CARL HIAASEN Herald Columnist

A stunned public reels at the headlines: Authorities investigate possible voter fraud in the Hialeah mayor's race!

Fraud? In Hialeah? There's one for Ripley's.

Opponents of Mayor Raul Martinez allege multiple misdeeds in the gathering of absentee votes. Martinez won the runoff against Nilo Juri by a razor-thin spread of 273 votes, with nearly a 2-1 edge in absentee ballots.

Among the sites energetically canvassed by Martinez supporters was a rest home with mentally ill residents. Twenty- four (including two convicted felons ) voted absentee, even though a polling place was located across the street.

It's also been revealed that numerous signatures on absentee ballot applications did not match the voter signatures that were later sent with the completed ballots. Many of the disputed signatures were witnessed by Martinez campaign workers.

In the middle of the mess is Lula Rodriguez, the mayor's sister-in-law. Rodriguez is also a key aide to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, which means the Hialeah fiasco is attracting national interest. Rodriguez witnessed 13 of the absentee signatures, and at least one voter -- a Raul Martinez supporter -- now insists her name was forged.

Documents show that the woman was in the Dominican Republic on the day her ballot was released to a Martinez worker in Hialeah. She was still out of the country when the ballot was returned a few days later -- signed.

Lula Rodriguez says she did nothing wrong. She says she flew to Miami for a weekend, and decided to help with her brother-in-law's mayoral campaign. When absentee voters came to get their signatures witnessed, Rodriguez says, she obliged without checking IDs.

No, it isn't so incredible that somebody might have monkeyed with the ballots. It wouldn't be the first time that happened in Dade County.

What is incredible is that Lula Rodriguez would go anywhere near Martinez campaign headquarters. Family loyalty is swell, but what about common sense?

Raul Martinez is a convicted extortionist who ran for office while appealing his case. The people trying to jail him work for the U.S. Justice Department. That would be the same Justice Department headed by Janet Reno, the same Justice Department that now pays Lula Rodriguez's salary.

This is what's known as a "conflict of interest." The risk would have been evident to a ninth-grade civics student.

Federal agents and prosecutors spent many years and probably millions of taxpayer dollars assembling the corruption case against Martinez. He was a major target. It's outrageous that one of the Attorney General's top assistants worked for Martinez's re-election -- to the same office he was convicted of betraying.

Perhaps Lula Rodriguez was innocently trying to help family. It's very possible she had no role in the voting shenanigans, and had no clue anything was out of order.

Still, she put herself in the worst place at the worst time. On Thursday, Reno said Rodriguez's conduct will be investigated by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility. "I will take whatever action is appropriate," she said.

What's appropriate cannot be determined until state and federal agents finish their investigation of the Hialeah election. If Lula Rodriguez signed her name on a single bogus ballot, she's got a serious problem.

It might have been just a foolish mistake, or something worse. The result might be a subpoena, or something worse.

Imagine Reno's surprise. She probably thought her days of worrying about Hialeah were over.