Source of Rivera's income unclear

Over the past seven years, Republican state Rep. David Rivera repeatedly said in sworn documents that his main source of income, outside of his salary from the Legislature, came from consulting work he did for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

But USAID has no record of ever hiring Rivera -- now a candidate for Congress -- or his company.

``We do not have Mr. Rivera nor the corporations you referred to in our records,'' USAID press officer Annette Aulton told The Miami Herald in an e-mail.

When asked by The Herald about his work with USAID, Rivera gave conflicting explanations, first saying he won the USAID contracts through competitive bidding, but later saying he worked only as a subcontractor to other USAID contractors -- whom Rivera would not identify.

Rivera listed USAID as a source of income in financial-disclosure forms filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics from 2003 to 2009. In the documents, required of all elected officials, Rivera said he worked for USAID through a Puerto Rican company called Interamerican Government Relations, performing ``international development consulting.''

Rivera told The Herald that he started the company with a partner he would not name. Corporate documents in Puerto Rico show only the existence of the company, but does not name the principals.

For the past four years, USAID was the only additional source of income reported by Rivera, aside from his $30,000 annual salary from the Legislature. Since 2003, Rivera has not disclosed how much money he earned from his consulting work -- though state ethics rules require lawmakers to report any annual income over $1,000.

Violations of state ethics laws can lead to civil fines.

After initially agreeing to an interview, Rivera declined to speak with reporters for this story, and he would only respond to written questions from the newspaper.

The Herald first began making inquiries about Rivera's USAID work last month while researching the backgrounds of congressional candidates. USAID is a federal agency that offers aid to developing countries, and its budget is approved by Congress.

On Sept. 21, The Herald asked Rivera if he obtained USAID contracts through competitive bidding or through a no-bid award. Three days later, Rivera said his company won the USAID contracts through competitive bidding.

But last week -- after learning that USAID had no record of his company -- Rivera said he misunderstood the questions and said he only worked for USAID as a subcontractor to other companies. USAID does not keep records of subcontractors hired by its vendors, Aulton said.

However, Rivera would not provide The Herald with the names of any USAID contractors for which he worked. Sarah Bascom, a spokeswoman for Rivera's campaign, said Rivera could not release any information about his contracts without the approval of his clients.

Rivera also could not provide tax returns or other records verifying his USAID consulting work because he was too busy campaigning for Congress, Bascom said.

``Mr. Rivera is not going to take time away from campaigning during the day with voters to be stuck in his garage sifting through boxes,'' she said.

A CLIENT

Rivera listed USAID as a consulting client from 2003 to 2009 in sworn financial disclosure forms filed with the state. State ethics rules require lawmakers to publicly disclose any ``customer, client or other source of income'' that provides more than 10 percent of the total income of the lawmaker's private business.

‘Eclipse’ At The Box Office: What Does The Future Hold?Payment to Rubio’s car leasing company in 2002 raises questions