Rivera worries GOP

Other options sought for the District 26 congressional seat in 2014

By Alvaro F. Fernandez

The Miami Herald is reporting that Republicans are so worried about the fate of U.S. Rep. David Rivera that they are starting to look at their options, and possible candidates for the 2014 congressional District 26 race. Many expect Rivera to be indicted, soon. And a GOP pollster has Rivera with a 10-point deficit going into the final lap in his race to retain his congressional seat against Joe Garcia, whom he defeated in 2010.

Names being bandied about as possible republican hopefuls to chase the District 26 seat include Jeb Bush Jr., son of the former governor; State Sen. Anitere Flores; Marili Cancio, who challenged Rivera in the 2010 republican primary; and Alex Diaz de la Portilla, currently running for an open Florida House seat.

Rivera pollster and friend, FIU professor Dario Moreno was quoted in The Herald report as saying, “David faces a real Herculean task to keep his campaign together…

Everyone at a political gathering was talking about this.”

Even Sen. Marco Rubio, a close friend of Rivera’s, is staying away from the troubled congressman. When questioned on the matter, the popular Rubio avoids Rivera like the plague. Rivera and Rubio own a home together in the Tallahassee area where they lived when both were in the Florida legislature.

In the meantime, already three witnesses (two are vendors who have worked with Rivera in the past) have come forth to verify that Rivera was behind the unsuccessful campaign by Lamar Justin Sternad against Joe Garcia in the Democratic Party primary this summer. The FBI is investigating tens of thousands of dollars, in cash, funneled into the Sternad campaign. Evidence seems to point to U.S. Rep. David Rivera as the source of the money and Rivera confidant Ana Alliegro as the conduit.

Alliegro has been missing for more than two weeks. She was last seen huddled with Rivera in a Starbucks in Miami the day before she was supposed to appear before a federal grand jury investigating the case.