re-election ran ads “highlighting [his] efforts in bucking the administration on some aspects of Obamacare.

Garcia voted twice with Republicans to weaken Obamacare and delay the individual mandate. The Obama Administration promised to veto these two bills, and said that Garcia’s votes would “result in higher premiums for those who remain insured, fewer premium tax credits for middle-income families, and increased cost-shifting of uncompensated care to health care providers, workers, and businesses” and “would undermine key elements of the health law, facilitating further efforts to repeal a law that is already helping millions of Americans stay on their parents' plans until age 26, millions more who are getting free preventive care that catches illness early on, and thousands of children with pre-existing conditions who are now covered.”

Garcia also voted twice with Republicans to undermine Obamacare by allowing health care plans to remain on the market even if they did not satisfy standards set forth by the Affordable Care Act. President Obama pledged to veto these bills as well, with the Administration saying that Garcia’s votes “would allow insurers to deploy practices such as charging businesses more when a worker has a pre-existing condition or when it has more workers who are women than men. The bill would allow insurers to go back to capping the amount of care that enrollees receive or to excluding coverage of proven preventive care.”

Garcia even voted with Republicans for a bill that would have required unprecedented reporting requirements of Healthcare.gov and cost taxpayers millions and that the Administration strongly opposed.

Garcia voted on an additional three other occasions with Republicans to oppose the Affordable Care Act.

Garcia voted multiple times with Republicans to prohibit the EPA and the state of Florida from requiring businesses to obtain permits when using pesticides near our water sources.

Garcia also supported the Keystone Pipeline which President Obama rejected, and voted with Republicans to help protect oil pipeline operators from lawsuits and put them above the influence of local governments and public opinion.

Garcia voted with Republicans to support tax loopholes for corporations, which the Obama Administration strongly opposed and threatened to veto.

Garcia also voted to exempt Wall Street financial advisors from transparency regulations, which the Obama Administration wrote would “undermine advances in investor protection and regulatory oversight implemented” in the Dodd-Frank reforms and called “a step backwards from the progress made to date.”

This week, with a record like that, Garcia had the temerity to issue a statement warning that “Florida is in a water crisis, yet Republicans are taking us backwards.” Garcia should know since his voting record shows that he was often right there voting along with them. Same with Big Oil. Garcia is counting on voters to not know that the very things he's blasting Curbelo for-- basically, being an ally of big oil-- are things Curbelo can show apply equally to Garcia himself. Electing corrupt conservative Democrats-- like Joe Garcia and his ally Patrick Murphy are tantamount to sliding the whole system to the right, as the Republicans become, effectively, an outright fascist party and the Democrats become the old Republican Party. You can contribute to Annette's campaign to beat both Garcia and Curbelo here:

Why Is Patrick Murphy Backing Corrupt Conservative Joe Garcia's Bid To Get Back Into Congress?

In contested primaries, the DCCC almost never gets it right. They pretty much always back the more conservative candidate over the more progressive candidate-- and they don't care what the local Democratic Party wants, as we saw in California and Florida in recent weeks.

But there is one race-- in Miami-- where they stumbled into the best choice. Annette Taddeo is running against Republican incumbent, shady lobbyist Carlos Curbelo, and the DCCC has actually been helpful and supportive and has endorsed her. But now the corrupt conservative who Curbelo beat in 2014, New Dem Joe Garcia, has launched a primary challenge to Annette. Appropriately enough, his kickoff event is at the DC offices of professional event planners, Erickson and Company in DC. Hosts include many of the corrupt conservatives who joined Garcia in opposing much of the progressive agenda Obama tried to pass while Garcia was in Congress, primarily sleazy New Dems like Ami Bera (CA), Scott Peters (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Jim Costa (CA), and, of course, a couple of the so-called "former" Republican New Dems, Filemon Vela (TX) and, worst of all, Wall Street errand boy Patrick Murphy (FL).

Murphy and Garcia were consistently holding hands and skipping across the aisle together to vote with their Republican pals against Wall Street reform. But voting for the GOP's war against the modest reforms in Dodd-Frank were far from the only instances where crooks like Garcia and Murphy saw opportunities to please rich campaign contributors by voting against Democratic priorities and Democratic values. Like Murphy, once Garcia got into Congress, he abandoned any pretense of progressive politics, joined the Wall Street-owned New Dems and started voting consistently with the worst, most right-wing elements of the Democratic Party. And like Patrick Murphy, he voted again and again and again for the Keystone XL Pipeline and worked with conservaDems (again, like Murphy) and the GOP to delay and sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He was quickly a total disappointment to his supporters and soon got involved with a series of his own ugly scandals and in 2014, the FL-26 voters dumped him unceremoniously for Curbelo. Garcia and Murphy support warrantless spying on American citizens and opposed the Amash amendment to prevent that. Garcia's horrible voting record and scandals depressed Democratic turnout and although he outspent Curbelo gigantically-- $3,787,930 to $2,347,633-- of his 135,694 voters from 2012, only 78,306 bothered to come vote for him in 2014, allowing Curbelo to beat him 51 to 49% in an even bluer district than it had been 2 years earlier.

