True to form, Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado is not going to shut up 
and go away just because she fell a bit short in her shot to become the first female mayor of Miami-Dade.
Conceding Tuesday night and thanking her supporters, Regalado vowed to continue to fight for Miami-Dade residents and against the special interests at County Hall. Looks like the reporters there missed the lead because she laid out specific goals that have not been reported in stories that, instead, speculate about her future aspirations.
Because just because she wasn’t elected this time, doesn’t mean she’s going to stop representing us.
Regalado, who has already fought for us against the ridiculous courthouse tax referendum and in court to get back $9 million Mayor Carlos Gimenez gave to one of his top donors, said she was going to set her sights on charter changes that would hinder the abuse of power going on at County Hall and reform campaign finance.
Specifically, a change to have our elections supervisor elected by the people rather than appointed by the mayor and a referendum for campaign finance reform. Gimenez — who may have abused his power to provide the elections department with a replacement check after hours — spent somewhere around $10 million between his campaign account, his PACs and his multiple non-profits that we can’t track. And much of that came from people and companies who do business or want to do business with the county.
Regalado told supporters Thursday that she was going to reach out to the Accountable Miami-Dade group that failed to get campaign finance reform measure on the ballot to talk about joining forces.
Read related story: Gimenez submits late night campaign check (10:20 p.m.)
These are serious issues that are about to be tackled by a serious woman with a serious track record of getting things 
done. Yet reporters want to keep speculating about whether or not she will run for mayor of Miami next year to replace her termed-out father. This was a whisper campaign started by the Gimenez camp early on last year as soon as Regalado announced her intention to run for Miami-Dade mayor. She has said repeatedly that she is not needed as mayor of Miami but is needed at the county. Everybody has daddy issues but her.
Sure, it’s possible she could run for the seat being vacated by Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez, who is running for mayor (again). That would provide her with a $103,000-a-year salary and perhaps keep her busy in public service for the next three years. But no way does she finish the term. Because if she can run for mayor of Miami-Dade again in 2020 as the front runner in an open seat why on Earth wouldn’t she?
On Wednesday, Regalado — who will be back on Cuban AM radio next week and Spanish-language weekend TV later this month — sent an email blast repeating her intent to continue fighting for the community and to pursue both ballot questions in near future.
“I will continue to fight for them, for you, for us. I will continue to promote our community’s priorities. I will continue to watch what happens at County Hall and voice my concern and bring forces together to fight the special interests that have taken hold,” Regalado wrote.
“In the coming weeks and months, you will hear from me again as I mount efforts to put measures on the ballot that will change our county government. We should elect our supervisor of elections, as they do in the other 67 counties in Florida. And we must pass campaign finance reform to ensure that the decisions at county hall are made in the 
best interests of residents and not of special interests.”
Ladra is still with her. Because those are both good ideas. Because we need to stick together and keep an eye on Carlos Gimenez.
And because this leadership in fighting for justice and this zest for transparency and pureness of process is what makes Raquel the best candidate for mayor in 2020.
Raquel Regalado set to fight anew for charter change, reform added by Ladra on
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the campaign had a strong start but then degenerated into kookiness. honestly this was her best shot. big names stayed away but they won’t next time.
Early voters were also getting ballots printed out with the wrong congressional districts on them. When my neighbor called Elections and complained, they told him they NEVER make mistakes. So…he voted for district 26 and 27. This screw up is because of the redistricting. It appears that, if you hadn’t changed your party or anything since the changes, the pol workers just printed your ballot out using the old, WRONG districts? dunno, but it happened and I’m wondering how often.
Vying for the City of Miami District Four Commission seat is an excellent idea and one Raquel must pursue with intensity. As to successfully placing on a future election ballot, whether Miami Dade’s Supervisor of Election must be elected, seek the petition route and be prepared to battle the County Commission and Gimenez, they do not want it and for obvious reason. As it is now, Gimenez and not Miami Dade voters control – with the exception of the Tax Appraiser – most of Miami Dade’s appointed Constitutional County officers. Ever wonder why 66 of Florida’s Counties elect all the Constitutional Officers? The system is “rigged” by an incestuous synergy between most of the Commission and Gimenez. If it were not, the Commission in a mayoral veto proof voted would have done it already.
I was dismayed to see that you could order an absentee ballot, tear it up and vote in person anyway. Supposedly our data base is updated in “real time” as the Miami-Dade Elections Department tweeted to me. There is nothing about this that makes me feel comfortable. If something happens or votes are tampered with this could potentially lead to double votes.
Face it, we use the ES&S DS200 optical scammer, a machine that is known to freeze, where it must be shut down. That same machine does not create an event log (or at least it didn’t as of four years ago). It is hugely controversial.
I am not interested in hearing that the county has a fix against double votes. If you order an Absentee Ballot you should not be allowed to vote, except provisionally, in the event that your ballot was stolen or you never received it in the mail. What we are doing is encouraging people to order ABs. I think its bad policy because it does a few things: 1. Only those with the money to run an AB game can really have the hope of getting elected. This requires money and connections. That hedges out grass roots candidates. 2. AB ballots are a cesspool of corruption. Encouraging them is not a good thing in general.
So, Ms. Regalado, change this. Here is my ask:
“If a voter requests an AB ballot, he or she may only vote via that ballot or vote provisionally having signed an affidavit that he/she never received that ballot in the mail” PERIOD!
Sure hope she runs for office again. She is invaluable. Was the better and smarter person in this year’s race, with IDEAS. We need her to stay involved. She’s got a bright future ahead of her and many backers who want her to go far. Her political career has only begun. It’s only upward and onward from here!
I hope she will include lobbying reform and vendor reform and that it applies to the municipal government as well. Neither lobbyists, or vendors should be allowed to contribute to campaigns and neither should be able to work on or contribute financially to a candidates election campaign. Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Homestead have a lobbyist who also works as a campaign manager. He gets them in then lobbies them for development to get their vote. He worked on Lynda Bells campaign for County commission and was a County lobbyist. This is wrong!
And as long as she has Sasha Tirador as her campaign manager and she continues to ignore the fact she lost based on Gimenez’s illicit Absentee Ballot fraud machine, she will lose again, time after time. If she really wants to make a difference have her fight for change in Absentee Ballot rules and laws that permit Gimenez to use his campaign and PAC millions to pay unscrupulous boleteras. If you can’t see that fact then you have your head buried in the sand.