Maybe the state House race in 112 between former Florida Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Peace Corps activist-turned-Harvard lawyer Jose Javier Rodriguez isn’t such a sleeper after all.
Not now that both state parties are involved (even if the GOP has taken its sweet time for petty, punk reasons) and an old alliance between the three-headed DLP monster and Miami-Dade Comissioner Xavier Suarez seems irrevocably broken. Not now that there are pretty rampant rumors that the de facto incumbent in the open seat is already eyeing the Congressional mess being left by U.S. Rep. King David “Nine Lives’ Rivera (after all, the Dean of South Florida politics polled well there months ago and is the only name mentioned that can just step in).
Most observers, including Ladra, hand that 112 race to the veteran Diaz de la Portilla.
And this is as good a place as any for my transparency clause disclaimer: Ladra has a love/hate relationship with the Dean, who I consider (rightfully or wrongfully) a friend, and thinks he’s in it for the right reasons. While some have said he should stick to running campaigns, not running for office, DLP — who has always been open and transparent with me, in his signature cocky way — is good at being an elected. He can bring home the boliche, as he has shown in the past with monies for the Miami River clean-up, JMH and La Liga Contra el Cancer. And while he might be 1 of 120 reps statewide, he’s got swag with the rest of the delegation — those outside the 305, that is — and can get things done. He’s got his heart in the right place — despite what comes out of his mouth.
And, besides, anyone who loves his dogs that much — enough to risk arrest and spend thousands to keep after his messy divorce — can’t be all bad.
But it might not be a coast. His fresh-faced Democrat challenger is sure putting up a good fight.
Rodriguez, who came out of the primary with a near mandate 58-42 win (almost equal to Dean DLP’s 59-41 percent slam dunk over former State Rep. Gus Barreiro), seems to have a good handle on the funds, for a newbie anyway. According to the latest reports dated Sept. 14 (and new reports should be online any day now), Rodriguez has raised almost $107,000. And that does not include the near $30,000 in in-kind donations from the benevolent Democratic Party of Florida — for paid staff, research and polling — for a total of $136,000.
Without counting the PACs, which both have and where Ladra is sure DLP has more resources (more on that later), that trumps the Dean’s campaign war chest of $93,000, which includes the $30,000 in checks he got last month from the Republican Party of Florida. The Dems have been helping JJ since the primary.
While the RPOF — which has been helping with the campaigns of other GOP candidates — has finally stepped up to help one of their most stalwart conservative members, the party probably could have pitched in a little earlier. After all, they funded a pricy four-page, full-color piece for State Rep. Michael Bileca in an almost sure-thing re-election against Jeffrey Solomon. And, after all, the Dean helps them: Much of the advertising for School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla in his failed bid to return to the state house (in a race marred by absentee ballot fraud and other irregularities) did double duty as anti Obama campaigning. One might think the RPOF sorta owes the DLPs.
But, nooooo! Instead, they sat it out until just a few weeks ago. In fact, las malas lenguas dicen que the same Republicans who helped the Miami-Dade delegation wage war on the DLPs because of the turf they wanted in the House 103 seat which Baby DLP lost are willing to basically give up this seat (they have a super majority anyway) to prove whatever petty point they are trying to make. Another strained casualty of the war between the DLPs and almost the entire Miami-Dade delegation?
That’s one of the reasons Ladra wants the Dean to win. It’s nothing against Rodriguez, who I hope learns enough from this free DLP campaign university to run for something else after he loses. JJ-Rod apparently makes a great candidate — organized, funded, well-liked. And able to garner support and stamina like an old pro.
No, my beef is with the stupid party tricks, the Wicked Cigar Czar of the North and his flying monkeys — you know who you are and so does everyone reading this — and with the majority of the delegation that decided on their own who was “in” the club and who was not, because they are looking at lucrative lobbying contracts in the future (more on that later).
Those are the ones I want to see suffer, er, I mean work with Dean Diaz de la Portilla in the state capitol. Do or die.
Whaaaat? I told you I was sorta biased. Now you know one reason why: We have common demons and like goals.
Still, I like JJ-Rod, who was reportedly recruited into this race by former State Rep. Luis Garcia, who has had part of his district drawn into the new 112 boundaries. Liked him from the moment I first met him a couple of months ago at a Coconut Grove soiree attended by important local Democrats, including former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner and former County Commissioner Katy Sorensen. Rodriguez sounds smart and motivated and interested in everyone.
Dean DLP’s supporters point to the fact that Rodriguez is an outsider who has only spent minimal time in the 
district after state-hopping for a decade around Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina and elsewhere (well, he was actually getting his law degree). JJ-Rod said he has been back since 2006 and bought his Little Havana house — which, by coincidence or by design, is just three blocks from the home DLP has lived in all of his 48 years — in 2009 for $252,000. (And, yes, Rodriguez does live there. Ladra checked already.)
