If David Rivera were Pinocchio, he’d deny his nose continues to grow

Al’s Loupe

If David Rivera were Pinocchio, he’d deny his nose continues to grow

By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progresoweekly.com

David Rivera won the Republican primary election in Miami’s Congressional District 25 this past Tuesday. That fact alone should boggle the mind.

I have always believed that a quality one looks for in any elected official is honesty. And if there is one thing that has been proven over the past few months concerning David Rivera is his penchant for lying. Based on that you’d think Rivera would be out on his ass today. Rejected by the voters.

So what worries me most, therefore, is not necessarily Rivera. It’s the voters who did deposit their votes in his favor. But hey, we live in a society that is willing to put a baseball pitcher in jail for doing harm to himself and lying to Congress about it; while we applaud and elect politicians who constantly lie to us, steal from us and lead us into illegal wars whose consequences include death and destruction. Still, we keep reelecting them. So, I guess, the fact that David wins elections should not surprise me.

But it does…

It is hard to believe that at this point voters in District 25 have not heard of David’s many deceptions:

• David Rivera denied ever knowing Ariel Pereda. It turns out Rivera served as best man at his wedding. But Pereda is a business broker whose clients deal with Cuba – Rivera’s nemesis over the years while a state representative in Tallahassee. And although Rivera may have turned his back on a friend, while he attempted to do unconstitutional harm to people doing legitimate business with Cuba, interestingly, Pereda was never harmed by laws rammed through by David.

• There’s also the case of the foreclosure on a house co-owned with buddy and mentor, Marco Rubio, a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by Mel Martinez. It turns out the R and R boys owned a home in Tallahassee probably for use during their legislative stay in Florida’s capital. Not needing it any longer, they stopped paying the mortgage earlier this year. To this day, Rivera denies not paying his bills and being under the threat of foreclosure. Nobody is still sure what has happened to the house and if the mortgage has yet to be paid. The facts are, though, that Rivera and Rubio do own the house and it happens to be in foreclosure.

• Then there’s the 2002 case of Rivera ramming his car against a truck carrying an opponent’s campaign mailer. With 15 minutes till closing of the post office, Rivera decided to risk endangering the life of the driver of the other vehicle in order to keep the mailer from going out. The political mailer dealt with a 1994 case of domestic violence against an alleged ex-girlfriend. David denies he was involved with the woman. People who know him well deny his denials.

• The Miami Herald recently reported there was a restraining order issued against the same David M. Rivera after the aforementioned case of domestic violence. Rivera claims his opponents tried to “libel, slander and defame” his character. He still insists he is NOT the David M. Rivera in the order. David’s middle name, by the way, happens to be Mauricio.

• And just recently, ex El Nuevo Herald reporter Rui Ferreira claims in his blog, Herejias y Caipirinhas, that the woman who David M. Rivera allegedly smacked around in 1994 actually came close to marrying him. And wouldn’t you know it? David M. Rivera roundly denies knowing the woman he almost married.

If this trend continues, David might as well change his name to Pinocchio – and deny that his nose continues to grow.

As for voters in District 25, you get another chance to correct your mistake in November. Don’t waste it on a liar who is willing to risk your money and lives for his benefit.