Hialeah’s Angelica Pacheco gets a spot, too
Miami has always been the city of second chances. And third and fourth chances when those don’t stick. Last week, the Miami-Dade’s Republican voters gave three politicians facing criminal trials a new opportunity to serve on the local GOP committee, which aims to promote the party — its candidates and issues — at the local level.
Of the 160 elected members — 80 committeemen and 80 committee women, two for each of the 40 districts — three are facing federal and state charges ranging from bribery and money laundering to healthcare fraud. The results have led to some conversations within the GOP to change the rules in order to weed out bad actors, er, prohibit former electeds who were suspended from office from running for committee posts.
State Rep. Alex Rizo, the chair of the Miami-Dade GOP, told Florida Politics it was an old issue that deserved new debate. “Though I can tell you that in Miami-Dade, I don’t know if you would get a clear majority on the matter,” he was quoted as saying. (https://floridapolitics.com/archives/693528-republicans-float-rules-change-after-criminally-charged-members-win-executive-committee-seats/).
No kidding. Ladra is fairly certain there is a heavy campaign against any changes already underway.
Prohibiting electeds who are suspended by the governor would cover former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis after his September arrest on 12 felonies, including bribery and money laundering, in connection with the giving away of a public park in exchange for more than $245,000 in campaign contributions and thousands more in hotel stays and meals and booze. And it would also apply to former Hialeah Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco, who was suspended by DeSantis in June after her arrest on five counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo, council to appoint fill-in for Angelica Pacheco
But it might not include former Congressman David Rivera, who came in second in his district with 21% of the vote — behind Juan Carlos Esquivel, who got 37% — and, as such, is elected as an alternate committeeman. Rivera, who has been a member of the REC for 36 years, is facing a federal indictment from 2022 for acting as an agent for Venezuela without legally registering with the U.S. government as the regime lobbyist. Last year, the government added tax evasion charges to his list of evil deeds.
Pacheco is also an alternate in her district after Monica Perez took it with 35% of the vote. Pacheco got 23%.
Diaz de la Portilla won his district seat with 52% of the vote (which is 476 people), but lost the state committeeman race to Miami-Dade Republican Party State Committeeman seat to County Commissioner Kevin Merino Cabrera, with 31% vs 33%, respectively. Still, a whopping 32,679 Republicans across the county voted for ADLP.
He’s probably gloating. He needs something to make him feel worthwhile. ADLP didn’t return calls and when asked via text what a committeeman did, he said “You will soon find out.”
Well, maybe. Maybe not.
In other districts, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro won with 52% of the vote, former Proud Boy member Chris Barcenas won with 32%, Dariel Fernandez, who also won the Republican primary for tax collector, won with 53%, and lobbyist Armando Ibarra, chairman of the Miami Young Republicans, got his seat with 57%.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
Ibarra’s wife Jessica Fernandez, former chair and director of development services, won a committeewoman seat in the same district with 50% against two other candidates.
Hialeah Councilman Jesus Tundidor won an alternate committeeman spot with 27% of the vote, edging out Miami Lakes Councilman Josh Dieguez, who got 25%. Miami Lakes Councilman Tony Fernandez, who is running for mayor of the town, won that district with 30%.
These positions allow people to grow their influence in and support from the Republican Party of Florida, and GOP electeds at the state and local level. It also gives them a platform to distribute misinformation, er, information to the electorate. And it also allows them to continue to claim as part of their defense that they are political targets.
In fact, Ladra is only surprised that former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, who came in fourth in the Republican primary for sheriff while facing his own public corruption charges, didn’t run for a committee seat.
David Rivera, Alex Diaz de la Portilla win county GOP committee races added by Ladra on
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