They also like to say that Rodriguez will be ineffective in a super majority Republican House where DLP can hit the ground running and more quickly benefit his constituency.
They also like to say that Rodriguez is a union-loving liberal who has been endorsed by an anti-Semite Occupy Miami organizer, Muhammed Malik, who has served as executive director of the Council of American Islamic Relations, and who reportedly led hate-filled, anti-Israel protests where demonstrators were filmed wearing Hamas paraphernalia and chanting “Nuke Israel” and “Go back to the oven” – a reference to Jews being killed in the Holocaust. Malik praised JJ-Rod’s win in the primary on the candidate’s Facebook page.
“Congrats, Jose. In my opinion (and no offense to anyone else running locally) you are the only candidate that elicits any excitement — and for good reason,” Malik wrote on Aug. 16. “That’s just some real talk. Good luck — it’s time for some homegrown inspiration. Word.”
Yeah, I know: Anyone might be able to post on his facebook page. But JJ-Rod didn’t have to give it a thumbs up. Ladra would have deleted it. And then unfriended Malik. Word.
Rodriguez skirts the issue of the Malik endorsement or any far liberal leanings. “I’ve been getting support from a broad array of people in the community, conservative and liberal. Anyone who wants to be represented by me, can support me.” Which Ladra guesses includes anti-Semites.
He also says that he spent 10 years away at college but has grown up in Miami and came back every summer and on holidays. “I was always very connected to Miami,” said Rodriguez, whose three issues are education, regulating and controlling the insurance industry and economic development. “Since I got back, I have been constantly working in the legal community, which has been right here in my district, so I think I know the community.”
And Ladra thinks the DLP camp has underestimated Rodriguez.
Start with the fact that Miami Herald primary endorsement — which, granted, has lost some weight but could still get a few hundred votes, a big number in a House race — went to Dominguez, who is likely to get it again against DLP. After all, the Dean, who had his first interview in 13 years Thursday with the daily paper’s editorial board, has never been endorsed by Ladra’s former employer, which chose to give their primary nod to Barreiro — despite issues with pornography found on his state-issued laptop and something to do with the racist comments that ended former State Rep. Ralph Arza‘s political career. And — from the only account I got so far — DLP may have blown it with his arrogance instead of blowing them away with his charm and brilliance like he could have and should have.
Man, Ladra wishes she could have been a fly on the wall in that room.
Add to that the fact that DLP does not knock on doors. JJ-Rod has knocked on at least 1,000 doors himself so far since the primary, he said, and his appeal could very well crossover from the Dems in the Grove — who will love his activist background and time spent as an attorney for Florida Legal Services — to maybe some Republican viejitos in Little Havana. Of course it’s hard to be more Cuban than a DLP, especially when your mom is a gringa from the mid-west and you can barely speak Spanish (Suggestion to Rodriguez, take a refresher conversational course before your next campaign). But he can always pull the Pedro Pan card because his dad was one of the Cuban youth to escape the island prison, sent by his parents to a free, unknown land.
Add to that the chirps of a little birdie who told Ladra that the latest poll has DLP up by a mere 10 points — which is a nice margin for anybody else but not pasandole el rolo like the Dean likes to do and succeeded in with Barreiro. Of course, that is twice what the Democratic Party’s poll for Rodriguez showed pre-primary. And, of course, that was before DLP really put any sweat into this race, putting all his efforts into Baby DLP’s contest.
Ladra suspects the GOP will pony up a little more for the DLP. Particularly now that he has reportedly become their only real hope for keeping — or regaining, depending how the Nov. 6 vote goes (more on that later) — the Congressional seat where the embattled Rivera faces his nemesis and Democratic hopeful Joe Garcia, former chairman of the Public Service Commission and the man most blamed for the crumbling of the Cuban American National Foundation.
And maybe also because Ladra predicts more help from the Democratic party for Rodriguez — whose TV ad bashes Florida Gov. Rick Scott (that’s called a return on investment). The 30-second spot has been airing daily on some local channels but only in the district, Rodriguez said. 
The fellow Democrat he trounced Aug. 14, Alex Dominguez, also endorsed him and invited Ladra to a fundraiser Thursday hosted by a bunch of local party loyalists jumping at the slim chance, during a presidential election cycle, of winning over this seat — a newly drawn district made up of almost equal parts from the seat vacated by the term-limited State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Republican who is now the newly-elected Miami-Dade Property Appraiser, and former State Rep. Luis Garcia, a Democrat running at the behest of Norman Braman to unseat Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro (and who has to be hitting his head against the wall for dropping out of a possible sure-thing Congressional seat). The host committee Thursday night reads like a who’s who of local Democrats. And they were welcoming and nice to Ladra, especially considering that I have been honest with them about my respect and admiration for the Dean and the fact that I kind of want to see him in Tallahassee to revenge the blood of his baby brother, among other things.
