Donna Shalala joins Democrats’ calls to bring feds into Frank Artiles investigation

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to open a federal investigation into Frank Artiles’ actions in propping up a 2020 state Senate candidate.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is running its own probe into whether Artiles’ conduct broke campaign finance law. Artiles has been arrested and is facing charges, as is former third-party candidate Alex Rodriguez. Prosecutors say Artiles secretly funneled cash to Rodriguez to help him play spoiler in last November’s Senate District 37 contest.

Last week, Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz pitched a possible expanded investigation, arguing the feds should look into whether any laws have been broken in other Florida contests featuring third-party candidates.

“We’re exploring every option,” Diaz said.

Now, Shalala is joining the push to involve the Justice Department in some capacity as well, floating the idea that Artiles may have “co-conspirators at the local, state, and federal levels.”

“The Department of Justice needs to investigate this scheme immediately. We need to know who else was involved in this scheme that benefited Florida Republicans,” Shalala said in a statement Wednesday.

“Republicans claim to be very worried about election fraud. Meanwhile, they’ve committed election crimes right here in Miami-Dade.”

Artiles appears to have succeeded in his goal to position Rodriguez as a spoiler candidate. Rodriguez courted nearly 6,400 votes in a Senate contest where just 32 votes separated the top-two finishers.

The SD 37 race saw then-Republican candidate Ileana Garcia defeat then-Democratic state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez by fewer than three dozen votes out of the nearly 216,000 votes counted. Former Sen. Rodríguez, of course, shares a last name with the alleged spoiler candidate, possibly adding to the confusion for voters.

Florida Democrats are calling for Garcia to resign and subject herself to a Special Election, which would need to be initiated by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Garcia herself has denied any involvement.

“I can’t attest, I can’t say, and I can’t answer for someone I don’t know and for something that I haven’t done. I am not the focal point of this,” Garcia said after investigators raided Artiles’ home last week.

“I didn’t know of him until this happened,” Garcia added, referencing a December Miami Herald report on Artiles’ possible involvement in the race. “I hope he doesn’t get offended if he ever sees this because I just really didn’t.”

The lawyer for Rodriguez, the third-party candidate, has said Rodriguez is cooperating with investigators and that he “deeply regrets allowing himself to be used in this way.”

William Barzee, the attorney for Rodriguez, also added, “Frank Artiles and his co-conspirators knew they couldn’t beat José Javier Rodríguez in a fair election, so they rigged it. Artiles cynically targeted and used a vulnerable ‘friend’ with a great name to run in the race in order to confuse voters and steal the election.”