David Rivera
Encyclopedia
David Mauricio Rivera (born September 16, 1965) is the U.S. Representative
for . He is a member of the Republican Party
. He is a Miami-based public affairs consultant and formerly represented District 112 in the Florida House of Representatives
.
on September 16, 1965 and moved to Florida in 1974. He graduated from Miami Christian High School
. He earned his Bachelor of Arts
degree with honors in Political Science
from Florida International University
in 1986 and his MPA in 1994.
, Tea Party nominee Roly Arrojo, and Florida Whig Party nominee Craig Porter.
In January 2009, Rivera filed to run for the state senate seat being vacated by J. Alex Villalobos
.
However, when neighboring U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart
decided not to run for another term in 2010, his brother, local Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart
, opted to run for a new term in Lincoln's district rather than his current one. This created an opening in the 25th Congressional District seat and prompted Rivera to announce, on February 25,2010, that he would instead be a candidate for U.S. Congress in Florida's 25th district
.
On November 2, 2010, Rivera was elected to represent Florida's 25th congressional district by beating Democratic nominee Joe Garcia
by a margin of 52.1% to 42.6%. (See U.S. House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2010)
The Miami Herald reported that according to a woman who is friendly with the victim's brother, Rivera and the victim came to her home as a couple to attend a dinner party about 10 years ago. The victim's mother also once worked on one of Rivera's political campaigns, records show.
, a car driven by Rivera hit the truck and forced it to the shoulder of the Palmetto Expressway, ten minutes before the truck's 6 p.m. deadline to deliver the fliers to the post office, preventing the fliers from being delivered in time to be mailed.
Rivera has said that he had planned to meet up with the truck on an exit ramp off the Expressway so he could retrieve a batch of his own campaign fliers. The owner of the company that produced the anti-Rivera fliers maintains that the truck driver did not voluntarily pull off the highway. According to the FHP incident report, the collision occurred in the middle of the road.
his disclosure forms, removing any reference to USAID as a source of income for the seven years in question.
-- helped run a political campaign backed by the dog track to win voter approval for Las Vegas
-style slot machines at parimutuel
venues in Miami-Dade County." Rivera did not report any income from either company in financial disclosure forms filed with the Florida Ethics Commission, but instead "reported that he worked during those years as a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development," which had no record of him ever having worked there. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
subsequently took the lead in the investigation. In July 2011, the Miami Herald reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Internal Revenue Service
were also investigating the dog track payments.
reported Rivera's press secretary, Leslie Veiga, had been active in editing Rivera's Wikipedia article and making it more favorable to Rivera. Veiga denied any impropriety.
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for . He is a member of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. He is a Miami-based public affairs consultant and formerly represented District 112 in the Florida House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
.
Early life, education, and career
Rivera was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on September 16, 1965 and moved to Florida in 1974. He graduated from Miami Christian High School
Miami Christian School
Miami Christian School is a school in Miami, Florida.The school has long-standing accreditation with the Association of Christian Schools International and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools ....
. He earned his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree with honors in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from Florida International University
Florida International University
Florida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...
in 1986 and his MPA in 1994.
Florida legislature
Rivera was first elected to the Florida House in 2002. He was the chair of the Full Appropriations Council on Education & Economic Development, which oversees Florida's budget in areas such as education, transportation, housing, and economic development. He was first elected in 2002 and successively reelected in 2004, 2006 and 2008. In addition to his legislative office, he has served the Republican Party as State Committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida and as the Executive Director for the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County.2010 election
Rivera ran against Democratic nominee Joe GarciaJoe Garcia
Joe Garcia is a Miami-based lawyer and 2010 Democratic nominee for . He is the former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and was nominated by President Barack Obama to be director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact and Diversity of the United States Department of...
, Tea Party nominee Roly Arrojo, and Florida Whig Party nominee Craig Porter.
In January 2009, Rivera filed to run for the state senate seat being vacated by J. Alex Villalobos
J. Alex Villalobos
J. Alex Villalobos is a Republican member of the Florida Senate, representing the 38th District since 2001. Previously he was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1993 through 2000. He served as the Republican Majority Whip from 2001 to 2002 and as the Republican Majority Leader...
.
However, when neighboring U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart was the U.S. Representative for from 1993 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate...
decided not to run for another term in 2010, his brother, local Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart
Mario Diaz-Balart
Mario Rafael Diaz-Balart Caballero is the current U.S. Representative for , serving since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2010 to succeed his brother, Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The district includes the city of Hialeah, along with several of Miami's southwestern suburbs...
