Former state senator Frank Artiles arrested for campaign finance fraud Wow, it looks like we found one of those “manipulated” elections! And no surprise! It’s a Republican doing the manipulating. Former Florida state Senator Frank Artiles (R) reportedly paid a man $50,000 to run in November’s District 37 state senate election as a third party candidate. The man, Alex Rodriguez, had the same last name as the incumbent Democrat, Jose Javier Rodriguez. In the end, without any campaigning or actual political aspirations, Alex Rodriguez received over 6,000 votes. The Republican challenger, Ileana Garcia, won the contest over the Democrat by only 32 votes. Artiles, along with Alex Rodriguez, was booked and arrested on third-degree charges of making or receiving campaign contributions over or in excess of limits, conspiracy to make or receive two or more campaign contributions over or in excess of limits, and false swearing in connection with voting or elections.
