Young, Dumb, & Full of Comeuppance: Joe Garcia’s Chief of Staff Implicated in Absentee Ballot Fraud

Jeffrey Garcia, 40, Chief of Staff of Congressman Joe Garcia took responsibility for the plot to perpetrate Absentee Ballot Fraud.  Basically he is toast along with Communications Director Giancarlo Sopo, 30, and Campaign Manager John Estes, 26.  One would ask:  What were these relatively young professionals thinking?   Not much apparently or too much depending on who you ask.  HUBRIS tends to get the best of people since it's the result of  EGOTISM+ARROGANCE.  It appears little oversight was happening during the campaign but it's too early to tell how deep the ballot fraud goes.  So far Joe Garcia is not implicated.

For Homestead officials,  Mayor Steven Bateman and Councilman Elvis Maldonado featured in this photo at this year's Rodeo, it behooves them to stay clear from this investigation because nothing good can come of it. Same goes for Councilman Jimmy Williams who's featured on Joe Garcia's Instagram account.

However, this unfortunate event should not come as a surprise since the 2012 campaigns for Florida's 26th US Congressional District were riddled with ethical and legal violations from the get go.  David Rivera the incumbent that lost the seat to Joe Garcia is still under investigation by the FBI for campaign improprieties and for allegedly funding the campaign of Justin Lamar Sternad to run in the Democratic Primary against Joe Garcia.  The web of deceit is so convoluted one needs an Ishikawa Diagram to figure out this mess.

Of course let's not forget the true victims of these scandals: The citizens of Florida's 26th US Congressional district. This distraction may surely cripple Congressman Joe Garcia's ability to effectively represent his constituency.  It's hard to imagine the Congressman coming out of this unscathed.  Never mind there are Republican candidates, such as Carlos Curbelo already lining up to challenge the incumbent in the fall of 2014.  This can only add fuel to the fire though they shouldn't be gloating too much, Republicans are just as susceptible to Absentee Ballot Fraud as it appears to be standard fare of politicking lately. We'll soon know more as the investigation continues to shed light into another shady dealing of Absentee Ballot Fraud in South Florida.

Reference Articles:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Congressman-Joe-Garcias-Chief-of-Staff-Resigns-Over-Probe-209756721.html
Congressman Joe Garcia’s chief of staff implicated in phantom absentee-ballot requests scheme - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/21/3246700/suspect-in-congressman-david-rivera.html
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/05/heavy-hitters-line-back-school-boards-carlos-curbelo-to-unseat-us-rep-joe-garcia.html
A little background: