Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is going to be downright insoportable now.
If you thought the millionaire mayor was a bit 
of an egomaniac before, expect King Ego to get only cockier and bossier after this veritable mandate from voters who re-elected him with 65% of the vote Tuesday against attorney and preservationist David Wieder.
Beach voters, who we thought were smarter, also ushered two of his hand picked commission candidates into office, guaranteeing that Levine — who again bought his seat, with what will end up being around $1 million or more — has full run of the house. There are basically zero checks and balances now in what has virtually become a strong mayor city.
Levine’s machinery is powerful and it needed to help get Ricky Arriola and John Elizabeth Aleman elected. Arriola got 59% to Mark Weithorn‘s 41%. The loser is Commissioner Deede Weithorn‘s husband, and this is his second loss after a state rep run.
Arriola will now have to give up his lucrative call service contract with the city. But how much you wanna bet that he’s f
ound a way to route that to a friend or relative? It’s easy enough to get someone to open up a company without your name on it and still benefit from the same.
Aleman’s tiny win over Marc Samuelian was somewhere around 70 votes. She got just over 50%, but won vís-a-vís absentee ballots. Samuelian won in both Election Day and early voting numbers. But Aleman’s ABs were able to surmount those victories.
Samuelian was not bitter Tuesday night, despite having such a close loss.
“We feel really good about the campaign we ran,” he told Ladra. “I’m proud of it. We ran a positive and clean campaign.”
Aleman sure can’t say the same thing as her campaign was based on lies and misinformation.
In fact, the barrage of advertising — including attack pieces against Wiethorn and Samuelian — might have helped the winners in this race. You couldn’t turn on a TV in recent days without seeing Levine or Arriola or Aleman in an ad. Aleman also had nasty ads telling voters they couldn’t trust Samuelian.
Tuesday’s results were also good for campaign consultant, David Custin, who handled Levine, Aleman’s and Arriola’s campaigns, and who will have another two good years now as the city’s most favored lobbyist.
Read related story: Lobbyist/consultant David Custin cashes in on Miami Beach
The one ray of light in Miami Beach Tuesday is Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. She got into a 
runoff with Betsy Perez, the last of the Levine slate mates, who will likely get $200K from the mayor and his pals to campaign with.
That’s how depressing the results of the election are. Because the best case scenario, even if Rosen Gonzalez — who topped the clusterbunch race with 28% to the Levine drone’s 25.5% — can keep her momentum, is that she would be a sole independent voice on a dais that is loyal to or scared of (read: Micky Steinberg) the king.
How much you wanna bet she will be bullied?
There’s no backing out now, Rosen Gonzalez said.
“I already feel so much a part of this community, so grateful to the seniors,” she told Ladra. “A lot of people are counting on me to at least ask questions.”
Unfortunately, and thanks to the misguided loyalty of Beach voters, that might be all she’ll be able to do.
And if that is the case, Ladra says have fun with it. Better to have one check than absolutely no balance at all.
Miami Beach voters elect Philip Levine and slate mates added by Ladra on
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You got it right, Ladra!
From this piece, in re: the Samuelian/Aleman race:
“Aleman sure can’t say the same thing as her campaign was based on lies and misinformation.”
and
“In fact, the barrage of advertising — including attack pieces against Wiethorn and Samuelian — might have helped the winners in this race. You couldn’t turn on a TV in recent days without seeing Levine or Arriola or Aleman in an ad. Aleman also had nasty ads telling voters they couldn’t trust Samuelian.”
Mark Samuelian ran a clean, decent, and honest campaign — something that cannot be said of most who ran for office this election cycle in Miami Beach. I hear he has not conceded and that the absentee ballots will be re-counted by hand. These ballots and how they are used are a major problem in Miami Beach, no matter what some misinformed people may claim. There needs to be major reform taken here.
Outstanding work by Custin…..wins 3 races and a 4th in the bag, say whatever you want the kid knows his stuff!!!!
Absentee ballots my tuckus! When the Miami Herald endorsed Levine after pointing out the corruption he forsted the cake was cooked: people with education money n homes n children wanted no part of third rate remittance men n tainted failed lawyers n businessmen. The upzoning failed because people want good government but the opposition candidates failed to benefit from this wave because they appeared to be as bad ethically as Lwvine & Arriola but not as clwver
The absentee ballots are a real problem. At the heart of every election in this city. Something so wrong there.
Very, very disappointing outcome except for the defeat of the upzoning ballot question.
The good guys did not win. Those who believe in good government need to support Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. She will be, like Ed Tobin was, a check against the machine.
Ugh! So disgusting… But congratulations to those heroes who took on the machine and ran clean campaigns!