The newest member of Congressman Joe Garcia’s campaign team has ties to one of the oldest members of his campaign team.
John Hennelly — a campaign consultant who responded to media questions last week about Garcia’s friendship and ties to former Congressman Bill Delahunt, an apologist and friend of the dictatorial Venezuelan regime — once worked with former Chief of Staff and the Congressman’s longtime political advisor, Jeffrey “No Relation” Garcia, who was recently released from jail after serving about half of a 90-day sentence for absentee ballot fraud.
And, even though political campaigns are incredibly incestuous, some Joe Garcia critics are already raising eyebrows and wondering if John is a stand-in for Jeff. You know, like a plantidate in a race — which is not something that the Garcias haven’t been accused of before.
“Conduit,” was another word used.
Jeff Garcia’s attorney, Henry Bell, told Ladra that any insinuation that his client is working on any political campaign is “categorically false.”
Hennelly, Bell said, “is not receiving any direction from my client. For some time now, Jeff has stayed purposely out of the loop and out of politics.”
Reached at his home in Chicago, Hennelly dismissed the whisper campaign as just that. “Jeff Garcia is a friend of mine and he has absolutely nothing to do with any political campaign,” Hennelly told Ladra.
And it’s not like he doesn’t have a thick resume of his own. His impressive bio includes a stint as national political field director for the Service Employees International Union, whose PAC was ranked #1 in political effectiveness by the National Journal, and GOTV efforts in the 2008 Barack Obama campaign.
He’s known the congressman for years, run hundreds of campaigns and worked with Garcia’s new Chief of Staff Caitlin Fishman, when she was former Florida State Council Director of the SEIU, where Hennelly started as Florida Director. So they got that in common.
But Hennelly — who joined the campaign at the beginning of the year — also seems to have a past in common with Jeff Garcia. The two consultants were founders of Democracy Partners according to a press release from May of 2011.
“Some of the country’s most prominent and effective Democratic and progressive issue consultants announced the creation of a major new political consulting firm. The firm, known as Democracy Partners, has offices in eight cities including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, San Diego, and Portland, Maine,” the press release starts, according to something published in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Democracy Partners will focus much of its energy on progressive issue campaigns, civic engagement programs, and campaigns to elect Democrats to public office,” it says, then includes bios on the 19 founders, including:
· Jeffrey Garcia – A seasoned campaign manager, consultant and ad maker with more than 16 years of experience. Garcia has worked on campaigns in six states at all levels of government, including campaigns for members of Congress, mayors, state representatives, judges and attorneys general. He also has special expertise in the politics of Florida and the Latino and Cuban American communities.
· John Hennelly – Served for four years as the National Field Director for Politics for the Service Employee International Union (SEIU). In 2006 he helped SEIU become the largest PAC in America and win a No. 1 ranking in political effectiveness by National Journal. He has more than two decades experience in politics and specializes in high-intensity field programs. Hennelly is a former Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
Ladra wants to give Hennelly the benefit of the doubt. After all, he is a Marine, advocated for labor unions, worked on the national 2008 presidential elections and tried to reform the police department in Chicago, where he cut his teeth in politics on a number of local campaigns. He is definitely a Ladra type of guy.
And, seriously, if you take Jeff out of the formula, Hennelly still has connections himself to Joe Garcia and Fishman, 20 years in the business and the chops to be an asset in a nationally-watched campaign.
But some have openly wondered what an Illinois-based consultant — who, sure, spent time in Miami for the SEIU — would bring to this race. Well, they say, maybe he brings Jeff.
Think about it.
This is the first election that Joe Garcia would have to run without his right hand man and longtime friend, Jeff Garcia. It promises already to be an arguably tough race, as one of the seats the National Journal is watching to possibly flip in a non-Obama year. This could be a way to keep Jeff Garcia — who knows this district’s demographics and pulso more than than Chicago’s Hennelly or, probably, anybody in the world — involved in the race. It would not be such a stretch to think that Jeff would advise John in the district in which he has the most experience.
Except that it would be a violation of his probation.
Jeff Garcia pleaded guilty last October to soliciting absentee ballots illegally without the voter’s permission in a deal where he agreed to serve 90 days in jail. He was out and rejoined with his family by the holidays and has to serve 18 months probation — during which he cannot work on political campaigns — including three months under house arrest that I don’t think are over yet.
So what’s he doing? As a fellow political junkie, Ladra can see him searching online into the wee hours, pouring over numbers and doing his own analysis anyway. What’s the harm in sharing?
Well, if he gets caught, he would be back off to jail on a violation of his probation.
Joe Garcia could not be reached for comment as he is in Colombia. But I am sure he would say that one thing has nothing to do with the other.
But, then again, that’s the same thing Joe Garcia’s camp says about the plantidate they allegedly ran in 2010 in the Republican primary against former Congressman David “Nine Lives” Rivera.
Because Roly Arrojo — whose alleged “phony Tea Party” campaign from that year is now being investigated — was also a business partner of Jeff Garcia’s.
Meet Joe Garcia’s new guru… same as the old guru? added by Ladra on
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