Two of the original G-Men are together again: Jesse Manzano-Plaza, who ran the immediate 2012 re-election campaign for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, has joined the consulting firm headed by Alex Heckler and former State 
Rep. Marcelo Llorente, who came in third in the 2011 recall mayoral race and then endorsed Gimenez.
Manzano and Ben Pollara, one of the firms founding members and last year’s voice for medical marijuana in Florida, will head up the group’s new LSN Communications division, which will be dedicated to public relations, public affairs, media relations, crisis management communications and “issue advocacy.”
In other words, they are positioning themselves as messaging and referendum gurus.
This also proves that, yes, Virginia, Republicans and Democrats can work and play together.
Manzano, the Republican who has worked for both former Gov. Jeb Bush and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, has been kind of absent in the past couple of years after helping Gimenez and to pass the $1.2 billion Miami-Dade Public Schools referendum. That’s because he was serving for 1o months in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a public affairs officer for the Joint Task Force responsible for detentions there.
Seems like a natural jump from terrorists to local government.
Pollara, the Democrat, has been a party insider for years, serving as the Florida finance director for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and on President Barack Obama‘s 2012 National Finance Committee. But last year, he came onto everybody’s radar as the public spokesman for the medical marijuana ballot question that almost passed in November.
Yeah, I know. Medical marijuana meets Jeb Bush. Who’d have thunk it?
In a joint written statement — because it’s even come to that now; joint statements that are nothing but self-serving — Manzano-Plaza and Pollara said, “We are thrilled to embark on this new venture and excited to bring our combined over-two decades experience in the public affairs world to LSN’s clients.”
But of course they are. What are they gonna say? “Watch out, here we come?”
Not to be outdone, Llorente and Heckler also came up with their joint statement, which is a little more telling if you read between the lines: “We are really looking forward to offering this new service to our existing clients and to also using this as a tool to grow our business throughout 2015 and beyond. The partnership of Jesse and Ben will bring a fresh perspective to our clients and our ability to deliver results for them.”
Ladra smells another bond referendum (read: tax in disguise) coming. They’re cooking one up right now.
New purple spin doctor duo: Jesse Manzano & Ben Pollara added by Ladra on
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