State investigates his involvement in sham senate race
Former State Sen. Frank Artiles had his Palmetto Bay home raided Wednesday morning in connection with the sham plantidate that helped Sen. Ileana Garcia win the District 37 race against Jose Javier Rodriguez by a scant 32 votes.
Investigators with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office took boxes of electronics, documents and whatever else they found — including articles from his safe — that link Artiles to Alex Rodriguez, who was a Republican days before he filed to run as an NPA against the popular former legislator with the same last name. Alex Rodriguez got more than 6,000 votes.
And he must be cooperating. According to Local 10’s Glenna Milberg — who tracked Alex Rodriguez down to his home in Boca Raton after the election — there could be an email train as the plantidate provided Artiles updates. She also reported that the campaign donor list tracks back to his IP address.
WPLG got video of investigators leaving with boxes.
A request for more information — a warrant, affidavit, list of items seized — has been largely ignored so far. But Ladra doesn’t think that our esteemed State Attorney Kathy Fernandez-Rundle would go this far if she didn’t already know what they were looking for and how good it is. Not our state attorney. She is loathe to go after politicians.
Hmmmm. She is loathe to go after politicians. Especially this quickly. What makes #ThanksFrank any different?
Read related: Frank Artiles, Juan Perez among names for Miami-Dade Commission appointee
Well, perhaps it is the fact that he thinks he can get back into office. Artiles put his name in the ring when the Miami-Dade Commission was in the process of appointing a replacement for District 8, where Mayor Daniella Levine Cava served before being elected alcaldesa in November. They finally settled on Danielle Cohen Higgins, who is already drawing opposition because of her unpopular bridge to nowhere proposal for 87th Avenue (more on that later).
Was the state attorney prodded or pressured by anyone who might be threatened by Artiles’ potential 2022 run for this or the other office?
It doesn’t really matter. Artiles — who had to resign his seat after a public, racist rant against black colleagues — deserves this either way. He is the same comemierda who lived outside his district as a state rep and punched a college kid in a bar. He wants to kill bears and he had the firefighters cancer pre-emption bill stalled in Tallahassee and has worked in the background for a number of high-priority GOP races.
He is not a nice guy.
What exactly is he accused of? Well, planting an NPA candidate in and of itself is not illegal. But financing that campaign is.
Read related: Jose Javier Rodriguez senate loss in rigged race must be investigated fully
“The illegalities lie specifically in issues of money,” said former state rep turned elections attorney JC Planas, who represented J-Rod in the recount.
“If Alex Rodriguez was paid to run, both he and whoever paid him violated the law,” Planas told Ladra. “As it is right now, it seems that campaign finance reports were falsified and that is also illegal.”
He can get jail time for that. Prende una velita.
Raid on Frank Artiles home could be justice, could be political preemption added by Ladra on
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