Scandal makes election fraud a real GOP problem
Florida’s election system is poisoned by dirty tricks, dark money, lax laws and phony candidates. Only the state Legislature can fix these problems. And right now the face of this broken system belongs to one man — Frank Artiles, a proud Republican.
Artiles is a former state senator accused of rigging a state Senate race last fall by recruiting a phony and destitute candidate to run for office with the lure of serious money. Artiles was charged Thursday with crimes that could send him to prison for years.
Prosecutors filed three felony counts against Artiles over his alleged role in recruiting and financing the “ghost” candidacy of Alex Rodriguez in a race both parties needed to win badly. Rodriguez was on the ballot to confuse voters and siphon votes from the real Rodriguez, Jose Javier, a Democratic incumbent targeted for defeat by Republicans.
The dirty scheme worked to perfection. The winner by 32 votes was Republican Ileana Garcia, who has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
Alex Rodriguez pretended to live in the Senate district, when he lived in Boca Raton (that’s legal in our lax system). He switched parties from Republican to NPA, no party affiliation, the day he filed papers (also legal). He benefited from an infusion of — so far at least — untraceable money in a system built by Tallahassee politicians. Artiles knew its weak spots and exploited them all, but it took money.
Artiles is accused of illegally steering $45,000 to Rodriguez, in obscene excess of campaign donation limits. As the magnitude of this scandal seeps in, it’s doubtful this was solely Artiles’ idea. How could he have afforded it? (His most recent financial disclosure, filed in 2017, shows a middling net worth of $463,000).
The arrest warrant shows a paper trail leading to the door of Artiles’ Palmetto Bay home with Facebook messenger chats, text messages, credit card statements and multiple cash withdrawals from a safe. What prosecutors have not said is where that money came from.
“We don’t know at this point,” State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle told reporters. “We have not completed this investigation.”
Rundle and her staff stayed on this case, to their credit, as they chased leads and followed the solid reporting of The Miami Herald and WPLG Local 10 News. Tracing the source of that money may unlock the true mystery and possibly expose a much bigger scandal.
“Where did Artiles get this money?” Senate Democratic Leader Gary Farmer asked Friday, noting that prosecutors said Artiles repeatedly used the pronoun “we” in talking to Rodriguez. “It’s ‘we’ did this and ‘we’ did that.”
Senate Democrats called on Sen. Garcia to resign — an overreach since she has not been implicated in any wrongdoing. They also called for another election not tainted by corruption.
So when will the Republican Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis clean up this horrible mess?
That won’t be easy, because they’re busy working on what they call “election integrity.” They’re making it more difficult for honest voters to get mail ballots, by eliminating vote-by-mail drop boxes or by imposing $25,000 fines on election supervisors who leave drop boxes unsupervised.
They’re very concerned about election fraud, you know, and it’s the height of hypocrisy with the Artiles case staring them in the face.
The Artiles scandal has broken wide open smack in the midst of a legislative session, which should make it much harder to ignore. But we’re dealing with the Florida Legislature here.
At a Thursday news briefing, Senate President Wilton Simpson referred to the Artiles case as “the topic of the day” and was asked if real election reform will get more attention now.
“It will get accelerated based on the will of the Senate,” Simpson said.
Senators could close those evil darkmoney loopholes. They could tighten the residency requirements for candidates. They could pass a common-sense bill by Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, to prevent any last-minute party switching. Or they could do nothing.
Next week is Week 4 of the nine-week session. Polsky’s bill is not scheduled for a hearing.
For Florida Republicans, “election integrity” begins at home. The party of Frank Artiles has to get its own house in order before it makes phony claims of fraud against others.