How pervasive are campaign shenanigans in South Florida? A 
former Miami mayoral candidate who we never heard of before and who never stood a chance of being elected pled guilty Thursday to three counts of violating state campaign finance laws.
Jeffrey Benjamin, who lost big to Mayor Tomás Regalado in 2013, was sentenced to a year’s probation and 50 hours of community service. He must also pay restitution to campaign vendors who were stiffed and $1,000 each to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.
Wait… who? Ladra thought that Regalado won that without opposition once Commissioner Francis Suarez dropped out due to a chain of embarrassments. Turns out he had three nobody opponents.
Read related story: Beleaguered Francis Suarez drops out of Miami mayoral race
Well, we should just call Benjamin “El Ejemplo.” Because he is certainly not the worst campaign offender we have around.
The misdemeanor charges center around the candidate’s fake campaign account. He filed paperwork stating that he opened an account at Bank of America, but he had not. Lying on that form is a violation of Florida election laws. He was doing his business via Paypal and told investigators that he didn’t follow the instructions about opening an account and reporting all expenses because it was “a pain in the butt.”
He also had a mobile electronic billboard and he had 10,000 palm cards printed without the funds to pay for either.
But Ladra is not sure what is the biggest crime here: That this nobody infeliz was able to dupe a couple of vendors that should have asked for a deposit — Ladra almost feels like they should have known better — or that state investigators spent a year looking into this bullshit. It is such piddly crap, that adjudication of the charges will be withheld if Benjamin complies with the terms of his plea agreement. The proverbial slap on the wrist.
“No candidate can ever be cavalier about skirting Florida’s campaign finance laws,” said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a statement and you have to stop yourself from laughing. “Let there be no mistake about it, to violate those laws is a crime. A serious candidate will always take all of our laws seriously.”
Key words: “Serious candidate.” Benjamin never was. 
He never even came close to unseating Regalado. He lost by 68 points. Sixty-eight! He didn’t even get 10 percent of the vote. Why are we wasting our time with this bozo when there are several elected officials in office right now who have been caught with their hand in the absentee ballot cookie jar.
You know who were serious candidates? Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo, who basically got away with absentee ballot fraud in 2012.
“Election laws exist for the purpose of protecting the public from this type of activity,” said Ethics Commission Executive Director Joseph Centorino.
“Any candidate who intentionally ignores the requirements for managing a political campaign has no business being a candidate – never mind an elected official,” Centorino added.
Then how is it that this Benjamin nobody gets a year-long investigation and other electeds who actually win and hold office get a free pass or are allowed to wait it out until the statute of limitations is reached?
SAO scores campaign plot plea deal — with a political nobody added by Ladra on
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