Carlos Gimenez produces bank records disputing GOP primary rival Omar Blanco’s lawsuit
An attorney for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez filed bank records and an affidavit last week in Leon County state court in an effort to put to rest a nearly three-month-long legal dispute over the check — with a misspelled name — that Gimenez submitted to qualify for the ballot in Florida’s 26th Congressional District.
The dispute began when firefighter and GOP primary rival Omar Blanco sued Gimenez over a typo on the check Gimenez used to pay his filing fee. The name on the check was “Carlos Giminez for Congress” — a misspelling of Gimenez’s last name. An attorney for Blanco said that the $10,400 check filed in April was paid for with funds from a political action committee instead of Gimenez’s campaign account.
Court records obtained by the Miami Herald on Tuesday show that the check filed by Gimenez’s campaign came from a bank account listed as “Carlos Gimenez for Congress” and that Gimenez’s campaign treasurer said in a sworn affidavit that the bank account was a certified campaign account.
Robert Fernandez, Gimenez’s attorney, said the filed bank records and affidavit undermine the lawsuit brought forward by Blanco’s team. “Every single thing that they tried to say is an issue, we’ve addressed it head on,” he said.
Gimenez’s campaign authorized Professional Data Services — a firm that works with candidates from around the country for federal office to ensure compliance with Federal Election Commission reporting requirements — to carry out deposits and withdrawals using the campaign’s bank account. In mid-April, Paul Kilgore, one of the two authorized principals from PDS, endorsed the $10,400 check made out to the Florida Division of Elections to qualify for the primary. On April 20, the Florida Division of Elections certified Gimenez as a qualified Republican candidate for Florida’s 26th Congressional District.
Gimenez, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, is the favorite going into the Aug. 18 GOP primary. The winner of the contest will face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in the race to represent western Miami-Dade County, Homestead and the Florida Keys.
According to the affidavit filed by Gimenez’s lawyers, Blanco’s campaign also uses PDS for federal compliance services. “Unless they’re going to discredit the very company and the very individual who signed their check, you would assume that they would think that the guy is being truthful and accurate,” Fernandez said.
Luis Navarro, an attorney for Blanco, said that he is not convinced by the latest documents. “They produced what almost seems to be an account where multiple candidates are being supported by it,” he said.
Blanco’s team of lawyers filed a subpoena in June against the bank that issued Gimenez’s check. According to court documents, the bank said that it did not have a record of a campaign account with Gimenez’s name at that time. But a follow-up notice of filing from the bank shows that an account bearing Gimenez’s name does actually exist, listed under “Carlos Gimenez for Congress.”
“Unfortunately, since we did not include ‘for Congress’ in our original search the system did not pull it up,” the bank wrote in its statement to Gimenez’s lawyer.
Navarro said he will continue pushing the case forward and plans to take depositions.
On July 16, the state removed Secretary of State Laurel Lee from the lawsuit, saying that it is too late in the primary cycle to remove a candidate from the ballot since the election is already underway — vote-by-mail ballots have been sent out — and because the secretary “properly qualified” Gimenez.
The lawsuit against Gimenez, however, is still active.
“I said from day one and I still believe this is frivolous. It has no merit. The mayor is on the ballot and he’s focused on what he’s focused on,” Fernandez said.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 7:11 PM.