Hialeah AB fraud: Working for Manny Diaz, Jr.?

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As Ladra sniffs over the details in the absentee ballot fraud investigation going on in and around Hialeah right now, it occurs to me that the AB machinery used by the longtime political powers of the City of Progress was put to use for a newby state house candidate who is the hand-picked puppet of most of the Miami-Dade delegation for seat 103.

Manny Diaz, Jr., was endorsed by Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo, State Sen. Rene Garcia and State Reps. Eddy Gonzalez and Jose Oliva — all of whom are implicated by their ties to the current AB fraud scandal and boletera Daisy Cabrera, charged with forging at least one voter’s signature and likely guilty of faking or manipulating many more. And, other than Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez-Rundle — who has also been implicated through their shared campaign consultant, Al Lorenzo — there is nobody that benefits more.

Think about it. Neither Oliva nor Gonzalez have a serious challenge. Bovo and Garcia were unopposed. All of them are in the unofficial war with the Diaz de la Portillas, mostly because School Board Member and former State Rep. Renier Diaz Diaz de la Portilla jumped into the open seat a year after the aforementioned electeds hand-picked Diaz, Jr. So any of their efforts are likely to be on behalf of Diaz, Jr. Because that’s a real contest. And they cannot afford for Baby DLP to win. Can you imagine the storm in Tallahassee? Brrrr. Shiver. (Read: Ladra can’t wait!).

In fact, they even planted a fake, write-in candidate into the race, a young Hialeah actor named Josue Vazquez, pictured here (the tall one) in the Manny Diaz, Jr., t-shirt. And we are supposed to believe he is really running against Diaz, who paid him $2,100 for campaign work in 2010 and whose allies — Oliva and Gonzalez — paid him $1,720 for campaign work during the same cycle. Josue, Ladra hopes you don’t have any real political aspirations — because your career is already over for doing something like this for a bunch of losers who pay for candidates and absentee ballots. Stay in acting. Even though your acting like a candidate has been pretty lousy.

There was also a Manny Diaz, Jr., sign on the balcony of boletera Daisy Cabrera when she was first popped by the cops carrying 31 ballots, which I bet carried his name. Now it appears another 164 ballots — those that went through the tax-payer funded office of Commissioner Stevie Bovo — may also be tainted on behalf of Manny Diaz, Jr.

And this — unlike the countywide races — is an election where a few hundred votes could make a difference.

Ladra suggests that the ABs in the 103 race be tossed now because who knows how many more Daisy Cabreras these jokers have running around out there, chasing and collecting absentee ballots from frail elderly voters who don’t even know their own names let alone who they are voting for? Who knows how many of these ABs returned so far are forged or otherwise stolen votes from mostly elderly who are frail and sometimes have no idea who they are voting for? Do it now before the end of early voting so that you can tell all the AB voters in 103 that they have to go out and cast a vote if they want it to count because their ballot may have been brokered.

If not, and if Manny Diaz, Jr., wins — which Ladra thinks is a longshot despite the thievery going on, which shows their desperation — Baby DLP has one hell of a challenge in court. Why take more voters’ rights away? By invalidating these ABs, you actually empower these voters more — but they have to go out and vote.

I’m not sure the DLPs will agree with this — after all, they have a pretty good (read: clean as far as I’ve seen) AB operation of their own and are confidently counting with a majority everywhere. They’re DLPs. That’s what they do: Win.

But I think it would send a message to the AB brokers and runners and all the candidates that operate the machinery brazenly con un descaro abierto and benefit from it: AB business as usual is over, gentlemen.

And I use that last word lightly.