He was a thorn in President Obama's side, whining about the thaw in Cuban-American relations and working with Republicans to undercut his agenda. When we named him one of the 10 worst freshmen in 2013-- along with Murphy-- we noted their votes with the GOP to freeze the pay for federal employees, a vote to soften the blow of the sequester for the Pentagon while leaving all the other victims in the lurch, a GOP initiative to prevent the federal government from giving states greater flexibility when complying with a welfare program’s work requirements, a vote against the Senate budget bill, a vote for CISPA, a domestic spying bill, a vote to cut food stamps drastically, and a vote for HR 1613 , a bill written by Oil lobbyists that amounted to big giveaways for offshore drilling businesses.

Does that explain the legislative love affair between two of Congress' worst fake-Democrats? Today Garcia is not in Congress, so he was unable to join Murphy is betraying Democrats again last week when he ignored public health groups and stood by insane House Republicans Friday in voting for the sardonically-named Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, which passed with votes from 33 Democrats and all but one Republican. Murphy's opponent in the Florida Senate primary, Alan Grayson joined First Lady Michelle Obama in opposing this corporate conservative-led effort to weaken menu-labeling rules designed to promote healthy eating habits, help fight obesity, and ultimately, contain medical costs. Grayson: "Busy families eat out more than ever, yet Patrick Murphy just made it harder for all of us to make informed choices about the food our families put in their bodies. As your Senator, I would never ignore public health experts just to cynically curry favor with the special interests that pushed this Know-Nothing bill."

Isn't It Time To Say Goodbye To Republican And Conservative Representation In Miami-Dade?

Perhaps you've seen a slew of endorsements for Miami-Dade Democrat Annette Taddeo in the past few days. Today it was J-Street. Yesterday it was theSEIU in the morning and Hector Caraballo, president of the Miami-Dade Cuban American Democrats in the afternoon. The day before it was Maurice Ferré, the first Hispanic mayor of Miami and Raul Martinez, the former mayor of Hialeah. The Teamsters Union before that and all sorts of politicians-- the good, the bad and the really, really, really ugly (Steve Israel). All the activity is certainly meant to ward off a primary challenge by former Congressman Joe Garcia, a colleague-turned-bad, especially now that rich kid Andres Korge-- I guess he can go back to calling himself Andrew now-- has decided not to run.

Garcia was elected to Congress, against corrupt Republican Rubio-buddy David Rivera in 2012. FL-26 at the time was emerging as a blue district. In 2008 Obama had won there narrowly, 133,875 (50%) to 131,630 (49%) but 4 years later Obama beat Romney 141,776 (53%) to 123,313 (46%), a very significant swing that helped Garcia displace the scandal-ridden Rivera. He took the district 135,694 (54%) to 108,820 (43%), running as an avowed progressive. Blue America endorsed him.

But once Garcia got into Congress, he abandoned any pretense of progressive politics, joined the Wall Street-owned New Dems and started voting consistently with the worst, most right-wing elements of the Democratic Party. Like fellow corrupt New Dem Patrick Murphy, he voted again and again and again for the Keystone XL Pipeline and worked with conservaDems like Murphy and the GOP to delay and sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He was quickly a total disappointment to his supporters and soon got involved with his own series of his own ugly scandals. In 2014, the FL-26 voters dumped him unceremoniously for Republican Carlos Curbelo. He also supports warrantless spying on American citizens and opposed the Amash amendment to prevent that. Garcia's horrible voting record and scandals depressed Democratic turnout and although he outspent Curbelo gigantically-- $3,787,930 to $2,347,633-- of his 135,694 voters from 2012, only 78,306 bothered to come vote for him in 2014, allowing Curbelo to beat him 51 to 49% in an even bluer district than it had been 2 years earlier.

He has been a thorn in President Obama's side, whining about the thaw in Cuban-American relations and working with Republicans to undercut his agenda. When we named him one of the 10 worst freshmen in 2013, we noted his vote with the GOP to freeze the pay for federal employees, a vote to soften the blow of the sequester for the Pentagon while leaving all the other victims in the lurch, a GOP initiative to prevent the federal government from giving states greater flexibility when complying with a welfare program’s work requirements, a vote against the Senate budget bill, a vote for CISPA, a domestic spying bill, a vote to cut food stamps drastically, and votes for HR 1613 and HR 2231, two bills written by Oil lobbyists that amounted to big giveaways for offshore drilling businesses.

No one wants to see him back in Congress. Let's hope all those endorsements Annette is racking up make him change his mind about running.


UPDATE: Joe Garcia Is Running

Corrupt New Dem Joe Garcia, defeated in 2014 and rejected by his congressional colleagues, has decided to run again. What a mess! Curbelo must be dancing in the streets.

God Answers Democratic Prayers In Miami-Dade-- David Rivera Is Back!

NRCC and Marco Rubio are not embracing their old pal Rivera this time around

Florida New Dem Joe Garcia has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. A guy who certainly knows better, he quickly adopted the DCCC strategy of amassing a Republican-lite voting record in Congress. According to ProgressivePunch his abysmal 42.76 crucial vote score is, by far, the worst of any Florida Democrat (including Patrick Murphy), and one of the dozen worst among all House Democrats. Garcia votes against progressives even more frequently than reactionary Blue Dogs Jim Costa (CA), Dan Lipinksi (IL) and Jim Cooper (TN) and is exactly tied with West Virginia's Nick Rahall. And, remember, Garcia's district has a PVI of R+1 where Obama won both times; Rahall's district's PVI is R+14 and Obama barely scored a third of the votes against Romney and also lost big to McCain. Even Murphy has a "better" excuse for voting with the GOP so much-- a PVI of R+3. Garcia is just one big inauthentic mess who compromised away so much promise!

