. Indio da Costa entered politics in 1996 as part of the center-right
PFL. He later joined the administration of Rio de Janeiro mayor
Cesar Maia, busying himself with managing the
Aterro do Flamengo gardens first and later as Secretary of Administration (i.e. as comptroller for all matters regarding personnel and public purchases) . Da Costa was elected to the Rio de Janeiro City Council in 1997, where he stayed for three terms, until 2007. As councilman, he was investigated by an inquiry commission of the same council for suspects of overpriced contracting of
catering services for Rio's public schools during his earlier spell as secretary, such charges being eventually dismissed. While at the city council, he presented a polemical bill that proposed to forbid
almsgiving in the city of Rio de Janeiro, subjecting it to a fine - a bill that was rejected out of hand by the city council as unconstitutional. Between 1999 and 2001, Da Costa was affiliated with the center-left PTB Party. In 2001, he returned to the PFL, which had rebranded itself as the Democrat Party (
Democrats or DEM, as it is known today.) In 2000, Da Costa spent several weeks in
New York City working inside a major election operation in the United States to get acquainted with tactics and technology used in the mayoral campaign of
Michael R. Bloomberg. Da Costa worked alongside
Arick Wierson who was heading Bloomberg's field operations. Da Costa later announced that he had earlier implemented many of the Bloomberg's management tactics while he was Secretary for Administration in the Maia mayoralty. In 2006, Da Costa was elected as a Brazilian Federal Deputy (Congressman) and on June 30, 2010, was chosen as the running mate to presidential candidate
José Serra. - in what was seem as a move pressed on Serra by the DEM leadership, as Serra tended to favour a "pure-blooded" PSDB ticket As vice-presidential candidate, he made himself noticed mostly by his declarations accusing the
Workers' Party of connections with the
FARC and international drug dealing, something that earned him the nickname of "Serra['s]
Palin". After the results of the 2010 election, which by the popular vote elected
Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president, Indio da Costa parted from his former political party "DEM" to become one of the founders of the PSD "Social Democrats Party" along with the then Mayor of São Paulo,
Gilberto Kassab. ==Notes==