A political action committee that continues to attack the Democrat candidate for Florida House District 114 may not the only sign of dark money in that special election. The Republican candidate got a second mortgage on his home last December for $350,000 from the treasurer of another political action committee working on his behalf.
The special election, which ends Tuesday, was called by Gov. Rick Scott after former State Rep. Daisy Baez resigned after she was caught lying about living in the district. Andrew Vargas lives in the district, dear voters. He may only have moved here recently, but he is so invested in his new home that he is, in fact, underwater in the South Miami house he bought with is wife in 2015.
Or is he? Could a second balloon mortgage loan he got four months ago, from the treasurer of one of his political action committees, actually be a campaign contribution? An illegal, third party campaign contribution?
Vargas, the law partner of U.S. Ambassador and former State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, got a second mortgage on his home last December for $350,000, even though he was still paying off a $468,000 first mortgage on a house that is assessed at $526,786. What bank would approve such a deal? Well, none probably. That is why he turned to his friend and firm’s accountant, Richard Puerto — who also happens to be the treasurer on his Citizens for Accountability and Transparency political action committee, which has been attacking Democrat Javier Fernandez for weeks.
Puerto made the loan Dec. 18, coincidentally (or maybe not) 10 days before the qualifying deadline for the special election. According to county clerk records, it looks like an interest-only loan — and the interest may only be $10 — payable in a year, so it has to be paid back a month after the November election.
The timing is not the only thing that is sus’. So is the source.
How does Puerto, 35, a partner in a small accounting firm who lives in a modest two-bedroom Dadeland area Kendall condo assessed at $133,165, also happen to have liquid large to loan just like that? That is the $350,000 question.
“Because I work like a dog. I have no life,” Puerto (photographed left) told Ladra Friday.
After explaining how this reeked of a third party contribution, and someone using the accountant as a conduit to hide the true source, Puerto said he understood the perception, but promised it was just him helping out a pal.
“It’s a mortgage, a normal mortgage. It has nothing to do with a donation. It only has to do with building a house,” he said.
“I’ve known Andrew for a very long time. I’m very proud of him and I hope he wins,” Puerto added. “I gave him a fair market loan. We’ve had various business transactions and his credit is an 850 with me.
“It’s a totally legit loan. It’s a line of credit, really.”
So it’s a $350,000 line of credit? Thanks for the clarification.
It’s not like Ladra is grasping at straws here. Vargas — who wouldn’t return multiple phone calls and text messages — has already shown a penchant for hiding behind secret funds. There has already been another PAC that has been attacking Fernandez since before the primary, but People for a Progressive Florida has not reported a single contribution or expense in their required campaign finance reports.
We just had to be sure. And, really, all we have now is a possible best case scenario. At worst, this is a third party contribution, impossible to track, and voters will never know who Vargas — who has been able to loan his campaign at least $60,000 — is truly going to represent in Tallahassee.
At best? He’s not terribly fiscally responsible.

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Andrew Vargas, the Republican candidate in the special election for House 114 to replace Daisy Baez, hasn’t confirmed to an invitation to the first debate for the seat, held by the League of Women Voters this coming Tuesday.
He won’t. He can’t. Because it is much easier for Vargas to attack Democrat Javier Fernandez with fake voter letters and a secret political action committee that doesn’t file required financial reports than it is to discuss the issues, which would show what an empty suit he is and expose him as the proxy for his business partner and puppeteer, U.S. Ambassador and former State Rep. Carlos Trujillo.
When Ladra called Vargas to ask why he hadn’t confirmed, he hemmed and hawed. “I have an event in the Gables the 19th,” he finally said. “Wait. Is it the 19th?” No, it’s the 17th, I corrected him. “Well, um, er, right now we’re doing the whole absentee ballot thing,” he said, adding that he would call me back later that evening, after 6 p.m.
Surprise, surprise. He didn’t. He wouldn’t. Don’t worry. Ladra didn’t expect him to. Just as we didn’t expect him to pick up the phone again when I called him again twice later (not now that he has me on caller ID). Just as I didn’t expect him to respond to the text I sent after he didn’t respond to the second phone call.
