The specter of the election conspiracy trial of former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles said on the witness stand Friday that the more than 6,000 votes cast for him, which likely swung a close election in favor of a Republican candidate, were won unfairly and that he did it for the money.
Alexis Rodriguez said the only reason he agreed to switch his party affiliation and run in Florida’s District 37 Senate race in 2020 was because he was struggling financially following a divorce and was promised $50,000 by Artiles. Rodriguez said he never campaigned or met his campaign manager in person.
“I’m ashamed,” Rodriguez told the jury. “I needed the money.”
Republican Ileana Garcia was the surprise winner in the district that runs from Miami Beach south through Palmetto and Cutler Bay. The controversial Republican who once said she believed people could become gay — she later apologized — and who authored a bill to spend $5 million on former President Donald Trump’s legal bills, won the November 2020 race by 32 votes after a recount. Incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, who now works as an assistant secretary for the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., was the heavy favorite. Garcia has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Three years ago, Alex Rodriguez, for his role as a ghost candidate, pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges and agreed to six months of house arrest and three years of probation in exchange for testifying at Artiles’ trial, which began Monday.
Alex Rodriguez took the floor after lunch Friday. Under questioning from Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiesen, the truck parts dealer laid out an elaborate plot that likely decided an election. He also said he didn’t know his actions were against the law.
He explained how Artiles, a former Marine turned lobbyist and consultant, originally reached out to him in May 2020 and guided him through the stumbling blocks as he tried to qualify for the election. Rodriguez detailed how campaign manager Jose “Pepe” Riesco and Artiles had to open his campaign account at City National Bank after Wells Fargo denied him an account because he owed money to another bank.
Next, Alex Rodriguez told the jury that Artiles gave him $2,000, which he deposited before writing the check, to help him qualify for the race. But the problems didn’t stop there, Rodriguez explained. Despite being promised $50,000, he said he had a hard time collecting. So he visited Artiles’ home multiple times, and each time the former senator removed $3,000-$4,000 in cash from a safe in his office.
Alex Rodriguez said Artiles coughed up nearly $7,000 to pay for Rodriguez’s daughter’s private school transcripts. Rodriguez said he couldn’t get them because he owed the school money. Rodriguez also testified that he lied to Artiles about a truck the lobbyist wanted to buy for his daughter. Despite paying Artiles $10,900 for the vehicle, Rodriguez said he never delivered it to him. Artiles also paid his $2,400-a-month rent.
“I just wanted to make sure I got my money,” Rodriguez told the jury. “I only did this for one reason.”
GHOST CANDIDATE COACHED, NO CAMPAIGN
Artiles, 51, married with two daughters, was charged with election fraud a little more than a year after Garcia’s surprise victory. His 25-page arrest affidavit alleges that Artiles randomly contacted Alex Rodriguez and convinced him to run after telling him he would be coached and not have to campaign and telling him to lie about his address by saying he lived in Palmetto Bay.
That he was instructed to lie about his address, Rodriguez said Friday, was not true. He said that when Artiles brought up the scheme and offered the money, he lied to the former senator about still owning a home in Palmetto Bay and then used an outdated license with a Palmetto Bay address to qualify.
The state said it believes Artiles made illegal campaign contributions and encouraged Alex Rodriguez to commit perjury. Prosecutors say Alex Rodriguez received $44,708.03 in cash and gifts. Artiles is charged with making excessive campaign contributions, conspiracy to make excessive campaign contributions, swearing to a false oath and lying on a campaign form.
Artiles’ lawyers plan to portray their client as the accomplice. They are expected to argue that Artiles fell for Alex Rodriguez’s scheme. They have already labeled him “pathological.” And they will allege that Alex Rodriguez was the architect of a plot to bilk Artiles out of tens of thousands of dollars.
NOTHING DONE TO EARN VOTES
On Friday, Alex Rodriguez heard questions only from VanderGiesen. Court was adjourned before defense attorneys had a chance to cross-examine the witness. They are expected to begin their questioning Monday morning.
Alex Rodriguez also testified Friday about growing up in Coral Gables and living in Palmetto Bay until 2015. He said he was nervous on the stand, that the last few years had taken their toll and that it had cost him a relationship with a close friend of 25 years. He said that before Artiles contacted him in May 2020, the two were not friends, other than seeing each other occasionally at football games and boxing matches.
Alex Rodriguez said that when he answered Artiles’ first phone call early that morning, he was asked to run for the Senate seat. He was told he had been chosen because he had the same last name as the incumbent senator and that he owned a home in the district.
And under oath, Alex Rodriguez was asked what he did to earn the 6,000-plus votes that likely swayed the election.
“Nothing,” he said.