Yesterday, though, he may have had a lucky break-- a last minute entry into the Republican primary: the crook he defeated last time, David Rivera. Rivera's nemesis at the Miami Herald, Marc Caputo, reported that Rivera announced Thursday night that he would run for his old seat. In 2012, Garcia beat him 135,551 (54%) to 108,737 (43%), outperfoming Obama by 4%. But that was before Garcia had run up such a disappointing, defensive, Big Business-oriented voting record.

Rivera's thesis is that he didn't do anything wrong and all his troubles were manufactured out of thin air by the media, especially the Miami Herald. No one believed it in 2012 and there's been a lot more to prove it wrong since then.

“I will not answer to the lies of the Miami Herald,” Rivera said on the political talk show Ahora con Oscar Haza.

“I will not deviate from the issues and [will] defeat Joe Garcia. “Rivera said he’s running due to a “leadership crisis,” calling Garcia “incompetent.”

...Rivera’s announcement stunned Florida’s tough-to-surprise political world.

One of his fellow Republicans running against Garcia, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo, issued a statement that blasted Rivera as well as Garcia, whose former campaign manager was recently jailed in an unrelated absentee ballot-request fraud scheme exposed by The Herald.

“Now more than ever our campaign is about putting an end to the scandals and the corruption that have plagued our community for far too long,” Curbelo said in a statement.

“The unethical conduct of public officials in both parties-- including incumbent Joe Garcia-- has landed people in jail and embarrassed the residents of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties,” Curbelo said. “We will run a clean campaign focused on reestablishing the public trust and putting an end to this sad chapter in our community’s history.”

Curbelo is the Republican establishment favorite in the race and earned the endorsement of former Gov. Jeb Bush, an early Republican presidential frontrunner.

Rivera is a friend of another potential Republican candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, though the two haven’t been as close as in past years amid Rivera’s mounting political and legal troubles.

The two still jointly own a Tallahassee rental home, but associates of the two say Rubio would like to sell it and that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for him to run for Congress against Curbelo.

Rivera, who said he’d officially file for the office on Friday, didn’t address Curbelo. The two had a tense race against each other for Miami-Dade Republican chairman in 2008 when Rivera, then a state representative, won the post by just a single vote.



Rivera, then a state representative, went on to win his congressional seat in 2010 when he defeated Garcia and a phony tea party candidate who had links to Garcia’s former campaign manager, Jeffrey Garcia.

The FBI began investigating that incident last year after the Miami Herald uncovered new evidence in the case.

By then, the FBI and U.S. Attorneys Office were farther along in the investigation of Rivera and his friend, Ana Alliegro, who helped manage the campaign of a little-known Democratic candidate named Justin Lamar Sternad.

Sternad admitted to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office that his Democratic primary campaign was funded with about $82,000 in illegal campaign contributions, which were used, in part, to bash Garcia to the benefit of Rivera.

Sternad identified Alliegro as a source of the money. A March indictment against her says she was aided by at least one unnamed “co-conspirator.”

Alliegro is in a federal lockup awaiting trial on charges of breaking campaign-finance laws and lying about it.

Sternad, who is cooperating against her, has yet to be sentenced after pleading guilty last year to charges of breaking federal campaign-finance laws and lying about it.

Alliegro was arrested in March in Nicaragua, to which she twice fled to avoid investigators and prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Mulvihill argued last month in court as part of a successful effort to keep her locked up.

Mulvihill said that, after she surrendered her passport last fall, Alliegro and “another individual” left Miami by flying to Texas, boarding a Greyhound bus to Mexico-- where a U.S. passport isn’t needed for entry-- and then flying to her hideout in Nicaragua.

While in Nicaragua, Alliegro was frequently visited by Rivera, neighbors told the Miami Herald.

When the Sternad case broke in theHerald/El Nuevo Herald, Mulvihill had already been leading an unrelated federal tax investigation into Rivera stemming from a secretive $500,000 payment from a dog track.

Rivera also narrowly escaped a state indictment on 52 counts of theft, money laundering and racketeering revolving around his use of campaign money. State prosecutors said the alleged crimes were too old or too tough to prosecute.

Rivera has long denied wrongdoing in those cases and on Thursday night he downplayed close ties to Alliegro. “I know her family; everyone knows her family,” he said.

He also dismissed the Sternad case.

“Nobody cares about a fake campaign from two years ago.”

Rivera said “no” when asked if federal investigators have come knocking on his door.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said of the allegations.

The DCCC has relvamped and updated their old House of Scandal website-- still no mention of Joe Crowley-- but I bet they can hardly wait to tackle Rivera again. It remains to be seen if they can ever get anything as good as John Steward's Grimm Shady piece though!

