Doral City Manager Joe Carollo, who survived an attempt by Mayor Luigi Boria to oust him last October, says he 
will likely be out of a job Monday.
The common perception is that Councilwoman Christy Fraga, who had voted against Carollo’s firing the first round in October, has changed her mind and will become the swing vote Monday with Boria and Councilwoman Sandra Ruiz, who were on the losing end of that 3-2 vote.
Fraga called an emergency meeting for Monday for the purpose of “administrative evaluations.” And while she has not provided details, even though Carollo and Councilwoman Bettina Rodriguez-Aguilera have asked, there are only three positions that the council can evaluate: The manager’s, the city attorney’s and the city clerk’s. Since they just fired the city attorney and hired two recent lobbyists to replace them, and since City Clerk Barbara Herrera is not on anybody’s radar, it seems likely that Carollo is finally toast.
That’s why, true to his style, Carollo called a press conference Friday afternoon to steal their thunder, so to speak. Arriving more than half an hour late due to traffic en route from his attorney’s office, he told a roomful of waiting reporters and TV cameras that the council would not catch him by surprise like they did with former City Attorney John Herrin.
Oh, he also summoned us there to make allegations that the State Attorney’s Office is investigating the offer of a bribe to the mayor.
According to Carollo, Boria went to him several weeks ago to crow that he could have had him fired in October if he really wanted to. That’s because someone close to Fraga and her husband, who is always around, had offered her vote in his favor for a certain monetary sum. Carollo said Boria di
dn’t disclose the sum, but that he quickly told him to advise his attorney, who at the time was Dexter Lehtinen.
A serial whistleblower with a cop complex — who, las malas lenguas say, has been cooperating with authorities on several investigations since he exploded with allegations of criminal and ethical wrongdoings after Boria tried to fire him the first time — Carollo claims that Lehtinen told Boria to report the bribe. The soon to be ex manager said that Boria spoke to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
Ladra could not get independent confirmation Friday from the SAO, and Boria did not return calls. Fraga told Telemundo reporter Marilys Llano that she would not comment on the matter until after the meeting Monday, when she may have a press conference.
But while Carollo is called “Crazy Joe” for a reason — he often crusades — he is hardly ever a liar about these kind of things. “I know how serious these allegations are. And I would not be making them if I were not completely certain they were true,” he said. We cannot say the same thing about Boria, however. In fact, the only problem with Carollo’s story is that we can’t believe Boria didn’t buy the vote in October.
And that’s the problem with Carollo’s brand of whistleblowing: It comes after his job and reputation are threatened.
Carollo told a room full of reporters Friday that as city manager, he could not talk about certain things that were going on in the city.But he said that on Tuesday, after he is fired, he would sing like a canary.
The assumption is that he will provide the media with details about Sunshine Law violations, the mayor’s transactions with the Venezuelan government and, and, and… who knows what else? With Carollo, there’s always room for a dramatic surprise.
Ladra is salivating and has asked for the breakfast appointment.
Updated: Doral’s Joe Carollo has bribery claims as he is fired added by Ladra on
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