He pleaded guilty to elections shenanigans. Twice. Now he's back.
At the depths of his descent from congressional chief of staff to political pariah, Jeffrey Garcia believed his career was over.
He’d served jail time for illegally requesting hundreds of absentee ballots for oblivious voters in 2012, and admitted to creating a phony tea party candidate two years earlier to siphon votes away from his boss’ Republican nemesis. His hair shorn and his reputation soiled, Garcia’s attorney said in a federal courtroom that he was through.
“His reputation as a political consultant is non-existent, except as the poster boy for crossing the line,” Garcia’s attorney, Henry Bell, explained to a judge ahead of his 2015 sentencing. “No longer welcome in campaign operations because of the notoriety associated with his misdeeds and his acceptance of responsibility, Mr. Garcia has left that life and career behind.”
Well, not exactly.
Following the termination of a probation sentence that prohibited him from engaging in campaigning until about mid-2015, Garcia is once again participating in campaigns. On Thursday, an email asking supporters to sign up to receive yard signs went out on behalf of Javier Fernandez, a Democrat running to claim the Florida House district vacated by Daisy Baez — signed by “campaign manager” Jeffrey Garcia.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article196704929.html
