While the regular Joe P. Taxpayer citizens of Miami-Dade County were begging county commissioners to restore the library budget to what is needed to go back to the right level of services and not to fire police officers and not to increase the bus fair and prices for special transportation for the elderly and the disabled, one man in a dark, tailored suit walked 
up and down the dais, often with his hands in his pockets, getting some really great and enviable access to the mayor’s top staffers and maybe even some commissioners.
That man is Jorge Luis Lopez, the lobbyist who has made 111 NW First Street like a satellite office and who should likely have a desk on the 29th floor. Can’t find Lopez at his Coral Gables office? Call the office of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Giveaway” Gimenez.
Lopez — who also traveled with Gimenez to Europe last year to see the Pope and is one of the hosts for the Mayor’s Ball every year — might have been there Tuesday to represent Lyft, one of the passenger ride services whose business model was approved 10-2 on first reading. But he hung out way after that vote was taken, walking up and down the dais like he owns it. The sergeant at arms, who regularly tells people they cannot stand there and have to sit down, didn’t bother him once.
Or he might have been there as one of the eight — yes, eight — lobbyists hired by Florida International University and its new PAC, Friends of Higher Education, in its effort to get their hands on the Dade County Youth Fair grounds for university expansion (more on that later). It never came up (it will on Thursday, we were told), but there were so many FIU people there hoping and praying they could get it done at the tail end and under the radar Tuesday when everyone was paying attention to the budget and commissioners were bone tired from all the fake hand-wringing.
Or he might have been there to represent one of the other 40 or so companies Lopez is registered to lobby 
for, including The Miami Heat, FP&L, Riviera Schools and the Homestead Miami Speedway, to name a few.
Or he might have been there to solidify his pole position as the mayor’s preferred lobbyist — make sure his clients, future possible clients and all the other lobbyists saw him working the crowd. It was flit like a butterfly, but shine like a peacock time. The message: “Psssst. If you want to get to Gimenez, there’s nobody better than me. I’m your man.”
Lopez — who likes to do weekly polls to gauge the public sentiment — certainly wasn’t there to advocate for libraries or firefighters or police officers. He wasn’t there to ask the commission to defy his BFF Gimenez and set a higher tax rate so that they can fully consider the county’s priorities before setting it in stone. How come he didn’t say a peep? Well, it could be because he doesn’t need to get up to the podium. He can just send the mayor a text with a smily face or a frowny face.
Read related story — Poll: Mayor Carlos Gimenez is too comfy close to lobbyists
I didn’t get to ask him Because Lopez did not return several calls and voice mail messages and a text message left for him Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Ladra guesses Lopez knew his role is clear: He was there to chat up the mayor’s top staff, including outgoing Chief of Staff Lisa Martinez, who he left the commission chambers with for a short while for a private talk, and Inson Kim, the mayor’s $105,000-a-year legislative and policy aide.
What did they talk about? Inquiring minds want to know. Especially since whatever it was seemed to be funny enough to tickle Kim’s usually serious bones. Just look at those smiles!
Perhaps Lopez provided comic relief at a very stressful budget meeting. But I guess only for a lucky few.
VIP lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez chummy with mayor’s staff added by Ladra on
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Mr. Mayor, so much for uour transparency website. In addition ti all the disbursements to various Munilla companies, such as MCM, there millions of $$$$$ in disbursememts to Munilla Construction Management. They must do this to cover up sooo much money being funneled to one contractor. If you run a search from Jan 1, 2011 through today as MCM and then as Munilla Construction Management, it will make you want to throw up when you see the tens of mollions of $$$$$ that Gimenez has given his buddy. All on your bullshit transparency sitehttp://www.miamidade.gov/transparency/online-checkbook.asp
Gimenez Jr. is on his way to learning his trade. We forget that his mentor, Fred Balsera, learned from an old school bag man, Sylvester Lukis. Mr. Lukis was well entrenched in local politics with the likes of Penelas and Company years ago. Things apparently got too hot and he went off to work for another firm.
“Bag Man” is not a term commonly used anymore but the concept for which it stands is alive and well.
Jorge Luis Lopez, the Munilla brothers, and Gimenez Jr. Have become way too comfortable at County hall. The relationships to the mayor have made them start to get sloppy. They throw the relationships in OUR faces because they know nothing will be done.
The Munillas alone have several million dollars paid out to them since 2011. Many of those payments have been made to MCM-DRAGADOS, a company registered under the NAICS code 236115, which is new Single-Family Housing Construction.
