Are nonpartisan municipal races a thing of the past?
The Democrats made them do it.
That’s what Nelson Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, said about an email they blasted Wednesday for Zoraida Barreiro, who is running in the special shotgun wedding election for the county commission district 5 seat vacated by her husband Bruno Barreiro, so he could run for Congress.
“Of course we’re going to help Zoraida,” Diaz told Ladra last week. “And you can blame
the Democrats. My preference is not to do that. It’s important to have independent, free elections at the local level. But if Democrats are going to get involved to push their radical, left wing agenda, then we will get involved.”
And so they did.
“We Need to Stop the Democrats,” the email reads.
“The Democrats are trying to force a radical, left-wing liberal that just recently moved to Miami from out of state. She is so out of touch with our community, she has stated her support for the elimination of the Homestead exemption. If she wins, they will have enough Democrats to take down the tax deduction and it will increase our taxes,” it says, urging votes for Barreiro.
“We cannot allow the Democrat to win!”
Read related: Dems push full court press for Eileen Higgins in special District 5 county race
Sure sounds like a desperate cry — and Ladra is pretty sure Higgins would not advocate lifting the Homestead exemption, which isn’t the county commission’s purview anyway, but, hey, it’s a good tactic in the working class parts of the district: “Oh! My! God! She’s going to raise taxes!” It’s almost as good as “She’s a communist!”
Diaz said Higgins said as much in a Spanish-language TV interview. But la gringa — whose Spanish is okay but could be better — was only saying what many electeds at the county and cities are saying: That this additional exemption voters are likely to pass in November is going to drain government coffers and cause serious cuts. Government officials and sitting electeds everywhere are worried about that and planning.
“It must have been misinterpreted in my terrible Spanish,” Higgins said, adding that the county mayor has done a good job. “We have to plan for it. When we sit around meetings and say we want more buses we have to remember that when we vote in November.”
Democrats have been actively and publicly helping Eileen Higgins in this race since the very beginning. She was the only Democrat running against three Republicans, including former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla. The party paid political consultant Christian Ulvert, who took precious time from a gubernatorial candidate. And Higgins had local electeds, state reps and even another gubernatorial candidate endorse and promote her online.
She won the first round with 35%, two points over Barreiro, forcing a runoff. Democrats like to think they did that. After all, it’s not their first rodeo.
While it’s the first time the local GOP steps into a traditionally non-partisan municipal race, Diaz said, the local Dems have been involved in them since at least Daniella Levine-Cava ran for Miami-Dade Commission. Her race in 2014 against incumbent Lynda Bell, who happened to be a staunch right-to-life Republican, became the first local non partisan election the Miami-Dade Democratic Party got really involved in. Since then, they’ve helped Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter, Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg and Miami Commissioner Ken Russell.
Read related story: Eileen Higgins would upset the apple cart, add checks and balances
“We’ve always had the approach that if you’re running for office, who you affiliate yourself with, what party, speaks to the types of 
decisions you’ll be making at the dais,” said Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Juan Cuba. “Even though it’s local, we’re dealing with zoning and services. And you also deal at the local level with national issues — minimum wage, affordable housing, police oversight.”
Sanctuary cities. Gender-neutral bathrooms.
“We do want to make sure we are electing people who align with our values, especially at the local level where we need more people who will fight for working families,” Cuba said.
The Miami-Dade Commission already has a Democrat majority. And that doesn’t necessarily translate to a “progressive agenda” when it comes to the votes. The mega mall development, for example, was passed with Levine-Cava as the sole dissenting vote. In fact, that happens to her a lot. And the ordinance to hold immigrant detainees for ICE — to remove Miami from the list of sanctuary cities and please Donald Trump — was sponsored by Sally Heyman, a Democrat and former state rep.
On the flip side, Mayor Carlos Gimenez endorsed Hillary Clinton — though one could argue that was a publicity stunt since his son works for Trump — and Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, another Republican, is very friendly to labor, which is usually a Democrat characteristic. Barreiro has long been considered a moderate Republican because he pioneered LGBT issues. But he represents Miami Beach, so maybe he sorta had to.
Read related: Lynda Bell vs. Levine-Cava debate becomes heated spar
Levine-Cava, the first Democrat elected to the 
commission with the party’s help, says she doesn’t see the commission as a partisan body. “It’s more about local issues and quality of life. Transit is not a Democrat or a Republican issue,” she told Ladra.
Well, maybe not. But let’s bring up the idea of raising taxes for it or having special taxing districts and you will see partisan division.
