Ghost candidate in Artiles trial: ‘I’m ashamed. I needed the money.’
The ghost candidate at the center of former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles’ election-conspiracy trial said on the witness stand Friday that the more than 6,000 votes that were cast for him and likely tilted a razor-thin election to a Republican candidate were won dishonestly and he did it for the money.
Alexis Rodriguez said the only reason he agreed to change his party affiliation and run in Florida’s District 37 Senate race in 2020 was because he was in a financial bind after a divorce and was promised $50,000 by Artiles. Rodriguez said he never campaigned and never met his campaign manager in person.
“I’m ashamed,” Rodriguez told jurors. “I needed the money.”
Republican Ileana Garcia was the unexpected victor in the district that runs from Miami Beach south through Palmetto and Cutler Bay. The controversial Republican who once said she believed people could outgrow being 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 Labor Department in Washington D.C., was the heavy favorite. Garcia is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Three years ago, for his part as the ghost candidate, Alex Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two campaign-finance charges and agreed to six months of house arrest and three years of probation in exchange for testimony at Artiles’ trial, which began Monday.
Alex Rodriguez took the stand after lunch on Friday. Under questioning from Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiesen, the truck-parts dealer unfurled a complicated plot that likely decided an election. He also said he was unaware that any of his actions were against the law.
He explained how Artiles, a former Marine and now lobbyist and consultant, originally contacted him in May 2020 and guided him through stumble after stumble as he tried to qualify for the election. Rodriguez detailed how campaign treasurer 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 another bank money.
Then, Alex Rodriguez told jurors that Artiles gave him $2,000, which he deposited, before he wrote the check to help him qualify for the race. But the issues didn’t end there, Rodriguez explained. Despite being promised $50,000, he said he had a tough time collecting. So he visited Artiles’ home several times and each time the former senator would retrieve $3,000-$4,000 in cash from a safe in his office.
Alex Rodriguez said Artiles coughed up almost $7,000 to pay for the private-school transcripts of Rodriguez’s daughter. Rodriguez said he couldn’t get them because he owed the school money. Rodriguez also testified that he lied to Artiles about a truck that the lobbyist wanted to buy for his daughter. Despite Artiles paying $10,900 for the vehicle, Rodriguez said he never delivered it to him. Artiles also covered 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, DIDN’T CAMPAIGN
Artiles, 51, married and with two daughters, was charged with election fraud just over a year after Garcia’s unexpected victory. His 25-page arrest affidavit claims Artiles randomly contacted Alex Rodriguez and convinced him to run after telling him he would be coached and didn’t have to campaign and instructed him to lie about his address by saying he lived in Palmetto Bay.
Being instructed to lie about his address, Rodriguez said Friday, wasn’t true. He said once Artiles brought up the plan 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 facing charges of excessive campaign contributions, conspiracy to make excessive campaign contributions, falsely swearing an oath and lying on a campaign form.
Artiles’ defense attorneys plan to portray their client as the stooge. They’re expected to argue that Artiles fell for Alex Rodriguez’s ploy. They’ve already labeled him “pathological.” And they will claim Alex Rodriguez was the architect of a plot to bleed Artiles of tens of thousands of dollars.
NOTHING DONE TO EARN VOTES
On Friday, Alex Rodriguez only heard questions from VanderGiesen. Court adjourned before defense attorneys had the opportunity to cross examine the witness. They’re expected to begin their questioning Monday morning.
Alex Rodriguez also testified Friday about how he grew up in Coral Gables and lived in Palmetto Bay until 2015. He said he was nervous on the stand, the past few years had taken its toll and that it cost him a relationship with a close friend of 25 years. He said before Artiles contacted him in May 2020 the two weren’t friends outside of occasionally seeing each other at football games or boxing matches.
Alex Rodriguez said when he returned Artiles’ initial early morning phone call, he was asked to run for the Senate seat and told he was chosen because he shared the same last name as the incumbent and that he had a home in the district.
And under oath, Alex Rodriguez was asked what he did to earn the more than 6,000 votes that likely swayed the election.
“Nothing,” he said.
This story was originally published September 20, 2024 at 7:54 PM.
