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Here's a glance at the handiwork of Cuban "exile," Eladio Armesto-Garcia, hard at work in Miami. He's the one who submitted a fraudulent petition a couple of years ago, and was also a State Representative. What an utter ass: After continued prodding by Father Hopkins and other church members, Buonamia and his wife agreed in late August to come back to Saint Philomena. On Sunday, September 3, the couple, having spent the early morning campaigning for Love, drove to church in their recreational vehicle, which had several large “Jay Love for Mayor” signs affixed to it. Buonamia says he warned Father Hopkins that he would be driving the RV, and the priest said it would be fine. Buonamia parked in the rear of the church parking lot. “I was trying to obscure it as much as possible,” he says. “We knew it wasn't Love territory, but it never dawned on me that people would get physical over this.”
Soon after arriving, Marisa Buonamia was accosted inside the church by Eladio Armesto-Garcia, a former Republican state representative, who served in Tallahassee from 1992 until 1994. He told her to move the RV immediately. She refused. “I told him: “This is a democracy,'” recalls Marisa, who hails from Panama. Next Armesto-Garcia confronted Buonamia.
“He was very agitated,” Buonamia remembers. “He starts screaming at me in Spanish that Jay Love is a homosexual and that I'm supporting homosexuals and that I have to get my RV out of there. I told him it is not important to me what he thinks. I'm here to go to Mass, and I asked him to leave me alone. He then screamed at me in church that he was going to beat the shit out of me when Mass was over.”
Armesto-Garcia is a member of the Christian Coalition and chairman of a group called Take Back Miami-Dade, whose goal is to repeal the so-called gay-rights ordinance passed by the county commission two years ago. The ordinance, which is designed to protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation, was enacted through the efforts of the nonprofit SAVE Dade political-action committee.
“He mentioned that he was with the Christian Coalition,” Buonamia continues. “He was saying that SAVE Dade was a bunch of homosexual perverts who are for abortion, and that Jay Love is one of them. He was doing the homophobic routine.” Armesto-Garcia stormed off. Buonamia grew nervous and went looking for him a few minutes later. He found Armesto-Garcia in the back of the church finishing a phone call to his son, Eladio José Armesto. (snip/...) http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-09-21/defede.html/1/index.htmlHe called his son who came to the church and slashed Buonamia's tires, which cost $1144 for Buonamia to replace, and told him he was going to beat him up. He got national recognition when he delived the pile of fraudulent papers to prevent gay rights legislation in Miami. More on the scum: At this point you may be wondering about Armesto-Garcia. Here's a little background: He spent just two years in the state legislature because he was not only ineffective but also was mired in one scandal after another. Among other indiscretions this moral and religious pillar cheated on his wife, fathering a child with his mistress back in 1976. (See Seventh Commandment for more information.) Several times the woman had to drag Armesto-Garcia into court to force him to make child-support payments. Once he was elected to office, though, he placed his ex-girlfriend on the state's payroll as his “executive secretary,” a job she held until the precise day before their child turned eighteen and was no longer entitled to child support. More recently Armesto-Garcia was a member of Miami's code-enforcement board and was investigated for possibly violating the state's Sunshine Law. No charges were filed. (snip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Eladia Armesto-Garcia's name was noted at the gay publication, : Anti-Gay Coalition Calls Election Fraudulent
Eladio Jose Armesto of Take Back Miami-Dade said Wednesday only a rigged vote could have resulted in victory for the law's supporters, and planned to call for an investigation into the matter.
"Anti-repeal forces are in control of the mayor's office and the department of elections," Armesto said.
Supervisor of Elections David Leahy and other county officials denied the groups allegations of vote rigging.
The coalition had a similar reaction in August when members of the repeal group were arrested for election fraud.
Anthony Verdugo, chairman of the Florida Christian Coalition, and a board member of Take Back Miami-Dade, said in August that the arrests were a ploy to embarrass Take Back Miami-Dade and are part of "a vast left-wing conspiracy by corrupt enemies of the democracy."
