The long-anticipated showdown between Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell and challenger 
Daniella Levine Cava came and went Monday night as each worked hard to turn the heat up on the other at the Kendall Federation of Homeowners debate.
Levine hit Bell on the recent service cuts in police and libraries and the battle to balance the county budget on the backs of employees.
Bell basically called Levine naive and clueless.
Levine complained that after several calls to County Hall, she still has not been able to sit with budget staff to go over the numbers. “But I know that presenting it to the public as a choice between concessions and layoffs is a false choice,” she said, referring to Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s claim that the budget shortfall can only be closed if employees give up benefits they sacrificed three years ago that were set to “snap back” in October.
“I guess this is what happens when you don’t pay attention, because the budget is online,” Bell shot back, even though there is a stark difference between perusing the 600-page document online and getting someone like Budget Director Jennifer Glazer Moon to connect the dots for you. Trust me.
“You say you don’t know about the budget. You should,” Bell added, directing herself at Levine Cava a few times during the debate.
Read related story: Lynda Bell gets big GOP support vs commission challenge
Bell said that she voted against giving back the 5% healthcare contribution that commissioners returned to the county employees earlier this year precisely because she saw how it would affect the budget. She then went on to talk about 
supplemental pay and paychecks that have ballooned for police rank and file and firefighter paramedics.
“We have walking and breathing pay,” Bell said. “This is a bigger problem. These concessions are not sustainable.
Levine Cava pointed out that that higher pay is due to overtime, not salaries. And that the increase in overtime is due to the county’s failure to fill necessary positions, like 250 vacancies in the police department, where Bell is apparently okay with losing another 200 more cops.
“We’re not being honest with the public. They’re calling the 5% a raise, but the 5% is a restoration,” Levine Cava said, turning to the budget. “I will be fighting for a participation process, not just post it online,” she said, adding that the county plays shell games with its money and then posts the complicated budget online just days before the commission votes on the tax rate.
There were other questions on the Jackson Memorial Hospital penny sales tax and incorporations and what now seems like a moot soccer stadium issue, the proposed Cuban exile museum in downtown Miami and the moving of the Dade County Youth Fair to accommodate a growing Florida International University.
Even the environment came into play when the moderator asked about protecting the Everglades. Levine Cava bragged about her endorsement from the Sierra Club. Bell bragged about her recent airboat ride.
“The Everglades is not just here for our enjoyment,” Levine Cava said, after Bell shared her breathless story about riding across the River of Grass. “The Everglades is there for our survival. It’s our drinking water.”
She also noted that Bell has voted to move the Urban Boundary Line, which is supposed to mark the western edge of development, and tried to tie it to the many contributions the incumbent has gotten from developers and construction folks.
The crowd applauded wildly for the challenger, and politely for Bell, who tried to stand her own anyway. She said that the development she had approved across the UDB was previously a rock parking lot for 20 years.
“So this is just nonsense. This is just nonsense,” Bell repeated, visibly flustered, because it was the best she could do.
Read related story: Daniella Levine raises tons of cash against Lynda Bell
Both also answered a question about the lack of follow up from the commission on a non-binding ballot question that got 64% of the people to vote for additional taxes to fund improved animal service and a no-kill shelter. Bell — who sponsored the item and then backed out when the group got the votes — said she was proud of her recent puppy mill legislation, which strengthens regulation and enforcement against serial breeders. She said she was also proud of the fact that the county had allocated an additional $4 million last year and this coming year for animal services (more on that later).
Bell further said that the Pet’s Trust people were all about fees and new buildings and “that’s not what it’s about. It’s about saving animals.”
Levine Cava, however, said she couldn’t believe that the commission had gone back on its word about the Pet’s Trust vote, after telling the group that if they could get the people approve a tax hike, they would set a millage to raise the $19 million needed for the full plan. “Such a violation of trust,” she called it. She said that most taxpayers are wary of government waste and the moving around of money like a shell game. “And here people were willing to tax themselves more.”
The best zinger came at the end, when Levine Cava basically stripped Bell of all her achievements.