Alan Grayson-- Helping Save The Republic

Aside from running his own race in the Orlando area (FL-09), which, in the 3 latest polls, finds him up against his unhinged rival, Todd Long, by 15 points, 16 points and 18 points, Alan Grayson has been busy giving advice and raising campaign money for progressives all over the country. He helped Lee Rogers figure out how to run a grassroots campaign against an entrenched corrupt incumbent in CA-25. He bolstered Beto O'Rourke in El Paso after Beto's primary win brought him face to face with the ugly and corrupt side of Insider the Beltway corruptionists. He raised more money for progressive challengers than any other candidate for Congress. And now he's getting serious. Grayson has been warning voters about some of the worst miscreants seeking reelection to Congress this year.

On Friday Grayson sent out an e-mail blast to his supporters with the subject line: "He Shouldn't Be In Congress." He was talking about cartoonish Miami-Dade County crime figure David Rivera and he includes a model in a suit with black and white stripes with the caption, "David Rivera would look good in this." With the FBI Hot on his trail, we'll probably soon see if he does.

As I noted a few months ago, a tsunami isn't normal sea water. It's a filthy sludge, brimming with dead fish and farm animals, dead trees, construction debris, garbage, mud and sewage. A giant wave of gunk and junk.

What a perfect metaphor to describe the many accidental Congressmen who were swept into Congress in the Tea Party tsunami of 2010.

Here's a good example: Rep. David Rivera, of Miami.

Where shall we begin? A domestic abuse charge was filed in Miami in 1994 against "David M. Rivera." Rep. Rivera says that it was a different "David M. Rivera," not him. But a friend of the victim says that Rep. Rivera and the victim attended a dinner party at her house, as a couple. And the victim's mother worked for Rivera's campaign. Just coincidences, Rivera says. Rivera, like OJ Simpson, surely will devote the rest of his life to finding the true perpetrator.

In 2002, Rep. Rivera ran for the Florida State House of Representatives. A truck carrying thousands of anti-Rivera mailers was on its way to the post office, to meet a deadline. On the highway, in the middle lane, a car deliberately smashed into the truck. The truck was forced to the side of the road, and the mailers did not go out on time. The car was driven by... David Rivera. David M. Rivera. Another coincidence, I'm sure.

During the time that Rep. Rivera served in the Florida House, he reported in sworn documents that his only source of outside income, for seven years, was his work as a consultant for the US Agency for International Development. There was only one problem with that story-- USAID has no record of ever employing him.

So how did Rivera make his money? Well, in 2008, Rivera was an outspoken and determined proponent of an initiative to approve slot machines at Flagler Dog Track and other locations. And the Flagler Dog Track made $500,000 in secret payments to Rivera, which Rivera omitted from his financial disclosure.

Another coincidence.

I do think that the taxpayers should be paying for David Rivera's room and board. But I don't think that the federal institution at which Rivera serves should be the U.S. Congress.

David Rivera should not be in Congress. And we have a good chance to get rid of him, on Nov. 6.

Reminding his readers that Rivera is a stain on Congress' reputation that needs to be removed, he endorsed Democrat Joe Garcia. And the following day, Grayson was doing the same thing for Tammy Duckworth in Illinois. She's the Democratic opponent for loudmouthed phony-baloney teabagger Joe Walsh. [Note: Eagle Joe Walsh has endorsed Tammy Duckworth.]

Joe Walsh. The great, great guitarist for the Eagles. As much as I have enjoyed listening to his riffs over the years, I don't think that Joe Walsh, the guitarist, should be in Congress.

Also Joe Walsh, the Congressman. He shouldn't be in Congress, neither.

Like David Rivera, about whom I wrote yesterday, Joe Walsh is another Member of Congress whom the cat drug in two years ago. But at least Rivera recognizes that silence is a virtue. Joe Walsh is without virtues.

Joe Walsh said that Barack Obama was elected President only "because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal-- the whole white guilt [thing], all of that."

Joe Walsh didn't pay his child support.

Joe Walsh, like my opponent Todd Long, drove on a suspended license. (Although in Walsh's case, unlike Long's, the media actually reported it.)

Last year, a Walsh constituent suggested to Walsh that the banks had been responsible for the Crash of 2008. Walsh swore at her.

The Democrats nominated Tammy Duckworth to face Walsh. Duckworth, a helicopter pilot, lost both legs and the use of one arm in Iraq. Joe Walsh callously whined, "My God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world they talk about."

And on Thursday night, in a debate, Joe Walsh said that "you can't find one instance" of abortion being necessary to save the life of the mother. (Six hundred American women die from pregnancy each year.)

So our choice is between Tammy Duckworth, war hero, and Joe Walsh, irresponsible loudmouth. Hmmmmmm.

Joe Walsh should not be in Congress. And we have a good chance to get rid of him, on Nov. 6.

If you're ready to make a last minute contribution to campaigns where Grayson thinks it will help make a better Congress and a better America, this page and this page are my two favorites.

When The Republican Party Loses Faith In One Of Their Candidates...

This is beyond triage. This is even beyond what the GOP Establishment types have done to Todd Akin in Missouri after his little slip of the tongue that, basically, showed he's on the exact same page as the rest of his hateful, bigoted party. However, even political party establishments can't tolerate an exposed criminal in its midst. And Florida Republicans have followed Beltway Republicans in pushing Rep. David Rivera out beyond the political pale. It started when Romney and Ryan told him to stay away from their campaign appearances in south Florida. And when he closest political ally and oldest comrade in arms, Marco Rubio, suddenly can't remember his name-- let alone where the two of them used to cop cocaine in Tallahassee when they were roomies.