Some people fear that this marks the end of nonpartisan races in Miami-Dade and they could be right. Florida law requires judicial candidates to stay non-partisan, but how much you wanna bet that we know who is a Republican and who is a Dem. Candidates in the big cities like Miami Beach and Homestead are already using the invisible “D” and “R”behind their names for campaigning. Small cities are likely next in an increasingly divided and polarized political society.
GOP finally enters partisanized Miami-Dade District 5 race after the Dems added by Ladra on
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[…] get together affiliation. That has begun to alter in the previous couple of election cycles, as the Democratic party is starting to put funding, consultants, and organizational resources behind lo… working in formally non-partisan metropolis and county […]
[…] ethnic loyalty than party affiliation. That has begun to change in the last few election cycles, as the Democratic party is starting to put funding, consultants, and organizational resources behind lo… running in officially non-partisan city and county […]
Liberal democrats have been pushing a very left wing agenda for years, on a board that should be worried about services, after-all tax payer dollars are not red or blue. Issues like bathroom use, supporting for ILLEGAL immigrants, minimum wage etc, are all issues left better up to State or Federal legislators. The partisan crap promoted by Cava thankfully gets drowned out by more moderate voices on the board. But the District 5 race seems to have long term implications. 1- the Chairmanship, right now its between Edmonson and Martinez, but Suarez (who has been a non-factor on the board and living of his son political capital in Miami) or Cava could have a shot at the Chair if Higgins gets in. 2- Mayor’s race in 2020 can be impacted by the outcome. 3- Tax increase, which has bene advocated by many of the democrats on the board can be just around the corner, with fiscal conservatives like Bovo, Souto, Martinez and others hold strong and a Mayor’s veto which would need 8 votes to override in jeopardy. This race is important and our county can go the route of LA, Chicago or NYC.
So sad that you can’t debate in a respectful way.
Higgins happens to be intelligent. Z Barrerio is burdened by not being intelligent and worse her idiot husband was perhaps the main cheerleader for the $3 Billion Marlins scam. Taxpayers got screwed by Bruno and Jeff Loria. Loria walked away with $1.2 Billion of the taxpayers money.
I am a democrat and will vote #12O we are putting woman down by discussing what Bruno has done, although to the beach he was always there, this is the problem with politics , too many lies on both side. I know Zoraida she is inteligente and thinks for her self, do I think she knows everything no , but neither does Ms Higgins they both have successful business . Let’s talk about our community more and who know and relate to the community better .
This is NOT A Party race But We Are tired Of The NOT Working Commissioners and What they Stand ! Do They Work for The PEOPLE , Or ” Do They Work For The LOBBYIST “.?
Could Mr. Barreiro Done better ? Yes! His Wife is now going to Finish The Job He DID NOT Start? Look At the Votes in The BCC and look at The Donors Public Records ? We need some one that Does NOT Discriminates > And I Am Republican and will vote #123 ! THE WHOLE COUNTY COMMISSION SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED >
This is the problem with partisanship: It promotes extreme points of view.
You can bet that Ms. Higgins had to agree to support every issue of the hyperpartisan agenda to get their support. And why we are often left with voting for the “lesser of two evils.” It’s always private agendas with a lot of outside money that fuels bad government.
I don’t mean Ms. Higgins is bad, but her obligations will be to what she signed up for: a partisan purpose, not a community one.
By the way, the “official” response from local Republicans is non-existent compared to the money and resources Democrats have invested in this election. Zoraida Barreiro probably doesn’t need their help. But Ms. Higgins definitely needs her partisan supporters by comparison.
So when you hear, “Don’t vote for the Republican or Democrat,” what you’re really being asked to do is “Stop thinking and vote how we tell you.” There’s no reason or logic to voting partisan. And that’s dangerous for democracy. And the Democrats made this a partisan contest from the beginning. Please don’t encourage them by voting for Ms. Higgins.
Danielle will not lose. She and her clique have too much to lose. They will work and pull out all the bells and whistles to get Higgins into that seat.
It’s unfortunate because Higgins probably would have been able to offer some great representation of what’s right for the people, had she not gotten sucked up by certain people who are willing to do anything behind the scenes for a win.
Danielle disappointed many people when she wasn’t able to pull enough support for Hillary’s win. She now has been tasked with getting liberals into seats to build her base pyramid so she can continue to climb to the top on the backs of everyone else in Miami-Dade.
This round will go to Higgins…