"What we have known about the Christian Coalition's lack of integrity is apparent to all," said NGLTF's Lorrie Jean. (snip) http://www.gfn.com/archives/story.phtml?sid=12187~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Here are some observations made on the legitimacy of Armesto-Garcia's petition. Among the questions raised by SAVE Dade's examination:
•As volunteers were checking signatures against those on file with the elections department, they discovered that as many as 1400 people had signed the petition more than once, sometimes employing noticeably different handwriting. Among the duplicates was Armesto-Garcia's son Eladio José Armesto, who along with his wife, Rosa, signed twice, two days apart.
•Take Back Miami-Dade filed entire pages of voters' names that also appeared on other signature sheets in a different order.
•At the bottom of at least 800 petition pages, where circulators are supposed to certify they witnessed each signature, SAVE Dade found evidence that dates had been changed to match actual collection dates, implying that circulators had "certified" pages before gathering signatures.
•In repeated instances clusters of names were all signed using the same handwriting.
•Some notaries allegedly certified their own petition signatures, an apparent violation of state election laws.
•Some petition circulators themselves signed multiple times, another apparent violation of state laws.
SAVE Dade contends that organizers of the petition drive violated a number of Florida Statutes that govern elections, one of them being FS 104.185, which deems it a crime "if a person signs another person's name or a fictitious name to any petition to secure ballot position for a candidate, minor political party, or an issue." Says Miami lawyer Alicia Apfel, who has been assisting in the examination of Take Back Miami-Dade's petition drive: "Basically they are cheating every voter in the county. They ought to be ashamed of themselves."
Armesto-Garcia counters that his group has nothing to hide and welcomes a full inquiry. "They can do what they like. We have done nothing wrong," he declares. "Everything is fine and dandy -- nothing bad has been done." (snip/...) http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2001-02-01/metro.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Excerpts from letters to the editor: Take Back Miami-Dade is clearly just another group led by conservative Cuban and religious leaders who wish to make Miami a Wasp haven, or a miniature Havana closed to those who do not adhere to the religious or political beliefs of Cuban leaders. All of Miami should rise up in opposition to this small group of bigots. Someday they may call for the closing of all synagogues, the deportation of all recent immigrants, or unequal pay for nonwhite and non-Latin workers. No matter who you are or what groups you belong to, eventually you may find the ever-damning finger of the religious right pointing at you. If history has taught us anything, it is that eventually coalitions of zealots turn on their own members who are not pure enough, white enough, straight enough, et cetera. (snip)
Could Eladio Armesto-Garcia's troops be a hint of things to come? I am pleased that Juan Carlos Rodriguez has brought to light the shenanigans of Eladio Armesto-Garcia's organization. Take Back Miami-Dade is a hypocritical, fraudulent front sponsored and funded by the Christian Coalition and its self-serving allies in the Republican Party. Armesto-Garcia's and other anti-civil-rights groups should be using their tax-free, not-for-profit dollars to do good, not evil.
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Armesto-Garcia and his local army of churchgoing bigots are prime examples of what will happen once George W. Bush's faith-based organizations get their polluted hands on public money. (snip)
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Of all people, Cuban exiles should know better: It is a disappointment that among the Take Back Miami gang are Cuban exiles. One must wonder if they came to America for freedom and democracy or to enforce their own form of fascist order.
America and Miami-Dade County function under the legal premise that all people are created equal. We entrust our elected officials to make sure this is enforced, without the need for a popular vote. The end result is that Cubans are not forced back to Castro because of some difference of opinion, Coral Gables retirees are not denied life-saving medication to make room for the young, and Homestead farmers are not enslaved because some think they are simply dumb dirt-pushers.
If this gang committed fraud to undermine democracy, let us deal with the human trash by throwing them in jail. And let all of us together save Miami. (snip) http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2001-02-08/news/letters.html
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