“She’s taking credit for other people’s accomplishments,” Levine Cava said, pointing to a Mom & Pop Shop grant application for District 8 businesses that starts with Bell’s photo. She also mentioned the Beacon Council website, a “neighborhood service office” that basically mimics the 311 dial-information service and the ordinance passed on first reading last week that extends the waiting period — from two years to four years — that retired county employees and officials must rest before they can lobby the commission.
“It was a solution with no evidence of a problem,” Levine Cava said.
“She’s very good at taking credit for others’ accomplishments. But I’m the real deal.”
Bell, who was on the defensive pretty much all night, said she knew was “hostile territory” and that she was warned the audience would be stacked against her. And it’s true. Levine t-shirts abounded and Bell did not have her own team of cheerleaders. Ladra didn’t even expect the commissioner to go. It’s not like she was going to change anyone’s mind. Of course, she would have been criticized if she had been a no-show.
So Bell gets kudos for showing up regardless.
“I was told I would be mistreated and I came anyway, because I’m a public servant,” she said.
Well, that and the tight race to save her political life.
Lynda Bell vs. Levine Cava debate becomes heated spar added by Ladra on
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It looks like Daniella Levine-Cava has won this race.
For me, that is bad, because I plan to work for Uber, and I believe Levine-Cava is beholden to special interests rather than the public interest on ground transportation issues, whereas Lynda Bell is for the consumers, and free enterprise.
If Levine-Cava wins, it is too bad Ms. Bell caved in on moving the UDB, which I agree should not be done.
Although I have a stricter, higher priority, than the Mayor for funding Police above things like the Perez Art Museum, I also believe Ms. Cava is catering to special interests, over taxpayer interests, which I believe does not bode well for clean government. Yes, we give the highest priority to Police in the Budget, higher than the Mayor is giving. But Carlos Alvarez was rightly RECALLED for treating County employees as ABOVE THE RECESSION.
How can Ms. Levine-Cava claim to be for the poor and middle class while ripping them off to keep County employees living in luxury?
County government is so complex, with so many issues, it seems, God Willing, this race is a mixed bag (e.g. don’t we all believe we should treat our pets better?).
Wish it were Bell.
Sincerely,
Jackson Rip Holmes
Lynda Bell: A corrupt fascist in a corrupt reactionary’s clothing… More extreme than you think.
Does anybody really thinks she cares about animals? Just look at the condition the Sweetwater K9 OFFICERs were subjected to in her yard! She does not care about animals OR people! Lynda Bell. disrespects or allows her daughter to disrespect the tax payers of Sweetwater property. She wouldn’t have done anything if she wasn’t up for election. Bell has no respect for the residents of Miami Dade County or it’s employees…. The trash and food she left to rot next to the South Dade Goverment Center says it all… That’s what she called a Food Distribution Event….
Bell is absolutely lying about the “puppy mill” proposed ordinance. It will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help with the control of pets from mills being sold in stores. There is no real teeth in any area for enforcement of the ordinance. It relies on the way overburdened and incompetent animal control officers to do the enforcing. This agency CANNOT even go after people who do NOT license their pets as required by law, let alone inspecting stores to make sure they are in compliance. Abuse cases generally go largely unprosecuted because of enforcement limitations and incompetence. It relies on many of the same concepts that the federal DOA operates under and they have no ability to control and inspect “puppy mills” either. So with all the budget issues surrounding the county, how is this useless ordinance going to be enforced. It is merely a “dog and pony” show to make it appear that Bell and her political cronies such as DIAZ are trying to pull the wool over the animal activists to get their votes by making it appear that they are doing something about a disturbing situation that needs real, enforceable legislation. The county will NOT expand animal control resources as they seek to cut other areas of the budget, so where does the enforcement come from? And she also misrepresents the facts when she states, as her office has done to me in an email response, that the ordinance “bans” puppy mill sales. Again that is factually incorrect. If you read the ordinance, all it does is attempt to control the sale of pets, by a set of regulations that sellers of pets MUST comply with to be in compliance with the law. It does NOT BAN the sale of puppy mill pets!!!! And when I asked TWICE for a clarification of this, her office NEVER responded with one. So you be the judge on her sincerity and honesty on this matter….