Nobody should expect him to call because Ladra had some difficult questions that he doesn’t want to answer, which is why he won’t go to the debate on Tuesday, which is really at least a couple of weeks late since absentee ballots were sent out last week and already 7,131 voters (or almost 30% of the ones that went out) have mailed them back in as of Friday. By Tuesday, it could be twice as many. Really. Ladra is not even sure Vargas will show up to the Miami Herald editorial board screening the next day (Sorry Nancy). Because (1) he thinks he doesn’t have to, (2) he really doesn’t have a leg to stand on and (3) he knows that Fernandez is going to Facebook Live the shit out of it, exposing his ignorance on the issues.
Also — its why he didn’t call me back or pick up subsequent phone calls — he doesn’t want to answer a bunch of uncomfortable questions:

Why did you change seats? You were filed to run in District 119, where State Rep. Jeannette Nunez (R-Doral) is termed out this year. Makes sense. You have roots there. You wouldn’t have to move. Why did you switch?
Will you run in HD 119 if you lose here?
How long did you live in District 119?
Do you live in District 114 now? How long have you lived there? Or do you plan to move there? This is especially important in this district because the last state rep lived a few blocks away in 112.
Why did you change from a Democrat to Republican in 2016? Did Trujillo “suggest” it?
Can you explain what it means to be the second most litigious attorney in the state when it comes to those sketchy “assignment of benefits” lawsuits against insurance companies? How many of those cases have you filed? And how does that affect rising insurance rates for everyone?
How much do you  pay for your insurance?
How much of your campaign contributions come from the insurance industry (including trial lawyers)
Are these kind of opportunistic switches, underhanded tricks and lack of access or accountability what we can expect if you are, either by sheer miracle or absentee ballot fraud, actually elected?

Vargas isn’t going to answer these questions. Not to me and not at any debate. Ladra asks voters to ask him directly when they see him — if they see him anywhere in either 114 or 119 — but I expect he’ll smile and shrug his shoulders and back away slowly. This is the kind of guy que tira la piedra y esconde la mano. Or he has someone else do the dirty work for him.
The anonymous attacks on Fernandez, for example, are almost certainly coming from his campaign.
The fake voter testimonials and other attack mailers from a PAC called People for a Progressive Florida with no financial activity — which should be investigated because mailers do not get made and mailed for free — are the way that Vargas speaks. It’s really pretty obvious. Sure, the attacks are made to look like they benefit Liz de las Cuevas, the independent who has denied knowing anything about the mailers or the JaviLobby.com website that attacks the Dem candidate for his profession. De las Cuevas has no money in her own campaign account (actually, she is in the red, spending $345 more than the $5,165 she raised) and wouldn’t know what to do with that money if she had it). Most likely, these are sneaky attempts by the Vargas campaign (read: Trujillo) to suppress the Democrat vote and peel NPAs off Fernandez. It’s smart, considering that Baez snatched this seat from under the nose of the better funded Republican John Couriel after Erik Fresen was termed out. And this was before unnatural disaster known as the Donald Trump Presidency produced the prediction of a national blue wave.
Of course the GOP candidates are turning to every dirty tactic to regain this seat.
Because Vargas isn’t going to be Trujillo’s bitch exclusively. Sure, he’s a proxy for Trujillo, who is President Donald Trump‘s Cuban amigacho and is now U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, but, at the same time, doesn’t want to lose the sizeable palanca he’s built in the Sunshine State. But Vargas was also always a proxy for the Republican Party (read: incoming House Speaker Jose Oliva), even when he was running in the other seat just the other day.
He switched to 114 as soon a Baez was caught living outside the district and was publicly pressured to resign for having lied about it. In fact, dicen las malas lenguas that Trujillo may have executive produced that public pressure by calling on his Miami-Dade Republican Party friends to plan a series of picturesque picket protests in front of Baez’s District 112 house, custom made for video, that were covered by the local press (including yours truly). Why? Because it’s easier for this Pepe Cualquiera proxy to win a seat in a special low-turnout election (just add gobs of money).
