For the last three years, the Republican Party has harped on supposed threats to the integrity of our elections. To those who say, for instance, that many minorities don't have picture IDs because they don't drive, the GOP wrings its hands and claims that those who point this out are opening the door for voter fraud. Well, after what has come out in the last two months about the lengths GOP congressman David Rivera has gone to get himself reelected in FL-26, all that talk has become hollow.

It is now clear beyond all doubt that Rivera attempted to avoid a rematch with his Democratic opponent from 2010, Joe Garcia, by propping up an all-but-unknown challenger in the Democratic primary. We now know that Rivera funneled $43,000 to Justin Lamar Sternad, a guy who only makes $30,000 a year and had only raised $11,000 for his campaign. Several vendors say that Rivera was very closely involved from the beginning in the Sternad campaign, and Sternad himself has told the FBI that Rivera promised to get him a better job in return for going along with the scheme.

So let's get it straight. A Republican congressman not only props up a false-flag challenger, but goes as far as to try to sabotage the other party's primary. Running a false-flag campaign is, to my mind, grounds for expulsion from the House. And yet, as far as I know, the Republican House leadership has taken no action against Rivera. And they complain about election integrity? What nerve!