Cardenas, Florez drop out of Miami Beach commission race

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U.S. Congressman? Nah.

Miami Beach commissioner? Nah.

What is Republican wunderchild David Cardenas waiting for?

The political prodigy — son of former Florida Republican Party Chair Al Cardenas, who now heads a national GOP PAC — withdrew from the race for Miami Beach commissioner in District 1 last month, less than a month after he filed to run.

“The time is right. People are looking for new direction,” Cardenas told Ladra in January, which I guess was when the timing was right. “What we’ve seen in Miami Beach is people playing musical chairs. I bring a fresh perspective.”

Not anymore. Or maybe he still really wants to take that fresh perspective, which is very partisan ladies and gentelmen, to a national audience. Cardenas still wants to be a political player on the national playing field, hanging with Daddy this past week at the Conservative Political Action Conference and gave the speeches by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and onetime Republican vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin a big thumbs up on his facebook page.

Cardenas told Ladra that the timing was not, indeed, as right as he thought it was. “I saw what a committment it was and with the baby I realized I just didn’t have the time,” the new papa said Sunday night. But, wait, David. You are not new to political life. You know how much time and committment it takes.

“Until tyou’re a candidate, you don’t really know the level of time and committment. From a professional and personal standpoint, I just couldn’t do it,” he said.

There were three other wannabes trying to grab the seat vacated by Commissioner Jerry Libbin‘s bid for mayor, but Christine Florez withdrew also, on March 6, leaving the battle between two: Dave Crystal, who filed the week after Cardenas withdrew, and Elsa Urquiza, who has been looking at this seat for two years, loaning herself $5,000 for the effort in March of 2011.

Urquiza, who has worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for more than three decades, owns and operates several apartment buildings on the Beach. Crystal is an “entrepeneur” (read: jobless) who finished a distant third in the 2011 mayoral race with less than 13 percent of the vote compared to almost 60 percent won by Mayor Matti Bower, who is termed out.

Crystal, who plans to qualify via the collection of signatures and skip the fee, came even 10 points behind number 2, Steve Berke, and is apparently, according to his website, a proud member of the fraudulent Miami Voice PAC led by gypsy con artist Vanessa Brito. Watch for her to have a role in the race, between recalls (more on that later) and other shenanigans, anyway.

In the Group 3 race, vacated by Vice Mayor Michael Gongora‘s bid for mayor, there are still three wannabes: Joshua Dunkelman, criminal defense attorney Michael Grieco — who represents Jeffrey Allen in his lawsuit against Miami Beach Police for using excessive force (and who has a fundraiser at Joe’s Stone Crabs on Tuesday night) — and Sherry Kaplan Roberts, who had planned to run for the Group 5 seat in 2015 and decided to change course, I guess, when she saw the weak field.

Nobody has dared challenge Commissioner Jorge Exposito in the Group 2 race, but candidates have until Sept. 6 to qualify for the Nov. 5 election.

Which means that David Cardenas has time to change his mind. Again.