Former friend: Alonsos betrayed me (Miami Republicans)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Fri, Jun. 03, 2005

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Former friend: Alonsos betrayed me

Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Miriam Alonso's chief of staff testified her ex-employer is trying to point the finger at her for the theft of campaign money.

BY LUISA YANEZ

[email protected]

The star witness against former Miami-Dade Commissioner Miriam Alonso lashed out in court Thursday, blasting Alonso for trying to blame her for the theft of $105,845 in campaign money.

Elba Morales, once Alonso's chief of staff and a close friend, expressed a deep sense of betrayal that erupted during a pretrial hearing in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

''I was a loyal, loyal friend,'' an agitated Morales said of the commissioner, who was arrested in 2002 on the theft charges.

''They should not be here to say those things about me,'' she said, referring to efforts by Alonso, Alonso's husband, Leonel, and Alonso's defense team to point the finger at Morales. 'They were ready to say: `She was the one.' ''

Before deciding to cooperate with Miami-Dade prosecutors, Morales said she tried to protect Alonso and her husband, a childhood friend of her own husband.

''I went to jail for them twice, not once but twice,'' Morales said as the Alonsos watched quietly.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/11801779.htm
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Miriam Alonso is a Cuban-American REPUBLICAN politician. Here's a look at some of the trouble she's created:

Busted!
Greed, thievery, corruption, and betrayal -- the sordid tale of Miriam Alonso's downfall

Published: Thursday, September 19, 2002



Two weeks ago, as Miami-Dade Inspector General Christopher Mazzella waved a 47-page affidavit at reporters in support of the arrest of former county commissioner Miriam Alonso, he declared: "The arrest warrant filed today could be a syllabus for a course titled Corruption 101."

Alonso, looking haggard, had turned herself in, along with her husband Leonel, at the Doral headquarters of the Miami-Dade Police Department and then disappeared into an explosion of TV lights and shouted questions from the press. This was the second go-round in four months for the Alonsos, who earlier had been arrested on a variety of corruption charges. The additional charges severely complicated the Alonsos' legal problems, but perhaps more significantly, represented a milestone for State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
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The new charges filed September 4 included a slew of felonies and misdemeanors; notable among them were alleged crimes committed after the Alonsos' April arrest -- fabricating evidence and coaxing potential witnesses into lying to investigators. Overall, though, the alleged crimes seemed familiar -- looting a treasury of nearly $80,000 in donations from contributors who believed they were helping Miriam battle an effort to recall her from office.

Also familiar was the presumed motive: the personal enrichment of Leonel and Miriam Alonso. Not that the duo are in dire need of enrichment. In her most recent financial-disclosure form, filed July 1, Miriam declared her net worth at $2,720,489, wealth principally derived from at least fifteen rental properties she and her husband own in Miami and Hialeah.
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http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2002-09-19/news/feature.html

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1993 Inflamed by Radio Mambí commentator Armando Perez-Roura, Cuban exiles physically assault demonstrators lawfully protesting against U.S. embargo. Two police officers injured, sixteen arrests made. Miami City Commissioner Miriam Alonso then seeks to silence anti-embargo demonstrators: "We have to look at the legalities of whether the City of Miami can prevent them from expressing themselves."

http://bushmeister0.tripod.com/bushmeister0/index.blog?from=20050423