Future Pulitzer Prize winners Manny Garcia and Marc Caputo have another exclusive for the Miami Herald in their David Rivera trials and tribulations serial. The GOP, for all intents and purposes, is dropping The Gangster. Boehner already told him to drop out of the race and now the Florida Republican Party is loudly running around making it known that even if he wins in November-- next to impossible according to current polls-- they're already looking at perspective primary opponents. They freely admit he's likely to be indicted and likely to lose his reelection bid, not necessarily in that order.

The pressure has been building for about a month, but it boiled over last week after a series of stories by the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald documented that a candidate suspected of illegal campaign activities linked to Rivera has turned on the congressman.

For the past week, a group of Miami Republicans began mulling possible future candidates, who might even challenge Rivera in 2014 should he win the election in November.

Leading the list: Jeb Bush Jr., son and namesake of the popular former governor, and state Sen. Anitere Flores. Other names include Marili Cancio, a lawyer who challenged Rivera in the 2010 GOP primary; former state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who’s running for state House, and Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo. ...Rivera’s own trusted political adviser is concerned.

“It’s bad at this point,” said Dario Moreno, a Florida International University political science professor who polls for Rivera.

“Everyone at a political gathering this weekend was talking about this,” Moreno said, declining to name names. “David faces a real Herculean task to keep his campaign together.”

Making matters worse for Rivera, on Friday The Herald obtained a survey conducted by GOP pollster McLaughlin & Associates that showed Rivera losing to Democrat Joe Garcia 33-43 percent.

The 10 percentage-point margin is outside the 4.9 percent error margin for the 400 likely-voter survey taken in the newly drawn District 26 that stretches from Kendall to Key West. A Democratic poll earlier in the month showed Garcia with a 9-point lead.

The Republican poll could hurt Rivera’s already anemic fundraising, and that in turn could make it difficult for him to hire campaign staff.

...Republican leaders are trying to determine who could step up if Rivera left office before the Nov. 6 election, even though his name would remain on the ballot.

Rivera’s closest ally, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, has been keeping his distance from Rivera as well. The two remain friends and own a Tallahassee home together that briefly went into foreclosure in 2010 when both former state representatives ran for higher office.

Rivera no longer attends high-profile events with the senator or with presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who held an event in Rivera’s district where the congressman was the only top Republican no-show.

Rivera was also absent Monday from the Versailles restaurant for a campaign rally for fellow Republican Congressman Connie Mack, who’s running for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

The Versailles event was headlined by Rubio and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Rubio had previously expressed discomfort with a separate year-old federal investigation into Rivera that stemmed from a secret $500,000 payment from a dog track.

The Downward Spiral Continues For Miami Crime Figure David Rivera (R-FL)

Great report on Miami-Dade's most crooked congressman, David Rivera (R-FL), from Rachel Friday night. Great ending for her show. She mentions it but never speculated on where exactly Rivera got those tens of thousands of crisp hundred dollar bills in cash to stuff into envelopes? If that wasn't cocaine trafficking money I'd eat my hat. Rivera has been mixed up with organized crime since he was Deputy Dawg (and roommate in the notorious Tallahassee party house) for Marco Rubio in their state legislature days. You don't hear ole Marco coming to his old pal's aid much these days though. No one wants the taint.

As we reported Thursday, Boehner is urging him to step down and just let the seat go to Democrat Joe Garcia. Rivera's presence on the ballot is endangering other Republicans as well as the party brand. He been sinking in the polls as more and more revelations seep out. The NRCC has cut him loose entirely.

Two separate polls from Republican and Democratic third-party groups have arrived at the same conclusion: Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera is losing his reelection effort.

Rivera, under separate federal criminal investigations into his personal and campaign finances, trails Democratic challenger Joe Garcia by nine percentage points in a Democratic poll and he’s behind by 10 points in the Republican survey-- just outside the poll’s error margin.

Rivera’s campaign has produced its own survey showing he has an inside-the-error margin lead of four points.

The Republican survey is the newest and most eye-opening because it was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday by a top-flight GOP polling firm with vast experience in Florida: McLaughlin & Associates.

Pollster Jim McLaughlin confirmed the numbers in the poll, but he declined comment and he wouldn’t disclose who paid for the survey obtained by The Herald.

“This is a quality polling firm, and based on the data, it’s very difficult for Rivera to come back,” said political consultant David Custin, who successfully led efforts to defeat Garcia in his previous congressional races in 2010 against Rivera and in 2008 against Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

“I don’t want Joe to win,” Custin said. “But this poll makes it look like he will.”

The Republican poll’s numbers aren’t just bad news for Rivera in the new Kendall-to-Key West Congressional District 26 seat.

The survey shows Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney trails President Obama 51-43 percent in the GOP-leaning district, which voted an average four percentage points more Republican compared to the national average for the results of the two prior presidential campaigns. In some ways, the results of this survey shed light on Romney’s struggles in must-win Florida.

...Geography also conspires against Rivera in the race, Custin said. He said the addition of Monroe County to the district hurt Rivera, who lost the more-conservative Collier County to Diaz-Balart when the seats were redrawn this year by the Legislature.

The McLaughlin poll shows Garcia winning by nine points in Miami-Dade and 13 points in Monroe.

