Doral’s dysfunctional drama just keeps on coming

• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

Many suspected Doral was doomed to a downward spiral when Mayor Luigi Boria bought his election and then hired his campaign man, former Miami Mayor “Crazy Joe” Carollo, as the city manager.

It is unsure, however, if anyone expected the slide to be quite so steep. Or so swift.

The once-sleepy town of hard-working and/or wealthy immigrants and/or golf enthusiasts has become a civic circus complete with a ringleader, clowns, clumsy elephants, acrobats and, yes, even a fake gypsy fortune teller. And Luigi the lion-tamer looks like he is in over his head.

Since the election in November that changed four out of five on the council dais, Doralitos have had to contend with dysfunction and drama that seems intent to rival the stolen election in their beloved Venezuela and that aftermath. Consider the following events:

• The turnaround of three city managers in less than as many months, and ultimate selection of “Crazy Joe” Carollo as city manager after he ran the millionaire mayor’s campaign.
• Two different vice mayors, after the mayor unceremoniously removed his nemesis, Councilwoman Sandra Ruiz, from the position and anointed Councilwoman Bettina Rodriguez Aguilar.
• Public displays of discord, such as the mayor snatching a microphone away from a councilwoman at a city event.
• A fraudulent and failed recall petition drive pushed by gypsy conartist Vanessa Brito, an outsider paid by what Ladra suspects is another outsider.
• Claims of corruption and false allegations of outright theft of official documents.
• Six special council meetings to address apparent “emergency” matters, like replacing the Vice Mayor or a new recall resolution to prevent anyone (read: Brito) from trying to oust the same elected more than once a year.
• And, now, a confrontation between the imposing, bully city manager with a reputation as a spiky-tongued hotheat and a skinny college student who works for Ruiz.

Carollo still hasn’t told Alex Castro, the unpaid intern, why his application was not accepted. Ruiz has him working for her outside City Hall after Castro was tossed from the public building by the city manager Wednesday in what seems like an obvious abuse of power. He hasn’t told her why Castro’s application was declined on Tuesday. And when she asks Human Resources Director Janelle Garcia what happened, Ruiz is referred to the city manager.

Garcia did not return calls from Ladra Friday. Nor did city spokeswoman Vilma Petrash, who loved Ladra when she first met me after I trashed the ridiculous recall, but probably doesn’t anymore. Mayor Boria did not call me back either. I wanted to ask him how long he is going to tolerate this kind of thing.

Carollo told me Wednesday that he would provide the reason for his ouster of Castro on Thursday. On Thursday, he only said that it was “absolutely appropriate” and that he would provide the reason in writing. On Friday, he did not return my calls to his cellphone or his City Hall office. Needless to say, there was no written explanation provided.

The 21-year-old FIU political science student who worked in Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart‘s office in 2011 was told by the city manager that there were “reports on me” and ordered to leave City Hall or be escorted out by police. Twice. Castro told me on Thursday that he was not going to go back to City Hall unless Carollo lifts the ban.

“I’m just going to stay away for now. I really don’t need an arrest on my record,” he said.

He is, however, getting some legal advice. Which is a smart thing, because the fancy new City Hall is a public building and Carollo has no right to bar anyone unless he can prove there would be a danger. Which he has not.

However, Doral City Attorney Joe Jimenez, who answered his own phone, told Ladra Friday that Castro wasn’t tossed from the building, per se, but from a secure area where only approved employees with key cards are allowed access.

“The manager had not accepted his application for whatever reason and he can be in the public areas but not in the secure area where there are sensitive documents and access to human resources files and other information,” Jimenez told me. “He has to be either with the councilwoman or in her office.”

Jimenez — who is leaving Doral in three weeks to follow his mentor, former City Attorney and now Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales — said that the policy for interns has certain criteria, such as working for college credits, that must be met. But, he added, he did not know why Carollo had denied Castro’s application.

“That’s at the discretion of the manager,” Jimenez said.

Ruiz believes she is being targeted and singled out because of the Bettina battles in the past and because she did not originally support Boria’s mayoral run. Ladra believes it’s also for another reason: The suspicion that, despite all her claims to the contrary, Ruiz has something to do with Brito’s bogus recall effort against Rodriguez, her longtime nemesis, who used to be the city’s economic development director and had butt heads with the councilwoman.

So, can Carollo just do it because it’s, say, an escalating pissing match with Ruiz?

“This is not an employee so employment laws don’t apply, so I don’t know off the top of my head,” Jimenez told me. “With an intern, I don’t know how far he can go on me da la gana.”

Whatever the reason is, it does seem that the manager’s actions in this case may not be as appropriate as he claims and might better be defined as bullying of the political retaliation kind. The victim is not really Castro. It’s intended to intimidate Ruiz.

“I felt like he was trying to intimidate me when he was yelling at Alex,” Ruiz told me. But it’s par for the course.

The councilwoman feels she is constantly being bullied and intentionally sidelined, and not just at the Relay for Life event where the mayor grabbed he microphone out of her hand on stage and in public. She asked on April 4 for a job description of Petrash’s new title as director of international relations and consumer affairs as well as public information and has yet to receive anything. She had an issue with her printer and called the help desk, only to be told she had to call the manager.

“I have to get creative. I’m ineffective. I can’t get anything done,” she said, also referring to the fact that she and newly elected Councilwoman Christy Fraga are in the minority. “I understand politics. I can count. I know they got the votes right now.”

But she also knows one other thing: “I’m elected to office by the people of Doral. And Joe Carollo is not.”