Dem ad uses Rubio to hit Rivera

A Democratic ad is hitting Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) over allegations of financial corruption by using the comments of his longtime GOP friend and ally, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.).

The ad is sponsored by the campaign of Rivera’s Democratic challenger, Joe Garcia, and uses the audio of comments made by Rubio in May to the WLRN-Miami Herald, in which he says Rivera will have to answer questions about his finances.

“We’ve all read the accounts; you never want to read that about anybody,” says Rubio. “They’re serious. David knows that.

“I think he needs to address those. He has a campaign where he’ll be forced to address those and respond to the people of his district. He’s accountable to them. He has some questions he’ll have to answer on the campaign trail, I think he’s aware of that.”

Rubio has been floated as a possible vice presidential candidate for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But his ties to Rivera, which stretch back for years and include a personal friendship and sharing a Florida house, may complicate his prospects.

“On a personal level, he's my friend,” Rubio said of Rivera in a portion of the WLRN interview that Garcia’s ad cut out.

“I've known him before he was elected to anything and I was elected to anything, and we all have a friendship. And that's not going to change the friendship. As far of the politics of this, obviously, you know, he knows this. He's a big boy, and he's a congressman; he's been elected, and he's a veteran of the political process.”

As evidenced in the latest ad from Garcia, Democrats are heavily aiming their attacks on Rivera at questions surrounding his finances, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) repeatedly highlighting the ongoing separate investigations of the lawmaker by the FBI and the IRS over allegations of tax evasion.

Rivera has maintained his innocence and, in a statement responding to Garcia’s ad, his campaign called his challenger “the single most morally corrupt Democratic candidate in America” and “the most un-American and unpatriotic Democratic candidate in America.”

Rivera’s campaign office also attempted to paint Garcia as a corrupt politician, by pointing to his time as chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, his ties to campaign donors who have travel business with Cuba, and Garcia's directorship of the Office of Economic Impact at the Department of Energy (DOE).

“The voters of congressional district 26 simply will not elect a career candidate who raised utility rates, represents the interests of the Castro dictatorship, served during the Solyndra scandal at the Department of Energy and seeks to return Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies to Washington,” Rivera’s campaign said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney and Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that after an 18-month investigation, prosecutors would not file charges against Rivera over allegations that he abused his former seat in Florida’s state House of Representatives for personal financial gain, and repeatedly lied on financial disclosure forms.

However, the cloud of scrutiny surrounding Rivera has affected his fundraising negatively, both on and off Capitol Hill.

Rivera has $213,648 cash on hand, raising $92,000 last quarter, as compared to Garcia who has $194,532 cash on hand and raised $250,194 last quarter.

Only three members have donated to Rivera so far this election cycle — Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), and a political action committee associated with Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

In his successful 2010 bid, Rivera raked in nearly $2 million as he faced stiff Democratic opposition, with at least 21 Republican lawmakers donating to his campaign, including House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), who gave $2,000, and a PAC associated with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), which gave $5,000. In February of this year, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) avoided Rivera during a high-profile fundraising trip to Miami.

Reporters pressed Boehner early last year on the investigations into Rivera and what they meant for a Cantor pledge to run with a “zero tolerance” policy toward ethics violations.

“We’re waiting to see how this plays out,” Boehner said, deferring to the ongoing criminal probes. The secretive House Ethics Committee has not announced any probe into Rivera.

A spokesman for Rubio pointed to the senator's comments about Rivera being a close friend.

The Hill rates the race as lean Republican.

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