The survey showed 19 percent undecided. Another candidate, independent Jose Peixoto, earned 5 percent of the vote. The survey didn’t include the fourth candidate in the race, Angel Fernandez, an independent.

Custin said it’s likely independent voters will break Garcia’s way as more news about the federal investigation into Rivera surfaces.

Why Hasn't David Rivera Been Arrested Yet? What About Buck McKeon?

Don't be deceived by the innocuous makeup; these are 2 dangerous felons

In his spectacular new book, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy, Chris Hayes observes that, "[a]long with the other rising inequalities we've become so familiar with-- in income, in wealth, in access to politicians-- we confront now a fundamental inequality of accountability. We can have a just society whose guiding ethos is accountability and punishment, where both black kids dealing weed in Harlem and investment banksters peddling fraudulent securities on Wall Street are forced to pay for their crimes, or we can have a just society whose guiding ethos is forgiveness and second chances, one in which both Wall Street banks and foreclosed households are bailed out, in which both inside traders and street felons are allowed to rejoin polite society with the full privileges of citizenship intact. But we cannot have a just society that applies the principle of accountability to the powerless and the principles of forgiveness to the powerful. This is the America in which we currently reside."

How has that come to pass? It seems so... so... unAmerican and so at odds with our ideals. Look no further than the political elites we chose to write our rules and laws, men like Buck McKeon and David Rivera, two especially heinous crooks currently serving in Congress, each of whom should be serving in the penitentiary but neither of whom is likely to ever spend any time behind bars for his crime spree. We've talked a lot her about Buck McKeon's Countrywide bribe scandal and how he sold out to Angelo Mozilo to avoid personal bankruptcy-- and we'll get more into that tomorrow-- but when his political opponent, Lee Rogers, pointed it out to Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and Antelope Valley constituents, McKeon got another unindicted felon, serial car thief Darrell Issa, who first officially exposed him and termed his behavior as taking bribes, to vouch for him in a phony "press release" that only went out to the media in McKeon's district and nowhere else.

Rogers' mailers and ads are completely accurate, quote Issa’s report directly and show him on Fox News (September, 26, 2009) saying, "I call them bribes," about the Friends of Angelo program McKeon availed himself of. McKeon is the only remaining Member of Congress who took bribes from Mozilo; the rest have all been either defeated for reelection of pushed into retirement. Rogers has pointed out that "Issa says in his press release that the ‘allegation that Buck’s vote was somehow bought by Countrywide is at odds with the facts and certainly not something I found in my investigation.’ While only McKeon will know whether his vote was actually bought or not, the proximity of his vote to his loan is extremely suspect. On October 5, 1998, McKeon called the Countrywide VIP desk and according to records he was ‘difficult to deal with’ and ‘edgy’ and wanted to close ‘ASAP.’  On October 6, 1998, McKeon voted to raise the FHA loan limits, something Issa’s report stated that the Mortgage Bankers Association lobbyist, who referred McKeon to the VIP program, wanted lawmakers to do. The very next day, on October 7, 1998, McKeon’s loan was approved. Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo personally intervened, instructing the loan officer to ‘take off one point, no garbage fees, approve the loan and make it a no doc.’ But it’s what Issa’s press release didn’t say that’s most telling. He didn’t deny that Buck McKeon received a favorable rate on his loan. He didn’t deny that Buck McKeon knew he received special treatment. He didn’t deny that Buck McKeon received a gift worth thousands of dollars which is not only banned under House rules, but also by law. It’s really sad that Darrell Issa has spent all this time and taxpayer money uncovering the corruption that led to the mortgage meltdown, but he hasn’t acted to bring anyone to justice or even to enact the recommendations in his own report to prevent this from happening again. But as far as Buck McKeon’s involvement is concerned, voters can read the report for themselves and make their own determinations.”

  

Earlier this month we reported that the FBI is looking for a missing witness, a right-wing crony of Rivera's and Republican Party operative who he paid to run a fake Democratic primary campaign. The FBI is still looking for her but, in the process, they found envelopes stuffed with shady Rivera cash. Rivera's campaign has been disintegrating and the latest polls show him down by 9% in his re-match with Democrat Joe Garcia, while the Romney campaign has asked him to stay away from their Miami area events. But it's getting even worse than that. Ace Miami Herald reporters, Marc Caputo and Manny Garcia reported on Friday that "a key witness in a federal grand jury case involving U.S. Rep. David Rivera is still missing, but she left important evidence behind for investigators: at least four envelopes that had been stuffed with unreported campaign cash." 

Ana Alliegro, a Republican political operative, delivered the cash-stuffed envelopes to a Hialeah mail house that sent out fliers in a congressional race against a Rivera political rival, the mail house owner told the FBI.

The FBI has the envelopes to check for fingerprints and handwriting comparisons.

Also in the hands of FBI agents: at least six invoices initially made out to the attention of David Rivera-- all marked paid “cash”-- to cover the mailings for Democratic primary challenger Justin Lamar Sternad, a suspected Rivera straw-man candidate. The congressman demanded that his name be removed from the invoices with Wite-Out, documents and interviews show.

Alliegro went missing two weeks ago, shortly after her computer was seized by FBI agents and just hours before she was scheduled to talk to a federal prosecutor about her involvement in the Rivera-Sternad operation. She also had been jailed by Miami cops on an old suspended driver-license warrant.

