Florida Lawmakers, One Republican, The Other Democrat, Admit Extramarital Affair

In a rare sight on Tuesday, a Democrat and a Republican senator from Miami admitted to having an extramarital affair before the Florida Legislature opened its annual session.

Senators Oscar Braynon (D-Miami Gardens) and Anitere Flores (R-Miami), both of whom are married, declared before the legislature that they were having a secret affair and sought forgiveness for their personal misdemeanor.

"As this 2018 session of the Florida Legislature gets underway, we do not want gossip and rumors to distract from the important business of the people," Flores and Braynon said in a joint statement, Sun-Sentinel reported.

"That's why we are issuing this brief statement to acknowledge that our longtime friendship evolved to a level that we deeply regret," the statement added. "We have sought the forgiveness of our families, and also seek the forgiveness of our constituents and God. We ask everyone else to respect and provide our families the privacy that they deserve as we move past this to focus on the important work ahead."

The unprecedented declaration came after an anonymous website uploaded footage of Flores entering and departing a condo rented by Braynon in Tallahassee, at the end of 2017.

The owner of the website is unknown, with no information on who set up the camera, uploaded the video or wrote the report explaining the video.

The hidden camera was discovered by Braynon during the final week of the 2017 legislature session, put up in the sixth floor of the Tennyson condominium near the Capitol. According to the Miami Herald, both Flores and Braynon, rent condos on the same floor, across from each other.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was alerted by Braynon after his shocking discovery. After FDLE conducted an extensive investigation on the matter, they found the camera was owned by private investigator Derek Uman from Gainesville, Florida.

Uman, who owned the company Clear Capture Investigations, was seen repositioning the hidden camera, captured via other CCTV cameras of the building. His company specialized in "infidelity surveillance," as well as "political and corporate surveillance."

This wasn't the first time Braynon suspected he was being watched. In November, Braynon discovered a hidden camera stuck under a hall table, with its power light covered with a piece of tape, when he ducked to retrieve something that had fallen on the floor.

Braynon told the Herald at the time that he had reason to believe he was being set up by Sen. Frank Artiles (R-Miami) who handed in his resignation last year, after mouthing a tirade of racially charged remarks to fellow senators. He added that a number of his colleagues had warned him that Artiles was looking for revenge.

Senate President Joe Negron addressed the affair moments after opening the 2018 session.

"I would like to begin today by addressing a very important issue that addresses not only the Florida Senate, but also our counterparts in Congress, the entertainment industry, employers large and small across the country, and our culture in general," Negron said.

"Let me be clear: The Florida Senate has zero tolerance for sexual harassment or misconduct of any time [sic] against any employee or visitor," he added.