Vargas has raised $416,000 between his campaign account and money spent by the PAC he is obviously connected with, which is Citizens for Accountable Government, which gets its money from other PACs that get a lot of their money from a lot of healthcare interests and Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, who also gave generously to Vargas. The money includes a $60K loan to himself, almost $80,000 in money and staff and research from the Republican Party of Florida, and small bundled donations from the Munilla brothers, who built the FIU bridge and other things all over the county, HCA Florida hospitals — yes, the one where former Gov. Rick Scott was CEO when they bilked millions from Medicare — Disney and a few others (like auto mogul Norman Braman).
But if you add up the ten or so mailers and the money spent by People for a Progressive Florida, you have… wait, you can’t add those expenses up because the secret PAC has not reported any contributions or expenses. Ladra doesn’t know how they managed to send so many mailers or host a website but DM me please and tell me what your secret is. Okay, if we estimate what that PAC has spent, it’s at least $200,000, conservatively. So that’s a total of $616,000 that we know of. So far.
Meanwhile, Fernandez, has about raised $141,524 in his campaign account with a few bundles of his own, including at least $22,000 from a group of construction and real estate companies or entities at the same six addresses in New York. His Florida Future PAC — which has launched a saynotovargas.com website, has collected another $33,725, about $30K of which is from the same NY construction and real estate firms.
But Ladra is certain of one thing: We will ask Mr. Fernandez about the interest of those New York donors and he will answer, because he has never avoided my calls and even returned a text once after 11:30 p.m. That’s the accessibility you want from your electeds, by the way, Mr. Vargas.
But we can wait until the debate Tuesday and ask Fernandez there. Because he will be there. So will de las Cuevas. The only one who can’t speak for himself is Vargas.
The Miami-Dade League of Women Voters will be taking questions in advance submitted to info@lwvmiamidade.org. Questions may also be submitted in writing the evening of the forum before it begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17th (not the 19th, Mr. Vargas) at the Riviera Presbyterian Church, 5275 Sunset Drive.

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While our electeds in Tallahassee mess up a perfectly starter gun control bill with their crazy school militia program and GOP House members repeatedly oppose amendments to close the gun show loophole, Democrat candidates in this year’s state elections are taking it straight to the source — urging the Miami-Dade Youth Fair and Expo to cancel two upcoming gun shows in May and July.
And the city commission in South Miami on Tuesday night unanimously passed a measure, sponsored by Commissioner Josh Liebman, demanding local governments prohibit gun shows on public property, which the fairgrounds is on.
Mayor Philip Stoddard told Ladra after the vote that the city would send the resolution to the Miami-Dade Fairgrounds “since the county contract with them ceded control of the events.”
Related: Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
In a Feb. 23 letter to the board members and executives of the Miami-Dade Youth and Exposition — the hosts of a gun show the very weekend after the Parkland tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High —  five Democrat state House candidates and a state senate candidate pressed board members to cancel two upcoming gun shows in coming months.
“The tragic events of February 14th resulting in the death of 17 students and teachers in neighboring Broward County have shaken our community. Here in Miami-Dade, a gun show took place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition grounds (the “Fairgrounds”) the following weekend.
Gun shows are well-known as places where people can buy a weapon of any caliber from private sellers, who are neither federally licensed, nor do they run background checks on buyers. The sale of such weapons without required screening is notoriously referred to as ‘gun show loophole’.
According to a 2017 study, 22 percent of gun owners obtained their weapons without submitting to a background check. That equates to millions of guns sold to individuals who could have a violent past or be mentally ill. Many of these purchases likely occurred at gun shows, easily accessible marketplaces for people who don’t want to be subject to a background check to find non-licensed gun dealers.
The Fairgrounds are presently scheduled to host two other gun shows in May and July. The undersigned write to you to request that your organization follow of communities like Broward County by agreeing to cancel future gun shows in light of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
While there are many issues of contention when it comes to gun reform, there is a growing consensus about requiring comprehensive background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of citizens that suffer from mental health issues or are known to be violent. Your organization is dedicated to enriching our community by promoting education – hosting gun shows is directly inapposite of this mission.
