It was like a Sunshine Law violation waiting to happen: All but one of the city council members showed up to the kick off of Mayor Jeff Porter‘s reelection campaign
Thursday night — an intimate affair with about 100 or so people in the Champion’s Club at the Miami-Homestead Speedway.
In a rare sign of unity and collegiality foreign to most municipal governments, only Councilman Jimmie Williams was conspicuously absent as Porter thanked his wife and his colleagues on the dais for helping him to bring Homestead out of the dark and into a new era. And, he declared, he was ready to keep it going.
But it wasn’t a fundraiser. While the party was paid for by a new PAC called Change is Good — which strangely enough is going to work to keep with the incumbent — and while some of the guests were contributors to his Porter’s 2013 campaign, there was no big money ask and no glass bowl with checks at table at the door.
“This is a friends and family event. We’re not here to raise money,” Porter said. “We’re here to raise awareness.
“This community is doing so well with the leadership we have now,” he said. “We’ve turned the corner.”
Read related story: Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff
One would think he was talking about the scandals that plagued the city just two years ago when he ran for mayor against 
Mark Bell, the husband of former Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, and former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman, who ran the city like his own personal five and dime before he was arrested on charges of corruption for using his position to get a secret lobbying job.
But Porter was talking more about the lack of progress that plagued Homestead while Bateman was busy buying favors, playing political power games and acting as city manager.
Since Porter has come to office, not only has Bateman been found guilty and sentenced to 22 months — and Lynda Bell booted from office — but also voters passed referendums for a new police station and the redevelopment of the long-languishing Seminole Theater. Homestead officials — including former Mayors Nicholas Sincore and Roscoe Warren, who were at the event — broke ground on a new City Hall last fall.
And on Saturday, Porter and some council
members will be flying to Las Vegas for a giant retail convention to try to bring a cinema complex or big retail box to the downtown.
Read related story: Homestead bonds pass as voters forget Steve Bateman
Some of you may not know, because Ladra sure forgot, that Homestead is Miami-Dade’s 5th largest city, after Miami, Hialeah, Miami Beach and Miami Gardens. Porter seemed to indicate with his kick-off speech that Homestead is ready to get more than the scraps of the county, and that he was ready to fight for a bigger seat at the table.
“We’re not a small town. This is not mom and pop Homestead anymore,” he said. “We have big issues. We are a big community. And under the current leadership, we’ve made some real strides.
“Our future is bright.”
Porter, who Ladra thinks is one of the 
good guys, made sure to credit his colleagues with the city’s turnaround.
“These elected officers, they blow my mind,” he said. “I do my job and I don’t mess with their job and they don’t mess with my job. And we let the manager do his job.”
He asked the crowd, which also included some of the major contributors to last year’s campaign, that they also support his colleagues.
“I can’t do it by myself,” Porter said.
Three of the council members present have terms that end this year.
So far, there is nobody declared against the mayor, though candidates have until Sept. 4 to qualify.
Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter kicks off reelection among pals added by Ladra on
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