Maybe Marky Mark should consider offering people a free night stay at Hotel Redland in exchange for their attendance at some of these debates! He might even consider throwing in a free bottle of water (completely arsenic free!).
Nobody expected her to win in District 8 back in 2010 and I’m a supporter!
But she has impressed many people since then.
I wonder what the rationale will be this time if she wins.
Really? You need to ask? Can you say disproportionate AB count?
But I hear this time somebody’s be waitin’ ‘n the tall grass.
Go right ahead.
You may be surprised as who might be caught on camera with ballots in hand.
Let me make this PERFECTLY CLEAR: There are NO BRICK AND MORTAR buildings proposed by the Mayor’s Plan of Action for the Pets’ Trust initiative.
It is ABSURD that the SPONSOR of the bill doesn’t even KNOW what she sponsored!
There are NO PLANS for NEW BUILDINGS. Just retrofitting OLD buildings that are NOT CURRENTLY in use.
The REAL question she did NOT answer is: WHY DID SHE NOT LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE 45,000 VOTERS IN HER DISTRICT THAT VOTED FOR THE PETS’ TRUST?
We NEED people who HONOR our democracy and LISTEN to the people. After all, isn’t THAT what democracy is ALL ABOUT?
I agree 100%. The way the Pet Trust was handled is unacceptable and we need to get the people OUT of office who failed to honor their commitments to those of us who did what they said we needed to do to get this passed. When our Commissioners pay as much attention to the regular citizen’s concerns as they have to Beckham, then we will know we have the right people representing us.
The entire District 8 is stacked against Bell. What does she thinks is going to happens she is hated because she is a hateful person
Bell stated that she was in “hostile territory.” And she was right. Not about Kendall which has responded very positively to her campaign.
Bell was referring to the Kendall Federation Organization as being hostile territory.
And she was right. Almost the entire room was filled with Daniella T-Shirts and other supporters.
I strongly believe that this was by design, not by accident.
Something to think about. And did you see Levine’s face all night. She looked very upset at the fact that Bell showed up. Oh, well…
I would say the whole district is hostile territory for her. She barely won her first election, and clearly her campaign team isn’t up to the challenge. Jeff Porter destroyed the same team when they worked for Lynda’s husband, Mark, in Homestead.
Both candidates knew about the debate ahead of time and had an equal opportunity to fill the room with their supporters. Bell, due to her poor record, has few supporters willing to cheer her on.
Not quite right, Carol.
For you see, while Daniella’s supporters are “cheering” her on at “debates” and “forums” our supporters are actually walking door-to-door everyday into the night.
They don’t have to be convinced how good Commissioner Bell is, They know.
But if Daniella needs her own “cheering” section everywhere she goes, so much the better…for us.
So it’s “our supporters” eh? Well, now that you have revealed yourself as part of Lynda’s campaign team, you have basically confirmed what I said earlier. If your plan is to fight the campaign on this blog you all are royally screwed. Daniella should just bust out the champagne now.
I agree it at least sounded like a stacked house for Cava. Maybe 2-1 but it begs the question. Why would Kendall be considered hostile territory? Neither candidate has any unique ties to the area that i know of and district 8 is pretty much made up of suburban east, the higher density West kendall and largely rural South Dade. I assume Bell considers south dade her home base but still, if three quarters of the voters in your district are considered hostile territory how does one carry the district?
Bell only seemed to get into trouble when she was trying to be something she’s not. Largely seen as a conservative, faith based, right to life, anti union, pro business republican which are all perfectly valid political positions. When she tried also be a progressive tree hugger she got in trouble.
Rough night for Lynda… Maybe Wayne should consider writing Cava a few checks before the end of the month. Just to hedge his bets.
I had respect for all of the candidates for most of the debate.. I did lose respect for Bell when she stood up and took a 1 minute rebuttal at closing remarks to announce that she was warned that she shouldn’t have attended in the first place.
This was disrespectful to me as a member of the community. Essentially she was saying that my time wasn’t worth her presence. I was very offended.
Also Kendall, who offers a rebuttal to closing remarks???