While homegrown actor Andy Garcia hosts a fundraiser for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Jeb Bush stumps for U.S. Rep. Connie Mack‘s senatorial bid, Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi had to settle for a lot less star power: Hialeah Mayor Carlos “The Rock” Hernandez and his Lakes council faction, er, I mean colleagues at the neighboring town hall, Vice Mayor Cesar Mestre, Jr., and Councilman Nick Perdomo.
But one good turn deserves another: Pizzi was seen celebrating with Hernandez at the Nov. 15 victory party in the parking lot along West12th Avenue and now he gets his back scratched back.
Hernandez — elected in a sweeping victory last November with votes cast by seniors who didn’t know their own names and were driven to poll sites by his campaign workers — was the headlining host for a fundraiser last week to benefit Pizzi’s re-election campaign. In addition to the Lakes electeds, the fourth host was attorney Javier Vazquez, who has apparently switched sides after he helped former Councilman and current rematch candidate Roberto Alonso (more on that later) in the 2008 race.
The event was at Mestre’s Miami Lakes Royal Palm North home, which he purchased in 200
6 for $640,000, almost twice the $327,000 it’s assessed at now (ouch!). We’ll know who was probably there when we see the campaign financial reports, due April 10. But Ladra bets there will be quite a few entries for checks dated March 22. After all, Hernandez has a lot of economic pull in Miami Lakes (adding fuel to the argument that the boundaries between the two municipalities are getting blurrier and blurrier). Among the Lakes-side contributors to Hernandez’s own campaign, most of whom bundled thousands, are the Capote family, the Cayon family and maquinita king Jesus Navarro, builder Antonio Gestido and, of course, Marty Caparros, longtime business partner of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina.
Come to think of it, where is Robaina in this? Pizzi couldn’t get the rainmaker so he booked the puddle dancer? Well, Mayor Muscles can use all the stomping he can get. He basically financed his own campaign last time with more than $45,000 in loans. And Hernandez has been hosting fundraisers for others, including John M. Rodriguez, a Hialeah attorney seeking a judicial seat, who loaned himself $100,000 to try to get it (Whoa. Have to do more on that later).
Anyway, Mayor Muscles hasn’t loaned himself anything yet and hadn’t reported one dime collected as of Dec. 31. And his campaign consultant Vanessa Brito, the Miami Voice recall PAC professional activist and political con-woman celebrating last year’s recall of former commissioner Natacha Seijas in this photo with Pizzi, is better at spending money than bringing it in (just ask failed Miami City Commission candidate Kate Callahan, failed state rep candidate Lisa Lesperance and failed Miami-Dade commission candidate Mimi Planas). “I don’t do fundraising,” Brito said when she actually called me back this time. Maybe she’s getting soft.
But if Hernandez fails to bring in enough dough, at least Pizzi, who gets $18,000 a year as his salary for town mayor, is far more gainfully employed these days than he was four years ago since he landed the lucrative $192,000-a-year town attorney post last September at the town of Medley, where he is accused of using his position already to benefit his benefactor, developer Lowell Dunn (more on that later, from Ladra as well as other members of the media).
Wonder when Dunn’s fundraiser will be.
Hialeah mayor helps Lakes Mayor raise funds added by Ladra on
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