Let the political Hunger Games begin.
When the prize is a $1.6 billion sewer contract at Miami-Dade, the lobbyists and representatives of the companies vying for 
that chunk of ka-ching are like “tributes” fighting to the death. They are not just going to lay down and die if they don’t get it on the first try. Or even the second.
They’re going to fight.
Because even though Mayor Carlos Gimenez has recommended AECOM Technological Services for the fat, juicy job, the commissioners will make the final decision. Maybe as early as Tuesday. And they could go with the firm that the county had originally picked, CH2M Hill. Even though AECOM was ranked first by a selection committee, county staff recommended CH2M Hill after they provided supplemental information. That raised concerns that the cone of silence had been broken. AECOM complained. An investigation ensued.
And at the end of the day, the inspector general cleared the way for AECOM to get rewarded for protesting.
Read related content: Carlos Gimenez rewards family (again) in $1.6 billion deal
But it ain’t over til the fat cats on the commission dais sing. That’s why more than 15 lobbyists with both sides — because there are more lobbyists than the ones registered at the county — have been meeting with them Thursday, Friday and likely again Monday.
Even the mayor has a visit scheduled in just a couple of hours this afternoon from some of his pals with a stake in the project — former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente, his business partner Alex Heckler and Ralph Garcia-Toledo, who used to drive Gimenez around in his first mayoral campaign and is now in line to, well, line his pockets just because of the palanca.
While Llorente is one of 10 CH2M Hill reps registered at the county, Garcia-Toledo is not a registered lobbyist, as required — but his wife Vicky Gacia-Toledo is.
So what is Ralph doing there today? Shouldn’t she be the one at the meeting? Or does Ralph serve as her proxy because he has more of the mayor’s ear?
Ladra has calls in to the mayor’s office, his new spokesman Michael Hernandez, Llorente and Garcia-Toledo and will provide more details as soon as she’s got ’em.
But the mayor certainly has pressure on both sides pulling him in two directions. While Llorente endorsed him after he came in third in the 2011 recall mayoral race and Garcia-Toledo probably has breakfast every Saturday in the Gimenez kitchen, the mayor’s daughter, Barby Rodriguez Gimenez, works for one of the lobbyists for AECOM.
And you know what they say about blood being thicker than water and sewer.
Lobbyists hungry for that $1.6 billion job meet with mayor added by Ladra on
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