Editor’s Note – So, a TEA Party candidate has direct ties to the campaign manager of his Democrat opponent.  I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, right?  After all, what interest would a Democrat have in a third party candidate who’ll split the conservative vote?

Seriously speaking, it’s incredible that the reporter gets all the way through this story without a single reference to the alleged ties between another Democrat, Alan Grayson and the TEA Party.  Or an insulting quote from Doug Guetzloe, accusing all involved of being GOP operatives.

Nonetheless, this is yet another occurance where the motives of those associated with the TEA Party are being questioned.  It reminds me of a line in the movie Wyatt Earp, where Wyatt is about to ride out after the men who killed his brother and the town newspaper editor tells him that there are laws to address this.  Wyatt then says, “if these men think they’re going to hide behind these laws, then they’ve missed their guess”.

The moral of the story being that we seem to have individuals trampling on one of our most sacred rights, the right to a fair and free election, all the while, hiding behind the laws of the land.  There’s a lot to be said for old fashioned, western justice.

Candidate Has Ties To Rival’s Manager

By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald

He has no campaign website yet. He has not reported raising a dime from any apparent donors. And his TEA Party affiliation is news to Tea Party activists in Florida who say they’ve never heard of him.

But Roly Arrojo says he’s serious about his run for the 25th Congressional District. And he says he’s absolutely not a ringer in the race that features heavyweights state Rep. David Rivera, a Republican, and Joe Garcia, a Democrat — despite ties to Garcia’s campaign manager.

Rivera’s campaign has raised questions about whether Arrojo is being planted by Garcia to ride the tea party-movement wave and siphon Republican votes in the November election, which also has a fourth candidate, the Whig Party’s Craig Porter, and is expected to be tight. Garcia’s campaign denies any connection.

In an e-mail to the Miami Herald, Arrojo, whose full name is Jose Rolando Arrojo Jr., called the notion “nonsense.”

“No one asked me to run for Congress, but hundreds of people have sent me emails of support,” he wrote. “I am running for Congress because voters deserve an alternative to the same ol’ same ol’ from career politicians.”

In a review of public records, The Herald found Arrojo and Jeffrey Garcia, Joe Garcia’s campaign manager, listed as managing members of Project Mercury, a Miami Beach-based real estate management and procurement company registered in Florida in 2005. Jeffrey Garcia, who is not related to his boss, resigned from Project Mercury.

Miami-Dade County records also show Garcia owned property in Miami’s Upper Eastside with Arrojo and his wife, Michelle. The trio purchased the property for $775,000 in 2005 and sold it for $256,750 in May.

Garcia said he and Arrojo know each other from their days at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and that, along with other classmates, they took part in Project Mercury to invest in real estate — a costly venture that did not end well.

Liliana Ros, a Republican state committeewoman, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission arguing that Arrojo has not submitted periodic campaign finance reports, as required when a candidate spends more than $5,000. She said she feared Democrats recruited Arrojo to run in the race. “That’s the way it looks,” she said.

An FEC spokeswoman said the agency received Ros’s complaint on Tuesday. In his email to The Herald, Arrojo said: “I have spoken with the FEC several times and those issues are all resolved.”

Rivera’s campaign responded to questions on the matter with a written statement: “We too have heard rumors and theories about this candidate and his motivations and true backing, but we cannot comment with any certainty,” communications director Leslie Veiga said. “But you may want to ask Joe Garcia if he knows him or if anyone connectedto his campaign knows him.”

Though Arrojo has not submitted any campaign finance reports, state elections records show he paid the $10,440 candidate qualifying fee. He has also not filed financial disclosures with the House, which can fine candidates $200 if they send in the paperwork — due last May 15 — more than 30 days late.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/14/1825240/candidate-has-ties-to-rivals-manager.html#ixzz0zkazczWG

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Tom Tillison

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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.

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