It may be just one. But it’s a doozy.
Congressional candidate Carlos “Crybaby” Curbelo — the Miami-Dade
School Board member and GOP establishment favorite who won the August primary — had to admit finally to the identity of one of his clients.
It’s not that he wanted to, mind you. Or even that he felt he had to in order to (a) pay rightful respect to his voters and the voters he seeks or (b) quell the storm that has brewed around this disclosure issue since the primary.
Nah. Curbelo, who has been able to skirt disclosure laws by having his lobbying firm under his wife’s name, was forced by Jim DeFede of CBS4 to confirm that one of the clients he represented was Roberto Isaias – who was convicted of embezzlement in Ecuador and is living the political fugitive life in Miami. Curbelo took him to DC and introduced him to various legislators and federal administrators.
He didn’t call it lobbying. He called it a “PR project.” I kid you not.
But, c‘mon! We all know how this works. A lobbyist does not only advocate to elected officials on your behalf. A lobbyist also gets you access to those officials. And that is what Curbelo, indeed, did for Mr. Isaias. For Curbelo to deny he was lobbying is not only dishonest, it’s downright insulting to the people he intends to represent in Congress.
Read related story: Carlos Curbelo hides lobbying client list under wife’s skirt
Who else has he represented through his firm, Capitol Gains? Curbelo has refused 
to answer this question throughout the campaign. That’s unacceptable not only as a candidate but as an elected member of the School Board, which oversees our children’s and our grandchildren’s multi-million educational system. And by digging in his heels and refusing to disclose a client list that he has by now been asked dozens of times for by voters, fellow Republicans and the media does only one thing: Drum up the doubt.
Disclosure is even more important now that we know the type of client Mr. Curbelo is willing to take money from in exchange for access. Without casting judgment — although Isaias was tried in absentia and found guilty of stealing $400 million from federal banks — Mr. Curbelo is on the payroll of an international fugitive. That’s something voters ought to know.
No wonder he didn’t want to disclose his client list. Are there any other clients who are wanted in other countries? Other states?
Read related story: Who are some of Carlos Curbelo’s business partners?
Perhaps it is not a conflict of interest at the Miami-Dade School Board that Mr. Curbelo is hiding. Perhaps it is simply his moral compass.
Ladra doesn’t love Joe Garcia. I do not like that his friend and right hand man admitted to absentee ballot fraud, was found guilty and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. I do not like the fact that that friend — who later became his chief of staff — is accused 
of funding a plantidate in the Republican primary in 2010, which is still being investigated. But I am not sure the Congressman knew anything about either scam. He sorta seems the perfect fool.
Yeah, he talks nonsense about communism, picks his ear wax when he should be paying attention to testimony about national security. But Joe Garcia is generally ineffective as a member of the minority party and can’t get anything done for the people he represents, even if those are the apologists who do business with Cuba. He sorta seems the harmless idiot.
Carlos Curbelo would be much more effective for the people he represents — Isaias and whoever else that may be.
Most importantly, I don’t know that Joe Garcia is hiding anything.
We know Carlos Curbelo is hiding something: his client list.
Now it seems we’ve caught of glimpse of why.
We got one! Carlos Curbelo’s secret clients includes fugitive added by Ladra on
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