Republican activist admits on first day of trial to having paid Artiles for Opo research

The first day of former Florida Senator Frank Artiles' trial for campaign violations began with testimony from the political operative who paid him. At the end, a lobbyist told jurors she heard Artiles bragging during a victory party at a Seminole County bar about how he narrowly helped a Republican candidate win a key Senate seat in South Florida.

Monday's affidavit was likely not enough to prove the state's argument that Artiles, 51, masterminded a conspiracy involving excessive campaign contributions to a “ghost candidate” that led to Republican Ileana Garcia's narrow victory four years ago.

But the state hopes that upcoming testimony and forensic evidence in what is expected to be a lengthy trial will help jurors understand how a man named Alexis Rodriguez – an independent candidate who never campaigned and whose mailing address was in Palm Beach County in the 2020 election – managed to garner 6,000 votes.

“Alex Rodriguez got over 6,000 votes. They were right. They stole an election. They had no other way to win,” Miami-Dade Assistant District Attorney Tim VanderGiesen told jurors in his opening statement.

Defense attorneys acknowledged in their opening statement that Artiles helped a sham candidate, but they also told jurors that the defendant's actions were lawful.

“It is not illegal to support bogus candidates – even financially. We are telling you he is a bogus candidate,” defense attorney Frank Quintero Jr. told the jury. “Frank Artiles is only guilty of a crime if he is found guilty of an election violation. Was the money given to Alex Rodriguez a campaign contribution? If so, then it is legal.”

Defeated the heavily favored Democratic incumbent

In November 2020, Garcia, a Republican challenger for the Senate District 37 seat in southern Miami-Dade, which runs through southern Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Cutler Bay, unexpectedly won the election by 32 votes after a recount. The victory of incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez was widely expected.

Just over a year later, Miami-Dade prosecutors charged Artiles with voter fraud. In his 25-page affidavit, he claims he randomly contacted Alex Rodriguez in May 2020, told him he was being coached, didn't need to campaign, and instructed him to lie about his address and say he lived in Palmetto Bay.

FunAlmost 45,000 votes for ghost candidates

The state alleges Artiles made illegal campaign contributions and solicited perjury from Rodriguez. Prosecutors allege Artiles funneled $44,708.03 in cash and gifts to Rodriguez and used his credit card to purchase machinery and once to pay $6,798.39 in college tuition for Rodriguez's daughter.

Artiles was charged with making excessive campaign contributions, conspiring to make them, making a false oath, and lying on a campaign form.

Artiles' defense team on Tuesday put into action their plan to portray the former Marine and now lobbyist as a stooge who fell for Alex Rodriguez's pathology. They argued that Alex Rodriguez was the architect of a plot to bilk Artiles of tens of thousands of dollars.

GOP consultant takes a stand

After opening statements Tuesday, a rarely seen Republican political consultant who runs a Gainesville marketing and polling firm called Data Targeting took the witness stand. Patrick Bainter told VanderGiesen and his defense attorneys that he paid Artiles $15,000 a month and sent $100,000 on behalf of the former senator to a political action committee seeking background information on incumbent Javier Rodriguez.

Bainter said he was recruited by the Florida Senatorial Campaign Committee in Tallahassee – he has been their senior adviser for nearly two decades – to defeat Javier Rodriguez. What no one would say openly: Who paid Bainter to hire Artiles, who then spent nearly $50,000 on the sham candidate Alex Rodriguez?

“We were looking for someone down here with information,” Bainter said when asked by VanderGiesen.

“That's me. That's all me.”

Next to take the stand was Stephanie Smith, who now works as a lobbyist for Tampa Electric. She was with Artiles on election night in 2020 at a bar called Liam Fitzpatrick's during a victory celebration for Republican Senator Jason Brodeur. Smith testified that when the results of Garcia's race against Jose Rodriguez appeared on the screen, she heard Artiles say, “That's me. That's all me.”

She also said she had no idea what he was referring to at the time, but soon found out when the media began investigating the surprise outcome of the Senate race in South Dade. Smith said that after an article appeared in the Miami Herald detailing Artiles' boasting at the victory celebration, he called her “furious” and complained that she had spoken to the Herald. On Tuesday, Smith denied under oath that she had spoken to the Herald.

But the lobbyist said Artiles then made two attempts to get her to sign affidavits saying she had never heard of the Herald's allegations.

“I felt like I was being pressured. I didn't sign it,” Smith said. “I didn't want to be drawn into whatever was going on at that point. And I heard what he said.”

The trial continued on Wednesday. Alex Rodriguez, the mock candidate, is expected to testify on Thursday.