The cancellation of the scheduled shows and a future prohibition on such events at the Fairgrounds is but a small gesture, compared to the disgrace and insult to the victims of shootings and their families if they were allowed continue. If we know that just one individual can use such shows to bypass a background check in order to arm their ill intent against our children, we cannot in good conscience continue to host these gun shows at the Fairgrounds.
We call on you, the board members and executives of the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, Inc., to do what is right by cancelling the scheduled gun shows and prohibiting all future gun shows on the Fairgrounds.”
The letter was signed “Respectfully,” by Javier Fernández, who is running in House District 114 in Coral Gables, Jason Pizzo, who is running for Senate in District 38, Cedric McMinn, running in House District 109 in Miami and Opa-Locka, Kubs Lalchandani, running in House District 113 in Miami Beach and Little Havana, Jeffrey “Doc” Solomon, running in House District 115 in Pinecrest and Dotie Joseph, running in House District 108 in Miami and Miami Shores.
But only Fernández and Solomon are likely to face Republicans. The others are running in traditionally blue districts against Democrat incumbents or, in the case of Lalchandani, in an open seat vacated by a Democrat and against another Democrat, former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn (more on that later).
Fernández is the first up with a special election May 1. And, yeah, this issue is going to hurt Andrew Vargas, who won the Republican primary last month. Vargas is law partners and the political protege of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, who ushered this school militia program quite quickly in the appropriations committee. This photograph, while a corporate pic, likely is a good characterization about their feelings with the progress that this crazy guns in schools law has made.
Related: GOP voters in House 114 slam dunk Jose Pazos and pick Andrew Vargas
Ladra was undecided on this race because, let’s face it, the Dems didn’t make the best choice, again. A lobbyist against an insurance industry attorney who is also Trujillo’s proxy? After they’ve slammed Republican lobbyists in previous campaigns? Ugh. But we need Democrats in Tallahassee next year to undo the damage and pass reasonable bans on weapons that were built and are meant for war. So, yeah, Javi, a little begrudgingly, Ladra is yours. At least in May. We’ll see in November. I still like Ross Hancock, who didn’t want to spent his energy on a special election where the Dems had already picked another guy.
But Fernández is right on this issue and right on time. On Tuesday, he went to South Miami City Hall to support Liebman’s item.
“It’s an issue that’s been missing from the state efforts to address gun reform,” Fernández told Ladra afterwards.
“There seems to be a consensus that everybody needs background screening,” he said, adding that 31 gun shows in the next 60 days were happening on state and county fairgrounds in Florida. “I just find it inconsistent with the directed mission of these organizations, which is to advance educational development.”
Fernández was a policy advisor to former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz who stopped the practice of hosting gun shows at the Coconut Grove Convention Center when he became involved in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization in 2009 — which, by the way, does not list Miami as a member today on its website (ahem, Mayor Francis Suarez).
Let’s hope Fernández is as good a lobbyist as everybody thinks he is when he speaks before the Fairgrounds board about this on Monday. That board includes Miami-Dade School Board Member Maria Teresa “Maritere” Rojas, who is also up for re-election, so let’s watch what she does and says very closely.
It does seem somewhat incongruous that the location for our annual and beloved Youth Fair, which is already being advertised this year, would also be the home of traveling firearm festivals. And while Ladra has not supported Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s efforts to usurp the Youth Fair lease for Florida International University’s expansion, it is taxpayer owned property.
Related: By putting guns in schools, Republicans send a clear message: Elect Democrats
The Youth Fair board would be wise to do the right thing if it wants the community’s support against Gimenez’s overtures, which can be resumed at any moment.
Gun shows across Florida are held on public land — at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Fort Myers or the Lee County Civic Center, for example. Future leases with these organizations that use public lands should state specifically that these properties cannot be used for gun shows.
At least not until we close the gun show loophole.
But, as we saw in Tallahassee on Tuesday, neither of those things are likely to happen until more Democrat candidates are elected.

