Looks like Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi is seeking some higher intervention in his re-election campaign — as evidenced by the generous use of mirrors on this here yard sign, posted on the corner of 154th Street and Northwest 79th Avenue.
And here we thought santeria rituals in political campaigns were unique to Hialeah.
It was the talk of the City of Progress last fall, when the signs of Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez and Council President Isis “Gavelgirl” Garcia-Martinez (who started following me on twitter yesterday; hi Isis!!) showed up with mirror cut-outs applied to them in an apparent known santeria gesture to ward off any “evil eye”. Like there’s that much mirror in the world.
Well, Pizzi is allies with Hernandez and Gavelgirl, whose attorney is his lapdog, er, I mean colleague, Miami Lakes Councilman Cesar Mestre. Perhaps this is yet another sign — pun entirely intended — that Hialeah’s political machinery is stretching its ugly, crooked hand into the sleepy town of Miami Lakes, which is beginning to get called Hialeah North by those in the know.
Maybe Muscles even used the same glassman to make the signs — even though his is a full-on frame, not just triangular and trapezoid-shaped cut-outs glued to the boards for Hernandez. Luis Lopez, a Hernandez supporter who owns Luis Glass & Windows, told the Herald last year that the mirrors on those signs were to draw attention and that he liked Hernandez because “He’s a lover of God, as I am.” He also said he was working on a full-on frame — like Pizzi’s.
Pizzi told Ladra that he did not know about the sign. “Does that have some kind of special significance,” he asked about the mirrors. “I guess there are people who want to help me,” Pizzi said after I explained to him the significance.
But he did remember the significance later when I reminded him about the stories published last year about the Hialeah santeria signs. “I thought it was the funniest thing,” Pizzi told me.
Still, not the same thing in Miami Lakes., Pizzi said.
“I have a lot of supporters. People call my campaign all the time and say they want five signs, six signs. It’s probably someone trying to help me out.”
Hernandez, perhaps? Hernandez did not return my call or text message Sunday. He never does. But Pizzi denied any Hialeah involvement.
“I don’t know who was doing campaign signs for Hialeah or Miami Springs,” Pizzi told me. “Nobody outside Miami Lakes is in any way involved in my campaign. It is myself, my daughter, my neighbors and friends.”
Wait a minute, mayor. Didn’t Hernandez help throw a fundraiser for you a few months ago? Wasn’t Castro, in fact, the headliner? And didn’t you make more than $12,000 in contrib
utions on March 22, the same day as that fundraiser, according to your campaign finance reports? Including 43 donations of the maximum in Miami Lakes of $250? And while Ladra couldn’t find Hernandez contributing to Pizzi’s campaign himself, there are plenty of outside contributions. In fact, almost three out of every four dollars that Pizzi has collected for his campaign — as of his three reports through Sept. 14 — are from cities outside Miami Lakes: Hialeah, Medley (where he serves as a $200,00-a-year town attorney), Miami Springs, Miami, Coral Gables, Miramar, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Chicago, Boston, Glen Ridge, NJ. At least $53,000 of the $72,000 in his campaign reports are from outside his sleepy town.
Most of the $9,250 collected as of Sept. 14 by his opponent, former founding Mayor Wayne Slaton, is from Miami Lakes — including the $7,500 he loaned himself. He’s spent almost a third of that while Pizzi is still sitting on a about half his funds, as of earlier this month anyway.
Slaton is going to have to step things up and beat out some more cash from the anti-Pizzi forces. Many people still think Mayor Muscles is being challenged by Robert Alonso, who decided not to run so he could concentrate on his health and his family. While Slaton has the obvious support of Alonso supporters made up, mostly, of the anti-Pizzi faction, he needs more buzz and some sort of alliance if he wants to wage a serious effort against Pizzi and his money and his machine.
Because while Pizzi swears he is not working with Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador, who he was rumored to be working with early on, he does have known gypsy con artist Vanessa Brito on the campaign payroll and is working with lobbyist Esther Nuhfer, she of the infamous finance violation and romantic ties to Congressman David Rivera. (Told ya Miami Lakes would get interesting). Nuhfer is “volunteering” to do fundraising for him, Pizzi said. But Ladra knows Nuhfer — a good friend who was partying it up with Viviana Bovo, aide to Sen. Marco Rubio and wife of Miami-Dade Commissioner and suspected absentee ballot collector Esteban Stevie “El Bobo” Bovo, at the Republican National Convention last month — will likely make a percentage of whatever she rakes in. Wonder if that includes the $250 contribution she made to Pizzi herself.
And while she hasn’t made a direct donation to the campaign to re-elect Miami Lakes Councilwoman and Pizzi ally Mary Collins, who is being challenged by Manny Cid, an aide to State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez (Rep., 102), Nuhfer is also at least helping her, at least according to emails she sent to promote a fundraiser for Collins on Wednesday (more on that later).
In the meantime, let’s hope Slaton at least has the sense to light una velita a La Virgen de la Caridad.
Hey, it can’t hurt.
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