This is extremely concerning during an existential pandemic threat: Ladra did not get neither the text message nor the robocall that apparently went out from Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez Friday urging people to “remain in their homes except for essential activities.” 
I signed up on the county website to get COVID19 alerts. Has Ladra been scrubbed from the database?
I mean, there’s no love lost there, I know. But this is life or death, dude.
Later Friday, Gimenez apologized for the panic he caused — a day after saying the “shelter-in-place” wording was “panic-inducing” — and threw his staff under the bus, as always, blaming the Emergency Operations Center for the faux pas.
“Please don’t panic. That was not the intent of that alert. Apparently, our Emergency Operations Center pushed this through without my direction. This may have caused some confusion,” Gimenez said in his nightly video message to residents.
“During these difficult times, our emergency center is working hard to keep everyone informed. They may have gone a little bit overboard. I have given the EOC clear instructions so this doesn’t happen again,” he said. Ya think?
Read related: Carlos Gimenez can’t get it right on COVID-19 orders, endangers us all
“Nevertheless, let me stress that you all should be staying home unless you have essential business to do. Again the message is safer at home.”
Overzealous EOC? Uh-huh. Well, with Emergency Operations Management Director Frank Rollason at the helm, that is not 
entirely unbelievable. But Ladra has another theory, of course.
What if those texts and robocalls were focused on residents or voters who live in congressional district 26, where Gimenez — who is termed out this year but doesn’t know how to not be a politician — is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat freshman Debbie Muarsel-Powell, perhaps the hardest working congress member in our delegation.
Not entirely focused on them. That would be too obvious. But mostly.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez used taxpayer paid office staff for congressional bid
It wouldn’t be the first time Gimenez abuses his public office to campaign. In January, he coordinated with three of his inner 
circle staffers, including Chief of Staff Alex Ferro and Communications Director Myriam Marquez, to provide a well-worded and strategic message response to a Miami Herald inquiry regarding a campaign ad by the Democratic Party.
An ethics complaint was filed by organizer Juan Cuba, the former director of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party,
And his daily videos, sometimes twice a day, and news interviews are welcome earned media on an election year. Gimenez is even using his official mayoral twitter handle to align himself with Donald Trump, like he did when he announced.
“Last week, I wrote to President Donald Trump, asking that flights to and from Cuba be suspended in Miami to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Today, I’m following up with the Federal Aviation Administration to expedite this request,” tweeted Grimenez in English and in Spanish, posting a picture of the letter he wrote the FAA.
So don’t be too sure that Friday’s text alert was a mistake and not a campaign strategy using his office and position.
And Ladra bets it’s not the last one.
Another Carlos Gimenez faux pas on COVID19 — or is he campaigning? added by Ladra on
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