For Miami Commission, Teresa Sarnoff leads money race

As expected, Miami Commission candidate Teresa “The Missus” Sarnoff — who wants to replace her termed-out hubby Marc Sarnoff — is beating the other candidates in the fundraising department with almost $390,000.

To put it in context, that is more than the all the other candidates combined.

To put that in context, there are eight other candidates listed so far for the November ballot.

Campaign reports through April 30 show Sarnoff’s money comes mostly from real estate investment, management, development and construction interests and there are plenty of bundlers, or donors who give the $1,000 from their multiple companies and on behalf of several family members.

The biggest bundler so far is developer Carlos Ferreira de Melo and his family, who have ponied up $20,000 in contributions. That’s more than what all but two of the candidates have collected in total. Next after him was developer Jorge Perez, whose multiple companies contributed $17,000 to her campaign — but that doesn’t count the $35,000 they’ve given to Marc Sarnoff’s PAC.

Truth is the Daughter of Time has another $247,000 to spend on whatever Commissioner Sarnoff wants, whether it’s his wife’s campaign — which now has more than half a million accessible — or his future county or state campaign, rumored among all the political circles.

There are a couple of more PACs, including a new one that Ladra is trying to find out more about including one called Progress Miami with $80,000 donated since November and a “Miami-Dade Citizens for Progress,” opened last week, with the same treasurer as Sarnoff’s Daughter PAC, but this is a side business for a small bunch of local accountants. We’ll come back to these in a future post when we learn more.

Meanwhile, the other seven candidates lag pretty far behind. Longtime activist Grace Solares, in the photo here to the left, leads the rest of the field, having raised $118,820. But having already spent $25,600, that leaves her with less than $100K in the bank. She does, however, have a fundraiser this coming Wednesday hosted by Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado — which makes it awkward at City Hall, no? — Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Little Havana), among others.

Ken Joseph Russell, has about $32,000 after spending $6,500. Among his contributors, former candidate Michelle Niemeyer.

Restaurant owner Lorry Woods and Javier Gonzalez have each raised about $19,000, activist and teacher Rosa Palomino has raised $10K and Seth Sklarey and Mike Simpson should take their $100 and go home and have a nice dinner with a bottle of wine. Ladra has said, and I stand by it, that you don’t need to have the most money to win an election. But you do need to have some money. No money is just a waste of everybody’s time.

Again, Teresa Sarnoff’s money does seem to come from a lot of the same people who give to her hubby and a lot of interested parties. Among the other bundlers are a New York developer named Shahab Karmely, who gave $15,000 so far, the multiple Terra Development firms and Brickell City Ventures, which gave $12,000 each, The Milam family that owns B&R Supermarkets, who gave $11,000 between them, and former Hialeah Councilman and real estate developer Herman Echevarria, who gave $4,000. So far.

Because Ladra suspects that Mrs. Sarnoff’s booty will continue to grow. And no, I do not mean her backside.

Marc Sarnoff, Teresa Sarnoff

For Miami Commission, Teresa Sarnoff leads money race added by Ladra on May 23, 2015
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