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It was a slam dunk with the absentee ballots.
As soon as the mail-in votes were counted for the Republican primary in House District 114, Andrew Vargas — an insurance attorney who is the law partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo — was celebrating a victory with 76% of them. Jose Pazos, a Marine who runs a condo management firm, knew he lost. It ended up 75-25, but really, at this point, does it matter?
So there is nothing indicating any AB fraud in the Vargas campaign, run by Steve Marin and Alex Miranda (former chief of staff to Democrat Philip Levine when he was Miami Beach mayor). It looks like they just had a good strategy made possible by lots and lots of campaign cash — at least $190,000 as of Feb. 15, compared to Pazos $30k.
Read related story: Jose Pazos is best, familiar choice for House 114 special primary  today
It’s hard to say that money didn’t make the difference, since Vargas had quite a bit more promotion in the weeks leading up to the AB drop: at least six mailers, three phone banks and canvassers who swept the absentee voters in the district — twice. In comparison, Pazos had one mailer, one phone bank and canvassers maybe contacted AB voters once. Maybe.
One of the mailers which went to all AB voters for Vargas is this one with newly-minted Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is popular in the District. So much so, they mailed it twice.
“Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is with Andrew Vargas,” said one side. “Andrew Vargas has, among his qualities, the integrity and leadership that the residents of District 114 deserve. I look forward to working with him to help our communities,” it quoted Suarez on the other side.
Home. Run.
If one really wanted to split hairs, one could say that Trujillo and Suarez won this election. Because if you asked Pepe Voter six weeks ago who Andrew Vargas was they might have guessed. “Un reggeatonero? El cura? Tu tio? El hijo del presidente de Paraguay?” He is relatively new and unknown in the district. In fact, Vargas was the GOP pick to succeed State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, who is termed out, in District 119 where he has roots, but switched to 114 as soon as Daisy Baez resigned for non residency and lying about it — some would say he had his bags packed before she signed on the dotted line and that Trujillo kept putting the pressure on Baez to resign (which was the right thing to do). Vargas still has to campaign, starting tomorrow probably, because this is just to fill Baez’ vacancy until November. So he just wanted the advantage of an incubency won during a  low turnout special election.
And, of course, he still has to beat Democrat lobbyist Javier Fernandez May 1.  That might prove more difficult than beating Pazos in a swing district that is turning bluer and in the Trump backlash timezone. And Ladra and some other political observers believe that Vargas may have a harder time against Fernandez than Pazos would have. He’s already been blamed for the attack ads that started against the Dem even before the primary was over.
Read related story: Limited early voting in House 114 GOP primary could be voter suppression
A series of emails and robocalls that Ladra has not seen or heard, but were reported in the Miami Herald, are made to look like they ame from Fernandez himself.  “My name is Javier Fernandez, but my friends call me Javi “Lobby.” I’m a lobbyist who’s represented casinos, out-of-state developers, professional sports franchises, and, yes, retail sex toy shops,” the email states.
It is distributed by a brand new political actiona committee, People for a Progressive Florida, but Hernandez has blamed Vargas… and c’mon! Pazos couldn’t even raise enough money for his own campaign!
Hernandez, who has demanded a debate to counter the claims, is likely to bring up the fact that Vargas is the second most litigious attorney in the state when it comes to “assignment of benefits” lawsuits against insurance companies, which legislators have said are increasingly fraudulent and which are arguably driving the cost of homeowner insurance up (more on that later).. Ladra can see the mailers now: “You pay more insurance because of this guy,” with an arrow pointing to Vargas. “He wants you to pay even more,” reads the other side.
Hey, he drew first blood.
There are about 34,000 Republicans registered in the District. Only 4,488 voters cast ballots in this race (overseas and provisional ballots still have to be counted but won’t make one iota of a difference).. Because Republicans aren’t that adamant about voting unless it’s against a Democrat. More will come out in May. But they will be joined by about as many Democrats and about as many Independents, who are likely going to be a deciding factor.
Which means only one thing for certain: Vargas is going to spend a lot more money.

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