MIAMI – The so-called “ghost candidate” trial got underway Tuesday. At the center of it is former State Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami-Dade, who is accused of masterminding a scheme to sway a 2020 race.
Proseuctors said Artiles was the brains behind a criminal campaign finance conspiracy.
Artiles was arrested in March 2021, accused of making more than $45,000 worth of illegal campaign contributions to Alex Rodriguez.
“The money that he paid to Alex Rodriguez were considered contributions because they were made for the purpose of influencing an election,” Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiessen said.
Rodriguez was a “ghost,” or shill, candidate who never campaigned and never planned on winning the 2020 District 37 state Senate race and didn’t even live in the district.
But his last name was just right enough to, potentially, siphon votes from Jose Javier Rodriguez, the legitimate Democratic candidate who narrowly lost that race to Republican Ileana Garcia.
Alex Rodriguez pleaded guilty in 2021 to taking illegal campaign funds and lying on campaign documents.
He also agreed to testify against Artiles.
But during opening statements, Artiles’s lawyer painted Rodriguez as a scammer and a fraudster out to save his own skin. The defense says ghost candidates aren’t illegal and argue any money Artiles paid his alleged accomplice was for legitimate business reasons or loans that have yet to be paid back.
“That’s what happened in this case. Period. End of story. And none of that — none of those payments should be considered, quote, a ‘contribution’ because they were not intended to influence an election,” defense attorney Frank Quintero said. “You can’t have a conspiracy if the other person doesn’t know what is it that we’re agreeing to.”
One witness did take the stand Tuesday: a man by the name of Patrick Bainter. He’s the owner of a prominent Republican political consulting firm.
Prosecutors spent a lot of time establishing who and what that witness’s part was in helping run the shill candidate, but that witness also testified that he never spoke to Artiles about who that person would be, if they’d be paid, or how.