Presidential Election Could Spur Voter Fraud in Miami-Dade

If you believe Nilo Juri, the eye of Hurricane Ballot Cheat, it could get ugly.

Comments (0) By Francisco Alvarado Thursday, Oct 30 2008

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In Martinez's race against Diaz-Balart, campaign bundling is more sophisticated. Donors who give to federal campaigns are generally more careful about how they raise money for candidates, Juri says. "The bigger the election and the more territory a candidate has to cover, the harder it is to control any shenanigans," he says.

Even if authorities catch bad guys, prosecution can be subjective. To prove this, Juri says he has followed up on a 2004 New Times article about $40,000 in shady campaign donations from Puerto Rico to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. He learned that much of the money came from just a few addresses and that some of those were defunct.

Rick Nease/newscom.com

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And when Juri's investigation caught the attention of Joe Centorino, chief of the state attorney's public corruption division, he responded with a harsh letter. "This appears to be an attempt," Centorino wrote this past September 26, "to intimidate the chief executive officer of the prosecutorial office handling this case by harassing innocent parties who happened to make lawful contributions to her campaign."

Juri says he is perplexed by Centorino's correspondence. "It looks like he is trying to cover up something," he affirms. "Why else would he try and stop me from obtaining information every citizen is entitled to?"

State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith says the SAO received calls asking if Juri was conducting an official investigation. "We clearly felt [the letter] was directly related to his criminal prosecution," Griffith says.

Juri argues he planned to use the information for a book he wants to write about Miami-Dade politics: "It's going to ... let people know how the system works and show them the selective prosecution and favoritism."