He’s baaaaack! Maybe he didn’t like former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina grabbing all the 
headlines.
Former Congressman David “King Nine Lives” Rivera, who lost his seat to U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in 2012 amid allegations that he helped financed a Democratic candidate in the primary, announced Thursday that he wants his old seat back.
Rivera went on the Oscar Haza show on Mega TV and said he had an obligation to the voters in District 26 that he used to represent because Garcia, who he said was the corrupt one, is “the most inefficient” lawmaker in Congress.
Sources told Ladra he is expected to file before tomorrow’s 1 p.m. deadline.
“I am beginning my candidacy,” he said, slamming the press, particularly the Miami Herald, for its coverage of an FBI investigation into the finances of Justin Lamar Sternad. When asked if he had been approached by authorities, Rivera — in his classic style of averting answers — said he had a better question for Haza to ask.
“Ask any federal law enforcement agencies if I have been under any kind of investigation,” Rivera said.
Rivera did not return several calls Thursday night after the show aired, but he said the same thing to Ladra several months ago when he said he might jump into the race that everybody had written him out of.
Rivera told me in February that as far as he knows, he is not under any investigation — even though the feds have his friend (read: former GF) Ana Alliegro behind bars with no bond on the case. Alliegro, who represented Sternad and then flew twice to Granada, Nicaragua, to first open and then run her beauty salon, is considered a flight risk.
Last year, Sternad pleaded guilty to accepting illegal campaign contributions, conspiracy and making a false statement on an Federal Elections Commission report. He has not been sentenced as the authorities pressure him to cooperate. In February, he amended three FEC filings and said that a total of close to $81,500 in contributions were funneled to his campaign through “Ana Alliegro and/or David Rivera.”
That is why mouths all over dropped when Rivera announced Thursday night that he would be running.
“Oh my God, he’s crazy,” said one old friend.
“You are joking,” said another, who thought Ladra was teasing and laughed so hard he cried.
“He’s going to be eaten alive,” said a fellow journalist.
But the other candidates are taking it seriously.
Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez said Rivera called him and that the two met for 45 minutes on Wednesday.
“He told me he was thinking about it,” Martinez told Ladra Thursday night. “At the end of the conversation, I told him, ‘You’re not thinking. You’ve decided.’ But he did the courtesy of calling me and I have to respect that.”
Martinez who has already filed said it won’t change his campaign, but he realized that Rivera might be a force.
“We’re probably the only two candidates who have a base there,” Martinez told me. “He’s a very viable candidate, but I wouldn’t consider him the front runner. He just lost to Joe Garcia two years ago.”
And it is likely that the loss and the headlines will be used against him by his fellow Republicans.
Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall, who apparently did not warrant a meeting and was surprised by the news, indicated that both Rivera and Joe Garcia were tainted candidates.
“It’s time the people in District 26 had a representative they can trust,” said MacDougall, who as the only anglo in the primary, may stand the most to gain from another cubanito in the race.
One of those, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo — who was said to have the bulk of the Republican establishment support before today — didn’t return Ladra’s calls and instead issued a statement that didn’t even refer to Rivera by name. He said in a text message that he was limiting his comment to the statement.
And it, too, indicates that Rivera’s party mates will not refrain from bringing up Rivera’s muddy past.
“Carlos Curbelo statement on recent development in the race to represent Florida’s 26th Congressional District,” read the headline on the email sent within an hour of the Rivera Haza interview.
“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,” the statement reads. “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.
“We will run a clean campaign focused on re-establishing the public trust and putting an end to this sad chapter in our community’s history.”
Rivera didn’t make any reference on Haza’s show to any specific Republican candidate but said he was the best choice. He said he was running because there were issues important to his constituency that were not being addressed. He wants to go back to work to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act, which he says is a business model for the Castro regime, which exports people to send money back to the island, and end the failed economic initiatives that Garcia has supported under Barack Obama’s wing.
“I have a commitment to the people of this district,” Rivera said. “And they have nobody know in terms of leadership. Joe Garcia is irrelevant. He can’t get anything done.”
David Rivera announces: He is back in District 26 race added by Ladra on
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