A former state senator and target of a “ghost candidate” scheme that swayed a Miami-area legislative race spoke out after the mastermind behind it was found guilty. NBC6’s Christian Colón reports
A former state senator and target of a "ghost candidate" scheme that swayed a Miami-area legislative race spoke out Tuesday after the mastermind behind it was found guilty.
After more than two weeks of trial, jurors on Monday found former Republican State Senator Frank Artiles guilty of excessive campaign contributions, conspiring to make campaign contributions and procuring the falsification of a candidate oath form. He was found not guilty of procuring falsification of a voter registration form.
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Authorities claim Artiles recruited "ghost candidate" Alex Rodriguez to run as a third-party candidate to eventually siphon votes from incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez in the District 37 race in 2020. Rodriguez successfully received over 6,000 votes in the election and Republican candidate Illeana Garcia beat the incumbent by just 32 votes.
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the verdict the target of the scheme, Javier Rodriguez told NBC6 he “commends the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office for all the resources they put in to put on a very strong case."
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He thanked the jury "for their service working through a lot of complicated facts and ultimately delivering a measure of justice and shining a light on these corrupt practices that continue.”
Javier Rodriguez added this trial shed light on the "ghost candidate" tactic used to confuse voters, which is allowed under Florida law.
"It is clear that the jury understood the State’s evidence which is complex in this public corruption prosecution and determined that Frank Artiles was not only the mastermind of the 'ghost candidate' candidate scandal but violated Florida’s campaign finance and election laws in order to do it," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "These 3rd-degree felony convictions show that the jurors agreed that we cannot tolerate the violation of our laws just to gain a political advantage."
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Artiles' attorney said they were disappointed with the verdict and intend to appeal.
“The only thing that Mr. Artiles told him is just change your party affiliation,” Jose Quinon, one of the attorneys representing Artiles, told jurors on Monday during closing arguments.
Defense attorneys admit Artiles paid Rodriguez for an attorney and his daughter's school tuition, but called those payments legal business transactions and not campaign contributions.
Florida law permits ghost candidates but prohibits people making excessive amounts of campaign contributions over $1,000.
“He lend him money to pay the school. It shows you the kind of person he is. Came to him to lend him money to buy parts, lend him money,” said Quinon while trying to defend the money Artiles paid Rodriguez.
On the other hand, prosecutors said those transactions were money Artiles paid Rodriguez to fix the election and lead Republicans to flip a local seat in 2020. Prosecutors asked why Artiles would recommend an attorney if what they were doing was legal.
“What happens if he doesn’t pay Alex Rodriguez? Rodriguez can go and tell everybody, ‘Hey, this is a sham,”' said Timothy VanderGiesen, an Assistant State Attorney.
Javier Rodriguez warns voters to not lose hope in the electoral process and urges people to vote.
“Get involved. Get educated. Help make sure everybody knows how to register to vote, how to go and vote,” Javier Rodriguez said.
