Mystery solved.
Disgraced Republican lawmaker planted no-party candidate in key Senate race, sources say
This was the not the first time a shill candidate has been placed on the ballot by Republicans in Florida state-wide races, but it might be the best effort to date. The shill NPA candidate, named Alex Rodriguez, like the popular baseball player who grew up in Miami, had the same last name as the Democratic incumbent candidate, Jose Javier Rodriguez. The incumbent Rodriguez is a Brown U and Harvard Law grad, Eagle scout, Peace Core volunteer in Senegal, and was a great advocate for public education and the environment in the Florida Senate. The planted Rodriguez could be slapped on the wrist for some election violations.
Ileana Garcia, the Republic candidate with a tainted victory was "named the vice chair of the Senate Rules Committee, the most powerful committee in the Senate." Of course.
>> The confession came on election night.
Over drinks at an Irish pub in Seminole County, as television screens began to show the latest election results for key state Senate races, former Miami state Sen. Frank Artiles was getting excited.
Miami Republican Ileana Garcia, a first-time candidate, was leading Democratic incumbent Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez in the race to represent Miami-Dade’s Senate District 37. It was tight, but she was winning. And Artiles wanted to brag.
“That is me, that was all me,” Artiles told a crowd at Liam Fitzpatrick’s restaurant in Lake Mary, where Sen. Jason Brodeur was holding his election night party, according to a person who was there and who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
“He was so loud,” the person said.<<