Winners and losers in Miami Beach election, runoff races

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The three winning candidates are not the only victors in Tuesday’s heated election in Miami Beach.

There are a whole slew of people, organizations, firms and special interests who also won alongside the city’s newest commissioners, all newcomers to the dais — Attorney Michael Grieco, retired banker Joy Malakoff and Tallahassee wife Micky Steinberg.

Ladra may have missed a few, being a new dog on the Beach. But I think I got the main winners and losers.We’ll start with the winners first. And we’ll start with the most obvious.

• Mayor Elect Philip Levine: Sure, he won his race in the primary Nov. 6, albeit with a tiny margin much smaller than that of his slate mates. But he got two of those socios in with him to stack the commission votes he already has even higher. Two out of three ain’t bad. This will arguably help him, if he wanted, to become strong mayor or help friends get a piece of the convention center business since he needs a super majority now.
• Commissioner Jonah “Potty Mouth” Wolfson, the architect behind Team Levine who hopes that this win will help him run for state office, as rumored, when he is termed out in 2015 (more on that later). Despite not having the balls to answer questions about his disparate self-proclaimed property values, $100,000 campaign against nobody and sudden rise in net worth, Wolfson is looking better now to consultants and lobbyists and other campaign financiers who don’t care much about those things but just how affective you are at the dais and at the ballot box.
• Attorney JC Planas, who represents Levine and Wolfson and probably some of the others now and whose profile on Miami Beach just got raised a notch, not to mention his billing hours.
• Campaign consultant David Custin, who doubles as a lobbyist and represents firms who do or want to do business in Miami Beach, like the towing companies he was able to get a $50 fee hike approved for earlier this year. Custin worked for Levine, Grieco and Malakoff so he can claim a trifecta. His only loss in this race was Elsa Urquiza, who was beaten by Steinberg and the Miami-Dade Democrats.
• The Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which pushed hard for Steinberg, the wife of former State Rep. Richard “Sext Me” Steinberg, a Democratic legislator who was forced to resign after he was accused of text-stalking a woman. This is the third time the Miami-Dade Dems go all out for someone who wins, building their power (more on that later), which brings smiles to Chairwoman Annette Taddeo‘s face.
• Which brings me to Annette Taddeo, who has been slowly but surely building up her profile since her double whammy political losses, first to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 2008 and then to Commissioner Lynda Bell in 2010. Some say Taddeo has matured, showing that she has more prowess as a political booster and strategist, or maybe strategy implementer, than as a candidate.
• Roger Abramson, an also ran in the Group 3 race who switched his endorsement of Bower to Malakoff at the last minute so he could gain favor with Levine and his team. By his account, Abramson will now have an ear for his issues at City Hall. He will be big man on campus.

Now, for the losers, which may seem harder to identify, believe it or not:

• Activist Elsa Urquiza, who has paid her dues and done all the right things being involved with the city, but lost to newcomer Steinberg anyway. Maybe it was because she aligned herself, and needlessly, with the wrong people, which is not just Custin (who some say is the right people after Tuesday’s results), but also former Hialeah Councilman Herman Echevarria and current Council Vice President Luis Gonzalez, photographed here at an Urquiza fundraiser. If ever Urquiza had a shot at public office, this was the year for her. Though if she stays active and concerned — and independent, of course — she might have a chance at redemption two years from now and run for Wolfson’s open seat.
• Activist and also ran Sherry Roberts, who lost in the Nov. 6 primary but threw what she thought was her considerable weight behind Urquiza with a tainted endorsement that was as low as they get, making baseless allegations against the Steinbergs, who she blamed for her residency question issues, and saying that Micky Steinberg was anti-gay. Unlike Urquiza, Roberts’ chances at redemption are pretty freakin’ bleak.
• Also ran David Crystal, who also lost in the primary to Grieco and Expo but who just has to make the loser’s list nonetheless. Especially since I repeatedly hear from people close to both candidates that he offered his endorsement — for payola or a job. “I made it very clear that just as I would give my endorsement to anyone who deserved it, I would welcome his endorsement but would not consider any quid pro quo,” Exposito told me, without confirming that he was shaken down. Except why would he find the need to say it that way? To use those words? Quid pro quo. Crystal loses out on both a potential income stream and street cred.
• Hispanics, who no longer have any representation on the Beach commission.
• Activists who were critical of or worked against Levine, including Alex Fernandez, a city commissioner aide, who are likely not to have an ear at City Hall, like Abramson has.
• Ladra is also on the list of losers, dear readers. Because I hardly expect to get a call back from the mayor elect ever, on anything. In fact, I wonder if he will let me sit in on public meetings or if he will have one of his goons toss me out — again. He and Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez ought to get together and share war stories. I am quite sure Levine will continue to try to discredit me, as he did when he told a group of local media that I was a “paid political assassin” hired by mayoral candidate Steve Berke (he had earlier said it was Commissioner Michael Gongora, who also ran for mayor and lost). And I suspect that Custin, who handles at least four of the sitting commissioners now as well as the mayor, will make sure that I am blocked as much as possible (but don’t worry, dear readers. Ladra loves a challenge).

Well, those are the winners and losers that come to mind as of right now. But like in all local elections where the stakes are high, this list is subject to change, or certainly growth.

And Miami Beach will be on the losers list, too, if it turns into another Hialeah, where elected officials are like bobbleheads and abuse of power allows the violation of freedom of the press to go unchecked.

But did I miss anybody?

  David Custin, Elsa Urquiza, Jonah Wolfson, Joy Malakoff, Miami-Dade Democrats, Micky Steinberg, Philip Levine