Conservative Culture of Corruption (congressional chapter)A wonderful new word for conservative parasites popped into the colloquial dictionary last year: affluenza. I can't think of a better term to describe the self-entitlement that defines garden variety American conservativism/white supremacy. According to yesterday's New York Daily News, Frederick Couch, "father of the infamous affluenza-afflicted teen, who ducked jail time for a deadly drunken driving accident because his family said he was too rich to tell right from wrong, was busted Tuesday for pretending to be a cop."People like this are attracted to power almost as much as they are to money. And we find more and more of them turning up in politics. We have, for example 4 conservative governor who have either been indicted or are under serious investigation and likely to be indicted-- all of whom harbor pretensions to be president: Chris Christie (R-NJ), Scott Walker (R-WI), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Rick Perry (R-TX). Florida Governor Rick Scott isn't running for president but his criminality is in a league of its own. Crooked congressmen are even more common!Many people have their fingers crossed that Staten Island Mafioso, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, will win reelection in November from the inside of a prison cell. His has a long criminal career but is currently under indictment on the first 20 charges. He's still serving in the John Boehner's House of Representatives.Now we're hearing the the hammer is finally coming down on crooked Miami Republican David Rivera, a former congressman who was defeated in 2012 and claims to be running again this cycle-- although his only FEC disclosure shows $139,873 in debt and a loan to himself of $11,000. According to the bane of Rivera's existence, Miami Herald ace investigative reporter Marc Caputo, one of the gangsters in Rivera's mob, Ana Allliegro had finally pleased guilty-- and ratted out Rivera, who was officially named as a target of a federal investigation on Tuesday. At the court appearance, he "was identified by a prosecutor who confirmed the Republican politician was 'Co-conspirator A' in an $81,000 campaign-finance scheme to prop up a little-known candidate who used the illegal cash to trash a rival of Rivera’s."
“Why do we keep not naming the co-conspirator?” U.S. District Judge Robert Scola asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill. “We’re past that time.” Mulvihill pointed out that U.S. Justic Department policy forbids prosecutors from naming unindicted co-conspirators.Rivera’s ties to the case have been reported by the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald for years, but he had denied wrongdoing. Heading into the Tuesday GOP primary for Congressional District 26, Rivera had also denied being the target of any investigation.But Judge Scola wanted Mulvihill to leave no doubt and directed him to name names.About three minutes later, Mulvihill made the first of six direct mentions of Rivera, who is suspected of also helping Alliegro leave the United States for Nicaragua when she was supposed to be cooperating with prosecutors.…The extraordinary scene that played out in federal court-- and the steady drip of information showing the prosecution’s arsenal of evidence-- underscores the strength of the case the government is trying to build against Rivera. At least five people, including Alliegro, could testify about Rivera’s alleged involvement.…In the Sternad-Alliegro case, the prosecution indicated that Rivera was the mastermind. Mulvihill said that, after Alliegro met with Rivera, she then approached Sternad, an unknown Democrat running against Joe Garcia in the Democratic primary for the seat extending from Kendall to Key West.Sternad, a hotel night-desk clerk, was raising five kids and was so financially strapped that he was on food stamps and took the bus to work.Alliegro “told him that she had connections to provide the financing for his campaign. Since, as I told you, he was an extremely poor man, he agreed to accept it, took it as a lifesaver,” Mulvihill said.Sternad used the money to rent a car, pay his cellphone bill, phone voters with pre-recorded calls and produce mailers, at least one of which attacked Garcia, who went on to beat Sternad and then Rivera.During the primary campaign, the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald noted Sternad’s suspicious campaign activities and pointed out his incomplete campaign-finance reports. Campaign vendors, three of whom had been used by Rivera in previous campaigns, told the Herald that Rivera was behind Sternad’s candidacy.Alliegro helped Sternad fill out his campaign finance reports, where he lied about the source of the illegal campaign cash, claiming the expenditures were from personal loans from his own account.Sternad was later indicted for his role in the conspiracy and was recently given a seven-month prison sentence.Alliegro faced similar charges. She pleaded guilty to four counts of making a false statement, conspiring and making illegal campaign contributions.“She always said she would not invoke the Fifth Amendment, and that she would tell the truth,” said one of Alliegro’s defense attorneys, Richard Klugh. “And she intends to do that if called upon.”She faces a maximum five years in prison, though that penalty would likely be lower if she cooperates in the case against Rivera. Her sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 10. The informal plea deal announced in court indicates Alliegro, who has been incarcerated for nearly six months, could spend as little as six more months under house arrest.Had Alliegro fought the case, she could have faced far more time behind bars.
Rivera spent his entire political career as Marco Rubio's consiglieri and the two of them own a notorious Tallahassee party house together. The Florida Republican Party will do anything to make this go away as soon as possible in such a way that Rubio is kept out of it.