, opted to run for a new term in Lincoln's district rather than his current one. This created an opening in the 25th Congressional District seat and prompted Rivera to announce, on February 25,2010, that he would instead be a candidate for U.S. Congress in Florida's 25th district
Florida's 25th congressional district
Florida's 25th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida. Based in South Florida, the district includes parts of Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties...
.
On November 2, 2010, Rivera was elected to represent Florida's 25th congressional district by beating Democratic nominee Joe Garcia
Joe Garcia
Joe Garcia is a Miami-based lawyer and 2010 Democratic nominee for . He is the former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and was nominated by President Barack Obama to be director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact and Diversity of the United States Department of...
by a margin of 52.1% to 42.6%. (See U.S. House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2010)
Committee assignments
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
- Subcommittee on the Western HemisphereUnited States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western HemisphereThe House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere is a subcommittee within the House Foreign Affairs Committee.-Jurisdiction:The subcommittee is one of five with what the committees calls "regional jurisdiction" over a specific area of the globe...
- Committee on Natural Resources
- Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral ResourcesUnited States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral ResourcesThe United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is one of the five subcommittees within the House Natural Resources Committee-Members, 112th Congress:-External links:*...
- Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public LandsUnited States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public LandsThe United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands is one of the five subcommittees within the House Natural Resources Committee-Members, 112th Congress:-External links:*...
- Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
Domestic violence allegations
On October 13, 1994 a domestic abuse charge was filed in Miami-Dade County against one David M. Rivera. Rivera denies that he was the defendant in the 1994 domestic violence case, and the victim of the attack has maintained that David Rivera, the politician, was not the defendant in her case. The case file has been destroyed by the court (case files are retained for only 5 years,).The Miami Herald reported that according to a woman who is friendly with the victim's brother, Rivera and the victim came to her home as a couple to attend a dinner party about 10 years ago. The victim's mother also once worked on one of Rivera's political campaigns, records show.
Mail truck collision
On September 6, 2002, Rivera was involved in a traffic collision with a truck carrying thousands of fliers, produced by Rivera's campaign opponent at the time, that included a last-minute attack on Rivera's character and detailed past domestic violence accusations against him. According to reports filed by the Florida Highway PatrolFlorida Highway Patrol
The Division of the Florida Highway Patrol is a division of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the law enforcement agency charged with ensuring the safety of the highways and roads of the state.-History:...
, a car driven by Rivera hit the truck and forced it to the shoulder of the Palmetto Expressway, ten minutes before the truck's 6 p.m. deadline to deliver the fliers to the post office, preventing the fliers from being delivered in time to be mailed.
Rivera has said that he had planned to meet up with the truck on an exit ramp off the Expressway so he could retrieve a batch of his own campaign fliers. The owner of the company that produced the anti-Rivera fliers maintains that the truck driver did not voluntarily pull off the highway. According to the FHP incident report, the collision occurred in the middle of the road.
Additional source of income
Rivera on more than one occasion stated in sworn documents that his primary source of personal income, besides his salary from the Florida State Legislature, was from freelancing consulting work he did for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). However, when the Miami Herald asked USAID, the agency said that Rivera never worked for them. On October 21 of 2010, a suit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court stating that Rivera should be disqualified from running for office for violating state laws requiring public officials and candidates to file full and complete financial disclosure forms. After the initial investigation was reported, Rivera amendedhis disclosure forms, removing any reference to USAID as a source of income for the seven years in question.
Dog track payments
The Miami Herald has reported that "[t]he Miami-Dade state attorney's office is investigating more than $500,000 in secret payments from the owners of the Flagler Dog Track to a company tied to" Rivera. According to the Herald: "Most of the money was paid in early 2008, weeks after Rivera -- then a member of the Florida House of RepresentativesFlorida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
-- helped run a political campaign backed by the dog track to win voter approval for Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
-style slot machines at parimutuel
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
venues in Miami-Dade County." Rivera did not report any income from either company in financial disclosure forms filed with the Florida Ethics Commission, but instead "reported that he worked during those years as a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development," which had no record of him ever having worked there. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is a Florida government agency. FDLE is composed of five programs: Executive Direction and Business Support, Criminal Investigations and Forensic Science, Criminal Justice Information, Criminal Justice Professionalism, and the Florida Capitol Police...
subsequently took the lead in the investigation. In July 2011, the Miami Herald reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
were also investigating the dog track payments.
Wikipedia editing
In April of 2011 PoliticoPolitico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
reported Rivera's press secretary, Leslie Veiga, had been active in editing Rivera's Wikipedia article and making it more favorable to Rivera. Veiga denied any impropriety.
External links
- Congressman David Rivera official U.S. House site
- David Rivera for Congress official campaign site