Not only did Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez take a free ticket to the Super Bowl from a political benefactor, he scored a sweet deal on a clubhouse ticket for his wife and then he got to bully Miami Gardens residents protesting future plans for Formula 1 races at Hard Rock Stadium with his 
personal police force.
Tell me this isn’t Venezuela, please.
Even Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo, whose staff has been caught in absentee ballot fraud, wouldn’t touch the tickets offered to him for purchase at face value. He told the Miami Herald it would not look right in light of the upcoming discussion on the future of the Formula 1 at the stadium.
Ah, DUH!
Last week, Gimenez asked the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust if he could accept two $4,000 tickets from Ross. He asked for an opinion on two tickets, not one. So he had every intention of using those tickets. Especially after the commi
ssion chief Jose Arrojo gave Gimenez the green light because, basically, the $5 million in annual subsidies was something the mayor already gave Ross in 2014. And a reward after the fact is apparently not officially a bribe or quid pro quo.
Pay-to-play or play-for-pay… what’s the difference? Apparently, for our ethics chief, a lot.
Gimenez, a congressional candidate now, didn’t use both tickets because of the blowback and because he can “technically” accept one ticket if he performs some ceremonial mayoral crap, according to his spokeswoman. Does that go for everyone? Is it covered in ethics training?
Read related: Quid pro quo Carlos Gimenez gets Super Bowl tickets as a reward
But wait. There’s more. Because Arrojo apparently didn’t consider present and future favors. In his hastily written opinion, Arrojo only considers the old favors the mayor did his billionaire benefactor. Maybe he didn’t know that Grimenez is still very much working for Ross.
On Sunday, as the de facto sheriff in the absence of an elected one, Grimenez was the “incident commander” at the Super Bowl, his spokeswoman said. 
So he likely sent the squad of counterterrorist county police officers to intimidate the protesters in Miami Gardens who don’t want to have the F1 races in their backyard. Just as Ross would have wanted him to.
“He said he had nothing to do with it,” said Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who was with the protesters. But Jordan doesn’t believe him.
“It seems awfully strange to have a contingent of officers show up all of a sudden,” she told Ladra. “They came straight here, nowhere else first. I just told him to enjoy the game.”
Jordan has already felt betrayed by Gimenez when he vetoed legislation that she got passed — and 8-5 even — that would have removed the auto racing use from stadium zoned districts. “He vetoed that knowing full well that this would give the Dolphins the opportunity to lobby the rest of the commission,” Jordan said.
On Tuesday, Jordan will present another measure to try to empower the residents of Miami Gardens — and any other bedroom community — by putting them in charge of the approval process. Any request to have races at any stadium within any municipality would have to go to that city government after a public meeting process. So the Hard Rock would have to be approved by the Miami Gardens council, which is unlikely. And a no can be appealed to the county commission. So, is it really a change?
Read related: Carlos Gimenez almost skips Super Bowl party — then takes his fam
Gimenez will probably veto that, too. Because he’s working for Ross. And the resolution will at the very least slow things down. It gives the residents who will be most impacted a voice.
But he might not have to. That could be too obvious. That could look too much like quid pro 
quo because it came after the golden Super Bowl ticket (I’m learning, Arrojo). But he wouldn’t have to veto it if he gets his pocket commissioners — like Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who also went to the game with discount tickets — to defeat the resolution on Tuesday.
Because we have to ask ourselves when he’s at the meeting Tuesday: Is Mayor Gimenez representing us, and the citizens of Miami Gardens, or is he representing Ross?
“He is supposed to be the mayor for all of us,” Jordan said, adding that she was convinced Gimenez directed the police intervention himself.
“A truck came up with 20 officers and they got off and lined the street right where we were standing,” Jordan told Ladra Monday. The group was not blocking traffic, she said. But they were told to go to a “first amendment zone,” a ruse often used to hide protests away from the participants and media at big events.
Jordan refused.
“I made it clear to them that we had permission from the 
city to be there,” she told Ladra. “I said ‘We’re not going anywhere. We’re not blocking the street.
“You go tell Mayor Carlos Gimenez that Commissioner Barbara Jordan said we didn’t vote on any amendment one zone and we’re not moving.”
Ladra would take it a step further and tell Commissioner Jordan to tell Ethics Chief Jose Arrojo that Carlos Gimenez used county staff and resources on behalf of someone who gave him a $4,000 ticket that was worth closer to $10,000 by Friday. Not just the terrorism cops — who were incredibly misused — but also the police officer that sources say flanked the mayor and his wife the whole time. Was that paid for by Ross? Or us the taxpayers?
Jordan met with Gimenez Monday afternoon (awkward) to talk about transportation issues. “I can compartmentalize,” she said. Ladra thought maybe Gimenez, after appointing himself chief negotiator for the stadium owner when he vetoed Jordan’s first measure, wanted to bring her some proposals the community could accept.
Nope. Crickets.
Just as well, Jordan said. “We never asked to negotiate anything. That was him. Our community is not for sale. We don’t want the race, period. It’s three days a year for 10 years.
“That’s like three Super Bowls in a row every year for 10 years.”
She also told Ladra that the community tried to meet with stadium representatives several times, anyway. “We had to talk about Homestead being an alternative,” Jordan said. “They 
want the race. They will make whatever adjustments to get the race. But the people who could make the decision weren’t there. What was the purpose of this meeting? Just to have it?”
Homestead does make much more sense. The city already has a race track and infrastructure they could easily adjust to accommodate the Formula 1 model. And it would encourage fans and industry workers to stay at Miami-Dade hotels and spend money in our county. Having it on the Broward County line means sharing the economic impact with Broward hotels and restaurants.
Jordan’s resolution on Tuesday would not only put the approval before the city where the auto race is happening, it would require an environmental study on noise and air pollution. “They can appeal a no to the Miami-Dade commission and get a majority to override the city,” Jordan said. “This gives the community a chance to determine what happens in their community.”
Will Gimenez? After all, Ross paid his way into the hottest event in the country.
Will the commissioners? Three of them are running for mayor and will want the Miami Gardens vote for that.
“What is so difficult for me is that I have supported my colleagues in every single issue, I have voted with them because they represent their community and know what’s in the best interest of the community,” she said. “I can’t say enough about having a mayor who I voted for abandoning my community. He’s putting profit before people.”
Commissioners should think twice before letting the mayor veto this measure too. Because today it is Jordan, but tomorrow it could be them.
Carlos Gimenez went to the Super Bowl in play for pay on Formula 1 added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
