Who's Justin Lamar Sternad and why is he using GOP talking points against Joe Garcia?

That's Joe Garcia. He's really the Democrat standing with Barack Obama. David Nir touched on one of the craziest stories coming out of this primary election in Monday's digest. Where else would this crazy story be than in Florida, in the 26th District primary between Orange to Blue candidate Joe Garcia, businesswoman Gloria Romero Roses, and some dude named Justin Lamar Sternad. All three are running to unseat one of the nation's more corrupt members of Congress, Republican David Rivera.

Or, two of them are working to unseat Rivera. It's not at all clear what Justin Lamar Sternad is up to.

Political unknown Justin Lamar Sternad is running as a Democrat but sounds awfully like a Republican in his mail pieces, some of which have an immigration-hardliner ring and just so happen to emanate from the same Hialeah outfit that did nearly $100,000 worth of work for incumbent Republican Congressman David Rivera in 2010. One Sternad mailer repeats some tough (and likely false) comments from Rivera about another Democratic challenger, Joe Garcia, who lost to the congressman in 2010.

How right-wing is this guy? He's calling for English as the official language in his mail pieces, and says, "Americans in Florida are being discriminated against by employers who hire illegal immigrants and take jobs away from our law-abiding citizens." Sternad, "a night employee of South Beach's Wyndham Garden hotel," has raised less than $12.000 for his "campaign," and over $10,000 of that came from himself (or a very generous personal gift from some benefactor). Then there's this:

In addition to repeating Rivera's criticisms of Garcia's divorce, Sternad also appears to be misappropriating President Obama's campaign trademark "O" for his campaign. He might also be trying to persuade unaware voters that he's black, sending out two civil rights-themed mailers that depict Obama and  Martin Luther King. One mailer also features Rep. Dwight Bullard and his mother, whom he hopes to succeed, state Sen. Larcenia Bullard. They have no photos of the lilly-white Sternad, who is listing his campaign name as "Lamar Sternad" even though he goes by Justin Sternad in his business life.

He also won't answer reporters questions about his campaign finances, whether he's trying to hide his race from voters and give the impression that he's black, or why it is that he uses the exact same tactics and talking points against Garcia as Republican Rivera. The campaign phone goes straight to voice mail, and Sternad has been a no-show at editorial board meetings.

Just a tiny bit suspicious, no? It sure looks like Rivera is trying his damnedest to make sure Joe Garcia doesn't survive the Aug. 17 primary, and Sternad is Rivera's spoiler and stooge.

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