Just think of the future blog posts!
Among the hosts were Miami-Dade DEC Chairman Richard Lydecker, Executive Director Cedric McMinn and Finance Chair Joseph Perkins, at whose Brickell area home the fundraiser was. Also on the committee: State Reps. Cynthia Stafford, Joseph Gibbons, Dwight Bullard, who is running for state senate in District 39, and the newly-minted David Richardson, the first openly gay representative elected (to which a congratulations and an about time is both due), as well as former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, Annette Tadeo-Goldstein (who has failed bids for both Congresswoman and county commissioner), and Mauricio Padilla, who also happens to be the attorney for missing-in-action consultant and DLP ex Ana Sol Alliegro, who has a host of her own problems related to another race (more on that later).
But the host name that jumped out at Ladra the most is former Miami Mayor and Miami-Dade Commissioner Mayor Sir Xavier Suarez, who I have much respect for despite our shared past about his role in the tainted 1997 mayoral race (let’s not remind him), and who I always thought was a DLP ally. They helped him first in that race (DLP did the mailers, not the absentee ballot machine) and then last year against former State Rep. and South Miami Mayor Julio Robaina (the good one not the bad one), who has been keeping a low-profile to, arguably, heal from not one, not two but three failed campaigns — for state senator, county commission and South Miami mayor. (Maybe he should try running for a community council next. It’s the logical progression).
But I thought wrong, apparently.
“I supported [Sen.] Miguel [Diaz de la Portilla] against Julito Robaina. And that was a close call. Francis [Suarez], and I both liked Julito at first,” X said about his son, the Miami city commissioner and, perhaps, the catalyst of this crumbling of alliances (read on).
“I’ve always gotten along with Miguel. I’ve never been an ally of Alex’s. I never supported Alex for anything,” Suarez went on. “I don’t think he should be in the legislature. I don’t want him to represent me. I live in that district.”
X had nothing but good things to say about Rodriguez. “It’s a no-brainer for me. It doesn’t hurt that the guy went to Harvard Law and his middle name is Javier,” Suarez quipped. But he has more serious reasons, too.
“I think he’s a magnificent young entrant to the political arena. Every time lately that I’m on a good call, the guy is there,” Suarez said, citing the attorney’s work with cab drivers and the back wages county ordinance he wrote. He said he is not the only one who is warming up to the young attorney in the heavily-Republican, Little Havana-centered district, where people normally hear angels singing when you mention the Diaz de la Portilla name.
“Jose Javier is very well received there. I talk to Republicans and they’re willing to vote for him,” Suarez told me. Willing? Willing? Really, that is the word he used. They’re “willing” to vote for him. More casualties from the war?
While Ladra thinks that Rodriguez will benefit from a motivated Democrat voter bloc that wants to re-elect Obama, I also believe he could potentially be hurt by an anti-Obama wave, particularly in the high-performing Little Havana precincts where the Dean is more like a king. Sure, the new district might be a tad more blue now with Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove. But those precincts don’t have the numbers nor the high, repeat performance of Little Havana voters, the deep DLP voter base.
The Dean, who helped Suarez get elected in 1997 — a seat X later lost after a Miami Herald investigative team (ahem) proved widespread absentee ballot fraud in his race, including the vote of at least one dead man, and a judge removed him from office — seemed somewhat surprised by Commissioner Mayor Sir’s words and support to his opponent (while most other people I mention it to are downright shocked).
But he also said he didn’t want the X endorsement, which he called irrelevant.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Commissioner Xavier Suarez. I have never really sought a political endorsement. The only support that I really care about is the support that I hope I can earn from my neighbors. I hope I can live up to their expectations,” Diaz de la Portilla said.
Then, after thinking about it a little, he added something a little more Dean DLP: “At the end of the day, what can you expect from an overly ambitious and known flake? Google him.”
That’s my boy.
So why would Suarez — definitely a one-time DLP fan who challenged the Dean to a game of one-on-one hoops in Tallahassee and showed up to a House committee meeting with the basketball in his hands — pitch for a guy with no RBI record? This is a guy who once ran for chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party and is not outwardly helping any other candidates.
Asked if it had anything to do with rumors that Dean DLP might have also set his eyes on the Miami mayor’s seat that his son Francis covets (and don’t worry Mayor Commissioner Sir, that was before Washington, D.C., came into his view), Suarez said “absolutely not” and that he has long had issues with Dean DLP “because of everything you read in the papers.”
In fact, X said his well-known nickname for the Dean is Rasputin, a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who some call the “Mad Monk” and some believed to be a visionary, psychic or faith healer. It has been arguedby historians that Rasputin helped to discredit the government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917 (wait, isn’t that a good thing?).
Apparently, Ladra is not the only local political junkie with a penchant for nicknames.
Now, why didn’t I think of that one?
House race 112: Parties push and an old alliance crumbles added by Ladra on
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