Coral Gables: Dishonest campaign nets Cason smaller win

Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason and his dishonest campaign fooled enough people to win re-election comfortably Tuesday.

But by a much smaller margin that shows he’s lost a lot of the voters’ faith.

Former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera conceded at 8 p.m, an hour after polls closed, when only the absentee ballots had been counted and Cason had won 62% of those. The gap was 1,070 ABs — or too wide to close with Election Day votes.

By 9:20, when all 27 precincts were counted, Cabrera had gained ground. But not enough. Cason was still the mayor — 57 to 43.

Guess that’s what lies and fake endorsements, exaggerated achievements and expedited sidewalk repairs gets you.

But 57% is certainly not something to crow so heartily about, as Cason did in the Miami Herald story on the race.

“I’m so happy that Coral Gables residents could see through all the lies amid all the negativity and realize that our city is on the verge of greatness,’’ Cason was quoted as saying. “We’re much better than we have ever been. I’m happy that optimism prevailed over nattering nabobs of negativism.”

Big words from someone who got less than 60 percent. And if you are just looking at Election Day, he barely got 50 percent, with Cabrera climbing up to 49.3.

And really? Nattering nabobs? Are you talking about the 3,300 people who voted for Ralph?

According to the online dictionary, the definition is “a very wealthy, influential or powerful person.” It actually comes from “Nawab,” which is someone, particularly a European, “who has made a large fortune in India or another country of the East.”

Say what?

The mayor claimed that Cabrera was using scare tactics by exaggerating crime statistics, but he was the one who ran one of the most dishonest campaigns Ladra has ever seen.

Quietly dishonest. Discreetly dishonest.

First, he selectively omitted business burglaries and auto burglaries and backyard burglaries to present skewered crime figures that indicated crime was actually down. That’s not just lying, that’s irresponsible.

He uses Cabrera’s own words out of context and lies about the ex commissioner’s track record.

The incumbent mayor, who used the bully pulpit to promote himself, was dishonest again and exaggerated his civic performance by saying he attended 5,100 in four years. We later learned it was about half of that, according to a calendar obtained by the Herald, and that those included every single meeting he had in his office — even those with his secretary or his campaign manager, of all people.

Later, he sent a poster-sized mailer that looked like it came very officially from the city, celebrating 90 years of perfection. It was subtle, and never said vote for Cason. But it was paid for by his PAC and produced by his campaign manager, Jorge de Cardenas, and the subliminal message was there: “Things are going great. Let’s keep the status quo.”

The same misleading tactic was used in a Neighbors ad that had the mayor surrounded by the commission with their thumbs up in front of City Hall. At least two of the four commissioners told Ladra that they didn’t know that photo would be used in campaign materials and did not mean that thumbs up as an endorsement.

A resident thanks Cason for his sidewalk, because the mayor is the one who made it happen. — A resident thanks Cason for his sidewalk, because the mayor is the one who made it happen = one vote.

Cason also admitted that his campaign team was reporting sidewalks that needed repair — through the mayor’s wife — to the public works department. That could be a violation of the city charter that would call for his removal from office. And Ladra is still pursuing that.

At best, Cason’s convenient exaggerations convinced people that he was, indeed, the best thing to happen to the Gables since George Merrick. At worst, he bought votes with smooth sidewalks.

Unfortunately, most of these shenanigans became public just a few days before the election, which means many people had voted by absentee ballot already. They didn’t get to hear about all this shady shit until it was too late.

And that may be why the margins are so different between the AB votes and the Election Day turnout. Cason won 62 percent of the AB vote but barely got 50 percent of the Election Day vote. By then, many more voters had heard about his shenanigans.

So we can safely say that most of the people who voted for him were fooled.

And complicit in that were Commissioners Pat Keon and Vince Lago, who know better, who both said that their photos were used without permission for Cason’s campaign, but who said nothing throughout the lies and exaggerations. Tsk, tsk. They could have and should have said something. After all, they represent the residents, too. And they just let them be lied to.

Cabrera kept his campaign clean and honest. Even the negative mailers and emails — which pointed out Cason’s lack of leadership and precedent-setting vote on the Mediterranean Village height (which also happened after many absentee ballots were cast) — were 100 percent truthful. He won both debates with more ideas and more knowledge of Coral Gables than the absent mayor. And he created more buzz in social media.

I helped with that part of the campaign and I know that I am not alone when I say that I hope Ralph stays active and starts campaigning for 2017 right away. He owes it to the 3,301 people who voted for him and believed in him, like Ladra.

Because one thing is for sure: Cason, who trounced Cabrera in 2013 with 71 percent of the vote, did not get a mandate this year with 57 percent. His big margin with the absentee ballots (62-38) dropped every time a precinct came in.

And at the end of the day, his 42-point lead from two years ago shrunk to 14.

So he didn’t fool everybody.

Jim Cason, Ralph Cabrera

Coral Gables: Dishonest campaign nets Cason smaller win added by Ladra on April 15, 2015
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