In Coral Gables commission contests: A woman and anybody but Javier Baños

Coral Gables voters will be able to cast early voting ballots this weekend for the first time in municipal elections. The election ends Tuesday. As of Friday, almost 4,800 have cast absentee or vote-by-mail ballots already.

Many people have asked Ladra to make recommendations in the commission races, even though we’re going to end up with runoffs in both contests. Everyone knows that Vice Mayor Vince Lago is the only real choice for the mayoral race, despite the one stupid letter he signed (more on that later). But the commission races are harder.

In Group 2, it’s hard because there are so many good candidates.

Ladra likes three of them. Four if you count Claudia Miro, who seemed pretty prepared and may have a chance in the future. But really, the city would be served well by any of the three front runners, which are Rhonda Anderson, Tania Cruz-Gimenez and Jose Valdes-Fauli.

They each have good intentions and the credibility to do a good job. Ladra likes Jose Valdes-Fauli more than his brother, Raul, the current mayor. But he’s still kinda arrogant. He hasn’t campaigned as hard as Cruz-Gimenez, who has probably worked harder for this seat than anybody. It looks like he’s counting on his name recognition and the network he’s created as a member of the arts and LGBT communities.

He says he’s retired and, as a former banker, knows more about numbers and can keep a balanced budget. But he also thinks the Gables is going in the right direction and has no new vision for the city. He shrugs his shoulders at the WaWa on Grand Avenue and makes excuses for his brother, one of the worst mayors the City Beautiful has ever had.

Cruz-Gimenez is a workaholic bulldog. If she gets obsessed with a “project,” there’s nothing that is going to stop her. She gets things done. She’s super prepared on the issues and has impressed a number of people who were suspicious at first because she’s the daughter-in-law of former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez, who once wanted to give Donald Trump a public golf course.

But Cruz-Gimenez is the opposite of her suegro. Not only because she is a Democrat — a bleeding blue Democrat — but also because she is thoughtful and looks in your eyes when she talks to you. Her best bet is to talk to as many voters as possible, and she’s been out there every day, walking and knocking on doors. And she likes to talk, the chatty little thing. And she wants to be a white hat. She’s idealistic. And Ladra doesn’t think she can keep a secret, which is a good feature in an elected.

Then there’s Anderson, who has earned it more than either one of them because of her service through the years. Sure, she’s kind of boring — the soft-spoken, librarian type, and not in the sexy way. But she’s strong on the issues and knowledgeable and she already has a track record.

We know she has no ambitions of higher office, she just wants to be a hometown elected to, basically, stop the overdevelopment she has fought against for years. She may be as charismatic as a cardboard box, but she’s all about the residents.

Ladra is torn between Anderson and Cruz-Gimenez. Sorry, José, but this is the only chance to keep a woman on the commission. And, yes, that’s important.

In Group 3, where all the candidates are male, it’s hard because of the opposite: There are no good candidates.

Ladra doesn’t like anybody. But there’s definitely an ABB — Anybody But Baños, Javier Baños — tilt to this site. Even though Juan Carlos Diaz-Padron and Ariel Fernandez, two longtime Gables activists that Ladra respects, are behind Baños, Ladra can’t get over his connection to Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — who is looking for new fundraising grounds — the mysterious $40,000 loan he got that looks like it came from former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and his connection to a number of dark money political action committees.

He lied to Ladra about not knowing the PAC that sent the attack on another candidate, when his name and email address are on documents filed with the Florida Division of Elections. He lied to voters when he sent a mailer intended to mislead them into believing that Lago had endorsed him.

So you take out the candidate who has campaigned the longest, mostly on the single issue of pension reform, and what do you have left? A 27-year-old who has never paid property taxes, a “high-riser” who just tripled the value of his Crafts Section properties with the controversial upzoning recently approved and a perennial candidate who is looking for more clients as a personal injury attorney.

Alex Bucelo is a very nice boy. But that’s it. He doesn’t seem prepared for this job and is mostly going to get the votes of his father’s friends. Ladra likes him. He has good intentions. But he needs to simmer a little more. He’s not ready yet. That’s all.

P. J. Mitchell is a nice guy, too. But he is a last-minute candidate and everyone says he does this every election for the free publicity.

That leaves Kirk Menendez. He might not get the votes of the people who were against the Crafts Section upzoning he pushed for. But most people recognize that area as a buffer between the downtown and the residential area. Even thought it’s residential, it already doesn’t look it. The upzoning there is not as egregious as the the changes made to increase heights and density along Miracle Mile.

And Menendez could get the votes of everybody else in the Gables because he is Mr. Coral Gables. Raised in the city, Kirk has coached soccer to more Gables voters and their families than anyone in political history.

Commissioner Coach would bring institutional knowledge and a residents-first perspective to the dais that would be welcome. Ladra doesn’t think he would be for overdevelopment anyplace other than the Crafts Section. Not unless he owns property. And if he’s elected, he’ll be watched more closely.

So, in the end, Ladra hopes voters can hold their noses and pick Menendez.

It’s just too bad that Anderson or Valdes-Fauli didn’t run in this group.

Coral Gables politics, Javier Baños, Tania Cruz-Gimenez

In Coral Gables commission contests: A woman and anybody but Javier Baños added by Ladra on April 9, 2021
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