David Rivera may be unscrupulous, but he wins

Al’s Loupe

David Rivera may be unscrupulous, but he wins

By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progresoweekly.com

David Rivera is a special kind of politician. His message: whatever gets him elected; the truth is not really important. His campaign strategy: raise money; it buys advertising, which helps the voter recognize the name. And name recognition is a winning formula – especially when few people vote. As for scruples, David has no idea what the word means. He’s not interested in finding out either. In the end, though, this has worked for him. He wins elections.

But this summer has not been kind to David. Rivera is running for the District 25 congressional seat left vacant when Mario Diaz-Balart skipped out to pursue brother Lincoln’s District 21 chair. That’s after Lincoln suddenly announced his retirement earlier this year. Lincoln’s reasons are still unbeknownst to most; Mario’s were obvious. Twenty-one is a much safer republican district. And Mario had to sweat a close election in District 25 in 2008. Which shows you, by the way, that to these guys, it has little to do with their constituents; it’s all about the power and influence the position offers them. That political influence is then translated into, well, for starters, juicy business opportunities for family and friends. Oh, and I’m sure they get dirty with drippings along the way…

Recently Rivera has taken a beating in the press and along the campaign trail. He is facing two strong candidates in the republican primary. And if he wins, which he should, he will probably face the democrat, most likely Joe Garcia, who came within single digit percentage points of defeating Mario in 2008.

Rivera’s latest gaffe was denying he even knew a man whom he had served as best man for at his wedding. It turns out the person, Ariel Pereda, who is a close friend of Rivera’s, is a very successful Cuba business broker from Florida. And Rivera, who has misspent millions of Florida taxpayer dollars trying to put the charter flight businesses to Cuba out of service, probably felt it would not look good to admit a close relationship with someone doing business with, of all places, Cuba.

By the way, when Rivera was trying to dictate federal policy at the state level which ended up costing us, the taxpayers, millions of dollars, and trying to bankrupt people doing legitimate business with Cuba, one should note that his friend’s business dealings were NOT affected. Lucky, maybe; an oversight… don’t know, but it would be a good question to ask Rivera.

I do know that before Rivera passed the law later found unconstitutional, which tried to put charter flight companies to Cuba out of business, I was told there was a lobbyist who might be able to solve the problem in Tallahassee. At least soften the blow. That David would play ball and reduce the hit the companies would take by way of service fees to the state. I informed my friends at the charter companies.

It turns out that ‘professional’ costs for less than a week’s work to help soften the Rivera bill would have been about $30,000. The lobbyist involved was a Rivera friend. His name, Ariel Pereda. The charter companies, I am glad to say, turned him down. Aside from the fact that they would not jump through Rivera’s money hoops, they knew they’d end up winning in court. Which they did. In the end the state paid the charter companies to defend themselves against David’s shenanigans – with our money, which Rivera seems to think is his piggybank.

Recently The Miami Herald reported that David may have politically strong-armed some Florida International University (FIU) professors and administrators into sending out a letter asking all FIU employees to contribute to Rivera’s campaign. As chairman of the budget committee these past two years while a state representative in Tallahassee, Rivera controlled the flow of money (more than 60 billion a year) – where and to who it went. It turns out he was not doing it for philanthropic reasons. The Herald reports that Rivera had steered money in the past to the university. It seem that the gatekeeper was now asking for his cut of that money.

Anyone who has the time should take a look at Rivera’s list of campaign contributors. (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/contrib.exe) Every single person who did business with the state, or hoped to, seems to have contributed to the gatekeeper.

I’m not saying it’s illegal, it just seems a little dirty.

For the first time in his political life, David Rivera is being unmasked for what he is – by the media and his political opponents. As a result, Rivera has resorted to hiding. The millions in contributions raised are so that his campaign can control the message voters receive about who he is.

I hope voters in congressional District 25 don’t fall again for Rivera’s flim flam political tactics. If they do, the area will have taken a step backward, something impossible to imagine when the congressional seat became open earlier this year.