“Am I worried? Yes,” Mauricio Padilla, her lawyer, said Friday. “I have not heard or seen her. This has never happened to me before.”

Enrique “Rick” Yabor, who represents Sternad, said he and his client would not comment.

Sternad initially failed to report the cash receipts or expenditures-- totaling at least $47,000-- which could violate federal campaign laws concerning financial disclosures for congressional candidates. It’s also illegal to conspire to break federal laws and launder money.

Rivera, already under a separate federal criminal investigation into his personal and campaign finances, denied any association with Sternad, who often attacked candidate Joe Garcia in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary.

In all, Sternad sent 12 mailers in the race-- one of which savaged Garcia over his divorce by using a line of attack that originated with Rivera.

The owner of Rapid Mail, John Borrero, first told The Herald in early August that he had been paid in cash-- a rarity in campaigns, which usually rely on checks so that a candidate can clearly show the source and amounts of his receipts and expenses. Borrero said that Alliegro paid for the mailers multiple times. All but $9,000 of the nearly $47,000 in work was paid in cash.

In August, Borrero said that he turned over two of the envelopes that were in his trash can to Miami-Dade public corruption investigators. They turned the documents over to the FBI, when it opened an inquiry. Agents now have two more envelopes.

Sternad’s primary reports initially gave no indication that he could afford a dozen mailers.

The invoices were initially printed to the attention of Rivera for six Sternad mailers, ranging from fliers titled “Obamacare/Trayvon” to “Lamar for Congress,” records and interviews show. But Rivera demanded that his name be removed, so the invoices only read: “Lamar Sternad for Congress.”

Sternad’s initial reports showed he had loaned himself $11,262, most of which was spent on the state fee to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot. After repeated questions from The Herald, Sternad amended his financial disclosures to show he had loaned himself nearly $53,000 more than originally reported. Still, his reports never showed how he paid for the actual printing of the dozen mailers, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars more.

Sternad’s personal financial disclosures show he is a part-time South Beach hotel worker who earned just $30,000 last year; he listed a one-third interest in a mutual fund valued at a maximum of $100,000. He derived no income from it last year, his disclosures show.

Sternad’s finances weren’t the only mystery-- so was the level of sophistication of his mailers, which targeted slices of the electorate with specialized messages. They were good enough to earn him 11 percent of the vote.

Alliegro took credit for much of the work. FBI agents want to know exactly what she knew and when.

Alliegro’s mother, Agueda “Guedy” Alliegro, said Friday afternoon that she has not heard from her daughter in two weeks and neither have other family members.

“I am worried,” she said. “I know she is resting. We are praying for her.”

Guedy Alliegro said that law enforcement has not contacted her family, which hasn’t filed a missing-person’s report. She said she has no reason to think that her daughter would be cooperating with the FBI.

“Ana has done nothing wrong,” the mother said.

Buck McKeon and David Rivera, this years two worst congressional posterboys for what Chris Hayes refers to as "a fundamental inequality of accountability." Even if both lose their seats, justice will not have been served until each of them has been indicted, tried and, if convicted, punished.

Will David Rivera (R-FL) Wind Up In Prison Even BEFORE The Election?

When a CBS news anchor introduces a crime segment about the local congressman, uses the phrase "involves a congressman who is already immersed in alleged corrupt behavior," you have to wonder which one of the criminal sociopaths John Boehner is protecting is about to be exposed. Is it Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm from Staten Island? Buck McKeon from Santa Clarita? Joe Walsh, the Illinois deadbeat dad? Sarasota's serial tax evader/multimillionaire Vern Buchanan? Well, in this case, as you can see in the video above, we're talking about a contender for Congress' Most Corrupt, Marco Rubio's little gangster buddy David Rivera.

Friday, the family of Ana Alliegro-- sleazy conservative bad girl who was managing the stealth congressional campaign of Democrat Justin Lamar Sternad-- told Miami's El Nuevo Herald they were worried about her safety after she had "disappeared." By Saturday, the distraught mother was claiming that she hadn't talked with her daughter but that she knows she's fine. “Everything is fine,” said Alliegro’s mother, Agueda “Guedy” Alliegro. “I haven’t spoken to her, but she is OK.”

Alliegro has been active in local Republican and municipal politics for years, but came to prominence after Justin Lamar Sternad told the Miami Herald that she was his campaign manager. Sternad, a political unknown who works at a hotel, ran in the District 26th Democrat primary to take on Rivera in November. However, he mostly attacked fellow Democrat Joe Garcia, who went on to win the primary. Allegations have surfaced that Rivera may have helped funnel money and other services to Sternad's campaign. Rivera has previously described Alliegro as a friend, and several pictures of the two together were posted on Alliegro's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The latest twist in Rep. Rivera's twisted telenovela on Miami-Dade criminality was when Anna Alliegro didn't show up for a scheduled FBI interview a day after agents raided her apartment and seized her computer and cell phone. Her attorney says he doesn't know where she is. And Rivera, who as usual denies everything, is blaming the media.

Prosecutors believe Alliegro played a key role as a go-between for Rivera and a former Democratic congressional candidate who might have broken campaign finance laws in his failed bid against a rival of the Republican congressman in the Aug. 14 primary.

