The first email from Carlos Gimenez 
the candidate arrived Monday morning and it gave Ladra the shivers. Just in time for Halloween.
In the email, Gimenez, who filed his account paperwork to open his re-election campaign for Miami-Dade mayor last week, threatens to continue on the same destructive, self-serving path that he has been on shortly since being elected in 2011.
“It’s about finishing what we started,” Gimenez writes, and Ladra winced, wondering what, specifically, he was talking about.
Does Gimenez want to finish giving the county away, piece by piece? A golf course here. A public park there. A museum in between.
Does he want to finish financing the present with our future, deferring more payments and incentives until long after he’s left the 29th floor? What better way to ensure that folks miss you than to calculatedly cause economic chaos right after you’re out?
Does he mean finish traveling around the world with his wife on the public dime? He’s been to Spain, Denver, LA, D.C. Rome and Paris twice. We know he wants to go to Brazil. What are his travel plans like through 2020?
Maybe Gimenez wants to finish decimating the police department.
More likely, the mayor wants to finish setting up his friends and family with juicy accounts and contracts before he exits. I mean, how is CJ going to get any clients once his dad’s no longer the mayor? Is poor Ralph Garcia-Toledo going to have to drive for Uber?
The email reminds people of the kind of candidate Gimenez was in 2011.
Expect him and the campaign to bring up that year often, to try to focus on the image of a kinder, humbler, less arrogant Gimenez, unimpressed by the lobbyists’ guise. Ladra doesn’t have to poll to realize that the mayor’s number one problem is people now know he’s not who we thought he was.
“We campaigned on reforming County Hall and on restoring the trust and confidence of our residents in their government,” he wrote or his campaign manager Jesse Manzano wrote for him.
“Four years later, I believe we have turned the corner.” Check off the second message. And we know he’s talking economically, taking credit for increased property values and the upturn in the economy, because people think he’s too comfy close to lobbyists and special interests. No confidence has been restored there.
“Today, I look forward to continuing this fundamental shift and laying down the groundwork to meet the challenges our community will face in the future. It’s about finishing what we’ve started and I look forward to running on my record and sharing my vision on the issues that matter to you, the residents of Miami-Dade County,” he says.
The bold letter are the mayor’s, not Ladra’s.
Shiver. Am I the only one who finds that threatening?
The reality is that someone always will finish whatever is worth finishing. That is sort of how our democracy has worked for more than a hundred years. Someone eventually takes over and finishes and starts new things.
Hopefully, next year, it will be somebody new in the mayor’s office. Even though he already thinks he’s keeping the job.
“With the election set for August 30th, 2016, I remain committed to working for you as County Mayor, providing services without raising taxes and finding solutions to our communities most pressing challenges.”
Check off message number three. And look how he talked about meeting challenges twice. Comforting buzz words without giving any real details.
The email ends with a pitch for a contribution and a link to the mayor’s website. But both the email and the website are paid for by the Gimenez for Mayor campaign, not either of his two PACs, so he’s already got some funds.
Look out! Carlos Gimenez wants to finish what he started added by Ladra on
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Miami Beach Millionaire Mayor Philip Levine wins elections thanks to his own deep pockets and his not so secret weapon Leonor ,his notorious aide,who takes time off, to just get it done.
And don’t forget now there is her Mum,another Leonor,.Appointed a Commissioner on the Housing Authority,by the Mayor
Focus on salsa dance parties,mini-bus transportation, flat screen TVs , throw in some pretty party outfits ,a few bicycles,and pizza ,whatever.
Just get it done.
But It is said that there are two people employed at City Hall to cater to such day to day needs. Now how to describe that?
Just getting it done .
Well, the elderly vote is sewn up every year also because he sends each a check for $100.00. Well, it’s not HIS money…it’s the taxpayers. Part of his “Save Our Seniors Homeowners Relief Fund.”
I believe the total County-wide for this was 2.1 million? Anyway,I believe the funds were taken from the Department of Solid Waste’s account. You know, the department that Gimenez has already mentioned will need increases in assessments in 2017-18 because they are hurting for money.
lets not forget that Gimenez has said publicly that he wants to privatize every department, so i major question is what will he be the strong mayor of?i
does he not want any department because he finally has recognize his incompetence and inability to run the county? while he is in over his head, procement gifts will make him and his family millionaires?
also, research his state of the county addresses. once he said that transportation was his top priority and yet traffic sucks big time. another time he said public safety was his top priority nd he has destroyed the fire department, police services and other related services.
lately, his top priority is animal services. is that because animal rights people are after his head.
Gimenez is indeed transparent, but not as he sells himself. he is a useless crook that has no place in public service, much less mayor.
Finish what he started? Does he mean collect every absentee ballot from every nursing home or hospice location in the county as his campaign manager did in 2012?
Why was this mayor not indicted along with the boleteras who were caught in 2012 with hundreds of ballots in their possession? Could it be because our State Attorney was also on the ballot and using the same campaign manager?
What will $3 million in campaign contributions and PAC monies buy this ragged tooth sharK? Another four years to give away every public space, park or county contract to his lobbyists and consultant friends.
Come next election the flock of uneducated sheep will walk to the precincts and vote for this corrupt mayor without ever knowing how he stole their tax dollars.
To compete with Mayor Gimenenz’s million dollar crew and the coming waves of his commercials – the opposition has fodder if they stress THE TRUE COST OF MAYOR CARLOS GIMENEZ… A basic education in his poor strategic planning linked to the precarious use of reserves. Then just sprinkle in the times he’s shown himself to be out of sync with his own county residents.
I first met Carlos Gimenez at a fundraiser sponsored by Miami Beach Commissioner and PAC founder Jonah Wolfson. Need anymore be said? Birds of a feather DO flock together!
I hope the Raquel Regalado Mayoral Campaign dissects Gimenez’ message and uses it to lambast his record; alas an inconvenient fact Gimenez cannot muddle with frivolousness and “straw man” arguments. Government’s first duty is to protect its constituents, has Gimenez’ been a good steward regarding public safety? Hardly, the Regalado Campaign must examine the police department, it has not only been decimated as you mentioned; it has been neutered! Then there is the Corrections Department (Dade County Jail) has it surmounted media reported concerns?
Then there were those pesky “dried docked” fire boats, remember? An unforgivable managerial nonfeasance; especially when the responsible person is a former City of Miami Fire chief, who should have known better!
Of course, there is Miami Dade County’s antiquated, decaying and crumbling sewage system, but major construction continues unabated and the projected Mega Mall at NW 186 Street and I-75 will exponentially increase the potential for a sewage disaster. Best buy stocks in hazmat diving suits, we will need then, for soon we might be swimming in our own excreta!
What about Miami Dade’s public transportation system and traffic congestion? Abominable, no?
Yes, a record of nearly six years is a hell of a thing. My question is: Why does Raquel Regalado wants to plunge into this “Ninth Circle?”
Oh, by the way, my home’s taxes rose and have risen continuously since Gimenez assumed power. I suspect most homeowners’ did as well. It is a fact, when property values rise; so do our ad valorem taxes. If only a conscientious “strong mayor” would wisely spent such tax dollar meeting government’s most urgent duties.