No surprises in Miami Beach November ballot, mayoral race

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Qualifying ended Friday for the Nov. 3 Miami Beach elections and there were no surprise last minute hopefuls jumping into the ring.

But we do have four full races with 12 candidates.

There was high speculation that Mayor Philip Levine, who has become vulnerable in the last months of his first term, might draw a second opponent. But by 5 p.m., only attorney David Wieder, who had declared his intention weeks ago, filed the required paperwork to challenge Mayor Ego, who might end up being a one-term wonder.

Read related story: David Wieder challenges Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine

Wieder is chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Board and while he has not returned Ladra’s call, he’s told people that he is running because of two major things: a shift in preservation that has allowed the razing of more than 80 older homes and the soon-to-be retired shady PAC that Levine was shaking down vendors, contractors and developers for and producing shiny TV commercials with.

Wieder, who has not returned calls from Ladra, is facing a millionaire who spent $2 million of his own money to buy his election in 2013 and who has already loaned himself $250,000 — without batting an eyelash. Wieder reported that he collected no money and spent no money in August. Heck, he didn’t even know he was running ’til the other day.

Some folks half expected a rematch between Levine and former Commissioner Michael Gongora, who narrowly lost to the mayor in 2013. But if not Gongora, it will certainly be a rematch between Levine’s consultant, Christian Ulvert, and Gongora’s guy, Randy Hilliard, who is running Wieder’s campaign.

In addition to the mayor’s race, there are three open seats that are up due to term limits on Commissioners Ed Tobin, Deede Weithorn and Jonah Wolfson, whose potty mouth got out of hand again this week when he told a resident to go F himself after a land use meeting.

Read related story: Open Miami Beach seats become mayoral power playground

And, in each group, Levine has his handpicked favorites that he wants to stack the commission with, so it’s easier to do whatever he wants.

The clusterbunch is in Group 4, where we have six candidates who want the job. They are:

• Michael DeFilippi, a Realtor and member of the Miami Beach citizen sustainability committee.
• Scott Diffenderfer, a Realtor and seven-year member of the Miami Beach transportation and parking committee, he is also president of the Belle Isle Residents Association.
• Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, an associate professor of speech and communication at Miami Dade College.
• Isaiah Mosley, an environmental scientist with the URS Corporation.
• Jonathan Parker, aDUI defense attorney in Miami Beach.
• And Levine’s pick: Elizabeth “Betsy” Pérez, who owns a music producing business with husband Rudy Pérez, who produced the city’s centennial concert in March.

This is the only race that is headed to a run-off Nov. 17 because the other three are head-to-headers. Ladra predicts the final two will be Rosen Gonzalez and DeFilipi, not because they have the most money, because they don’t, but because they have made more connections with voters.

In Group 5, a third candidate dropped out to make it one-on-one between:

• Mark Weithorn, husband of Deede Weithorn, a real-estate agent and website developer who serves on the Miami Beach transportation and parking committee. Weithorn ran for the Democratic spot in a state House race in 2012 and lost to David Richardson, who eventually made it to Tallahassee.
• And Levine’s pick: Ricky Arriola, chief executive officer of Inktel Holdings, which provides business call services and direct marketing and just got a contract renewed to provide call center services to the city of Miami Beach. Arriola is also immediate past chair of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts trust.

This race has already had a little drama thanks to the Relentless for Progress PAC mailer that attacked Weithorn in a piece that may backfire on Arriola. People in Miami Beach, who are already against any outsiders influencing their politics, really hated that PAC.

Read related story: Shady Miami Beach PAC attacks candidate Mark Weithorn

In Group 6, we had another drop out for another toe-to-toe between:

• Mark Samuelian, a management consultant, real estate investor and community affairs leader for the Alton Road Business Association who broke the city’s record when he qualified by the most petitions ever submitted by a candidate. He needed 898, 2% of the 44,906 registered voters as of July.
• And Levine’s pick: John Elizabeth Alemán, an information technology consultant and chairwoman of the city’s quality education committee who also serves on the executive board of the North Beach Elementary PTA.

While there have been a couple of mailers land already — including that hit piece from that infamous Relentless for Progress PAC that had to relent after the community and the media called it the shakedown scam that it was — now is when the deluge comes. After all, there are the mayor’s millions at his disposal and 10 commission candidates with close to $1 million collected between them so far.

And a little more than seven weeks to go. About four weeks if you count when absentee ballots drop.

Let the games begin.

  David Wieder, Mark Weithorn, Miami Beach elections, Philip Levine