OH BOY! : Allegation Seeks to Link Diaz-Balart to Indictred PR Senatror

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Allegation seeks to link Lincoln Diaz-Balart to indicted Puerto Rico senator



Democrats on Wednesday are expected to seek to tie Miami Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart to a video posted on a Puerto Rican television station featuring indicted Puerto Rican Senator Jorge de Castro Font claiming he and another island politician, carried money to Diaz-Balart from a prominent Puerto Rican family.

De Castro Font does not provide the amount of money and does not say precisely when the flight took place or for what purpose the money was being sent.

De Castro Font, who faces a 31-count federal extortion indictment, says in the video that while the other politician -- Puerto Rico's non-voting resident commissioner in Congress, Luis Fortuño -- sought to distance himself from De Castro Font, in fact he and Fortuño had carried the money to Diaz-Balart.

"Fortuño says he had never been with me, that he hasn't talked to me in four years, that he hasn't ever traveled with me,'' De Castro Font says. "Ask him if he did not go with me to bring some money to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart in Miami. We sat in first class together. Ask him who carried the money. See if he says he never brought the money.''

De Castro Font said the trip took place before Fortuño became resident commissioner in 2005. De Castro Font and Fortuño are considered political rivals.

Diaz-Balart's campaign aides did not respond directly to De Castro Font's claim. Instead, Diaz-Balart's campaign called the decision to publicize the allegation Wednesday in Miami an "act of desperation by a campaign that knows it's defeated." Diaz-Balart's campaign aides said they planned to attend the press conference to "respond accordingly."

2raulmartinez_lnew_gdc Rumors about the allegation surfaced Monday when an aide to former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez told reporters that on Wednesday the Martinez campaign planned to make a blockbuster revelation against Diaz-Balart, the incumbent Martinez is running against.

Campaign political consultant Jeffrey Garcia would not provide details about what they planned to allege. Then on Tuesday the Florida Democratic Party issued a press advisory announcing a press conference Wednesday for a "major announcement about Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart'' that might warrant a "federal investigation.''

Eric Jotkoff, a party spokesman, also refused to discuss details of the mysterious revelation.

But when asked if the planned announcement was connected to the De Castro Font video on the website of the Puerto Rican television station WAPA TV (http://www.wapa.tv/), Garcia said there was a connection. Jotkoff declined to say.

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