Alliegro had been scheduled to testify Thursday before a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, but Padilla worked out a deal to speak directly to lead prosecutor Thomas J. Mulvihill and two FBI agents. Padilla and Alliegro met Wednesday to prepare for the meeting, but later that day Alliegro said Rivera met with her.

According to Alliegro’s family, Padilla was scheduled to pick her up at her apartment since she had no car and a suspended driver’s license. But she called her lawyer to say she would drive instead with her father. That’s the last her attorney heard from her.

...At issue: $46,000 in once-secret payments-- many made with cash-stuffed envelopes-- that candidate Justin Lamar Sternad used for mailers in his unsuccessful primary race against Joe Garcia, who now faces Rivera in the general election.

Sternad’s campaign finance disclosure reports initially gave no indication that he had paid for the mailers. But he later amended the reports amid the FBI investigation.

Investigators have focused on Alliegro because she acted as Sternad’s campaign manager. She may have first-hand knowledge of the source of the funds and whether Rivera was involved in funding the campaign of the political unknown, a part-time night-time hotel worker.

The federal probe of Sternad and Rivera began last month after El Nuevo Herald and the Miami Herald reported that Sternad may have violated federal campaign-finance laws by failing to disclose the expenditures or the source of the funds on his Federal Election Commission reports.

The investigation-- which involves a federal grand jury-- picked up speed in recent weeks, with Rivera on the offensive, saying Herald reporters are in cahoots with Joe Garcia’s campaign and that no one from law enforcement has bothered to talk to him. Agents have been collecting documents, interviewing witnesses across the region.

Sternad’s pre-primary campaign report for the period ending July 25 showed he spent $11,262 for the entire campaign, of which $10,440 was for the state fee to qualify for the ballot in the newly drawn congressional District 26 primary race, which stretches from Kendall to Key West.

Yet Sternad sent out at least 11 professionally designed and printed mailers that targeted specific types of voters, according to campaign vendors.

When asked by the Herald, Sternad refused to say how he paid for the mailers. His attorney Enrique “Rick” Yabor declined comment.

Amid the newspaper reports and the launch of a federal probe, Sternad abruptly amended his financial disclosures after the primary to show he had loaned himself nearly $64,000. Before the primary, he reported lending himself about $11,000.

Still, the amended campaign finance reports raised more questions because they didn’t indicate how he paid to print the mailers.

Sternad’s financial disclosures give little indication he can afford the loans or the expenditures. He listed an income of just $30,000 last year and a one-third ownership of an estate trust fund that provided him no income. He reported the trust fund’s maximum value as $100,000.

The incomplete campaign reports, financial documents and the fact that Sternad used a mail house-- Rapid Mail & Computer Services-- frequently employed by Rivera led Garcia’s campaign to accuse Rivera of colluding in the Democratic campaign.

Rivera and Sternad denied the allegation.

Rivera, however, told a Miami blogger that he referred Alliegro to a mail-targeting specialist. Initially, Rivera said he had no involvement in Sternad’s campaign.

The owner of Rapid Mail, John Borrero, told The Herald and investigators that Sternad and Alliegro paid cash for the mailers except in one instance, when the campaign had a company called Expert Printing send him a $9,000 check.

In another instance, sources said, Rivera telephoned a secretary at Rapid Mail and while on the line directed her to walk outside to the company’s mailbox and retrieve an envelope. He then told her to deliver it to Borrero. The envelope contained $7,800 to pay for a mailing.

Sternad’s amended reports show he paid Expert Printing only $6,000. That’s hardly enough money to pay for the printing costs of the roughly 135,000 mailers in his race. One of the mailers bashed Garcia over his divorce.

The sophisticated mailing operation garnered a surprisingly high vote for the political novice, 11 percent. Sternad came in third behind first-place Garcia and challenger Gloria Romero Roses.

Sternad’s amended reports didn’t list the specialist his campaign used to target voters-- Campaign Data. The company’s owner, Hugh Cochran, said Rivera was involved.

Cochran, a retired FBI agent, showed The Herald an email he sent to Rapid Mail and Rivera concerning the voter-targeting he performed at Rivera’s request.

Rivera said it was “mistakenly” sent to him-- which Cochran said was false.

Rivera has vehemently denied working with Sternad, referring the Herald to a previous written statement he issued on the matter.

“Congressman Rivera has never met or spoken to Mr. Sternad and knows absolutely nothing about him or his campaign,” the statement said.

These kinds of dirty tricks-- interfering to defeat the strongest potential competitor in the other party's primary-- has been standard operating procedure for decades among Republicans-- Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has built a whole political career based on it-- and everyone saw Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill play a very aggressive role in making sure her weakest and most insane Republican opponent, Todd Akin, would win the Missouri Republican primary. Rivera, over the top as usual, took it to new heights with illegal money laundering and financial fraud.

The other day we mentioned what a downer Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in general. But she's even involved in this case specifically. Never a supporter of Joe Garcia-- he was one of the 3 Democratic candidates she torpedoed in 2008-- Wasserman Schultz has been charged by her patrons, sugar barons Alfonso and Andres Fanjul, with making sure Rivera keeps his seat. If Rivera is still a Member of Congress in January, it will be because of Wasserman Schultz's behind the scenes manipulations. She called her pal Steve Israel and told him to pull his punches. We'll be watching to see what the DCCC does in this race.