Now that Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla has set his mind and heart on a still-elusive seat in the Florida Senate and abandoned thoughts (for now, anyway) about the house seat in district 112 
— being vacated by his term-limited friend Rep. Carlos Lopez Cantera — it’s safe for other Republicans to come out of the woodwork. And at least three of them have.
Former Rep. Gus Barreiro (District 107), half brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro (more on the family connection later), declared his intent early last month and someone named Stephen J. Starr, Jr., (but I don’t think it’s the Bal Harbour restauranteur) also filed last week.
Coral Gables attorney and former prosecutor Eric Padrón, who Ladra met at the Ileana Ros-Lehtinen kick-off Sunday, said he was also going to jump into that race. Padrón, who lost a primary for a house seat in 2006 to Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo, who ultimately lost it to State Rep. Luis Garcia (Rep., District 107), who has announced his bid to take U.S. Rep. David Rivera (Rep., District 25) out this year.
Padrón, photograhed here as he said his goodbyes to the Congresswoman Sunday, has been a behind the scenes player for almost a decade. But the former assistant chief of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office’s Career Criminal Unit, gave the 2008 Ros-Lehtinen campaign PAC
$3,300 in three contributions and, like a good GOPper, also donated to the Mel Martinez, Orrin Hatch and John McCain campaigns. But his biggest support has gone to the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, into which he has poured $12,000 into since 2004.
There are two Democrats daring enough to enter the race as well.
Attorney Jose Javier Rodriguez, son of a Pedro Pan Cuban, filed in October of last year and has already collected the most in contributions: $26,400, including a $100 contribution from El Portal Mayor Daisy Black, $100 from child advocate and former Miami Herald Publisher David Lawrence, $50 from Terry Murphy, former aide to recalled county commissioner Natacha Seijas, $50 from Brian Goldmeier, the fundraising guru for the Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez campaign, $25 from attorney Michelle Neimeyer, who lost a bid earlier this year to unseat Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and $250 from political consultant Christian Ulvert. The former Peace Corps volunteer who has worked for Florida Legal Services defending wage workers has a bunch of other contributors that make him look like the green grassroots favorite.
Pharmaceutical exec Alex Dominguez, a Boston native born to Argentine parents, according to his website, filed Friday but had raised $3,100 in the last quarter of last year, mostly from family members.
But since the qualifying deadline is not til June — and some people are still sitting around waiting for maps to be finalized — this race with no incumbent is likely to draw a few more hopefuls. It will be an interesting race to watch.
New faces in state race for 112 added by Ladra on
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