Ladra, this needs to be researched. What single-family home projects has Miami-Dade had?
too hot for the doral
herald
Jorge Luis Lopez is indeed a cunning bad and bag man but he is also teaching Carlos Gimenez Jr the tricks of the trade. Jr has been calling clients that they know are having a tough time selling their product or services and out of nowhere receive a phone saying how he can open doors to the Mayor (daddy) so they need to hire him if they wish to be successful.
is there any wonder why many have suggested to dredge a canal between the Miami-Dade/Broward line and let Miami-Dade be its own country.
corruption flourishes here in the tip of the sunshine state.
Got-A-Point . Just FYI The mayor dismantled the police public corruption unit when he took to office and these types of investigations are now conducted by the State Attorneys office and FDLE. The police didn’t fail us the mayor did.
Jorge Luis Lopez is the real Mayor
Daisy,
You would need a real police department to take the initiative of spurring the investigation. Thus, the reason why the residents of Miami-Dade refuses to careless about our police force, because our police force don’t give a damn about us. They are simply failing us. Is this the reason why you are so quickly seeking the state or federal agency to investigate?
Seems like your “Point” is rather dull at best. How can the “local police” embark on a long term investigation of Lopez when the director, the deputy director and several chiefs actively engaged and supported the mayor’s election campaign and would block or neutralize any investigation that would harm the mayor out of fear of losing their rank or pay? (just as they did in the AB investigation of 2012). You must learn to make a distinction. The leadership of the local police is corrupt and just as guilty as the mayor but to say all police is corrupt is a misconception. The typical cop on the street going from call to call protecting this community may not understand the complexity of the high stakes games game played by Gimenez nor is he capable to investigate Lopez because the structure needed for such an investigation does not exist. This chess game is controlled by Gimenez and also our State Attorney. You cannot blame and discard an entire profession simply because the leadership is corrupt. I doubt you could hold the citizens of Rome liable for the actions of emperor Nero. Same logic applies here.
This is not how a true democracy should function. Our elected officials are voted into office to attend to the needs of our citizens not to be at the becking call of contractors or lobbyists. When will FDLE or the FBI grow enough manhood to put together a case against Jorge Luis Lopez? It is obvious that such case would have to be tried by a State wide prosecutor or at DOJ since our local State Attorney and U.S. Attorney are too “compromised’ to pay attention to this type of corruption. There are serious Florida Sunshine law, ethical and criminal violations involved here but nobody seems to mind. As a citizen of this county I am appalled to see this obvious disrespect for the sanctity of our government by a well connected opportunist. It works like this boys, first you zero in on a criminal allegation(and there are plenty to go around), then you follow him to his meetings with politicians and you watch how they vote on the contracts, then you obtain a warrant and you listen to all of his conversations with the corrupt officials, then you bug his office, house and car and then you follow the money and the illicit payments. At last,he and all his political associates are arrested and convicted and given deals to rat on each other, then is off to the farm. If a simple citizen knows the process what is stopping you FDLE or FBI? Get off your arse and earn a paycheck this is still America. Defend your Constitution.
He looks like a mafioso. Well! his father was called the Godfather of luncheros for some reason. Now the gentleman, the man who inspired “virtuosity” on his son according to the blast e-mail for Father’s Day, is actually accused of insurance fraud, with many felony counts (And this is the example JLL said he follows to raise “his” children (three of them not his, of course). Rumor has it that he and his wife have alienated the children against their real father. (Criminal if you ask me. Child mental abuse). They want the perfect Lopez family for politics. JLL claims to promote morality in the legal profession and here he goes with “purity of thoughts” influencing people to benefit his pockets, not for the best interest of his fellowmen. And Ii don’t know how his halo doesn’t show: he IS a “Saint”. He is a philanthropist Catholic leader who takes communion without being married thru the church. That is wrong, unless taking selfies with the Archbishop gives them some sort of special license. He lectures on perfection and prepares slogans for his wife to repeat on Mondays. Everything is too self-serving to be decent. He is an expert on everything, including “high power computers” that he learned to program by himself as a child!, and since they are friends with the Miami Herald executives, he gets his opinion and their perfect pictures published all the time.! They must have a very efficient PR company. They are everywhere…
They look good, yes, but what they do is fundamentally: immoral
Maybe Jorge Luis Lopez was lobbying for Parcel B to go to a Charrette or a Planning Study? Maybe he wants Parcel B kept as open green space provided that turf mats are installed to handle the Miami Heat’s overflow parking?
Leave him alone, Ladra! He doesn’t have any brains or skills, so what else is he supposed to do but provide mind-blowing, electoral fellatio to his high-end clients? Though I wasn’t expecting to see him working those members so hard in public view!