Carlos Gimenez raises $415K plus for Congress bid from all the usual suspects

In the first three months of the year, “Corrupt Carlos,” as the FDP likes to call him — and it does have a nice ring to it — only listed 151 individual donations to his campaign, compared to the 6,851 individual contributions recorded by incumbent Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, whose average donation was $86.34.

“These numbers are the clearest sign yet that the only people who want Corrupt Carlos to be in Congress are the lobbyists and corporate special interests that have already profited so much from Carlos’ tenure as mayor of Miami Dade County,” said FDP Deputy Communications Director Luisana Pérez Fernández. “While Congresswoman Mucarsel-Powell is running a true grassroots campaign to continue her work helping hardworking families across the county, Carlos is only running to continue to benefit himself, his family, and his bff lobbyists.”

She has no idea.

The big money won’t be reported until the second quarterly, due in mid July, which is after absentee ballots for the August primary drop. This ain’t the mayor’s first rodeo, and he doesn’t want everyone to know who is bankrolling this bid for Congress until he has to. The even bigger money won’t be reported until after August. Mark Ladra’s words.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez used taxpayer paid office staff for congressional bid

But the early list of bundling is still interesting. Gimenez learned from his first campaign against former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina how to get the most out of every interested party. More than $170K is from developers and builders likely thanking the mayor for leaving construction sites open as “essential businesses” during the COVID19 crisis. That accounts for more than a third of the total booty.

The most notable of the contributions include:

• Lennar, a Miami construction firm facing a class action lawsuit for using model homes to deceive buyers, has donated at least $84,200 in contributions, including gifts from the CEO in Texas, his wife and their lobbyist Brad Miller and General Managing Partner Eric Leder (right) and his wife, who live in Aventura as well as Bruce Gross, CEO of Lennar Financial Services, and his wife, who live in Fort Lauderdale and corporate President Jonathan Jaffe, who lives in California. Lennar wants the county to let them create a Westview North Community Development District so they have a mechanism to tax property owners for the 750-unit residential community (80 single-family units, 346 villa units, and 324 townhome units) they want to build on the Westview North golf course for the associated roadway improvements, stormwater management system, wastewater collection system, and water distribution system, estimated to cost more than $20 million. The item — which would relieve Lennar of impact fees and put the burden on property owners — was deferred earlier this month.
• Raymond Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, CEO and CFO (respectively) of Transportation America, which just got a controversial extension on their exclusive $208 million contract with the county, gave at least $33,600 (one’s wife gave the maximum, too). The scandal-plagued firm has been sued by drivers, who claimed they were denied overtime pay, and by passengers who claimed they were sexually abused by drivers. But, in 2017, with Gimenez’s backing, Miami-Dade privatized 14 bus routes and gave the contract to Transportation America – who replaced unionized drivers with lower-paid non-union drivers.
• Agustin Arellano Sr. and Jr., chairman and chief financial officer, respectively, of NV2A group, gave a total of $22,400. This one could be another thank you. The firm is prime contractor on the new $76-million, 166,500-square-foot terminal for Norweigan Cruise Lines at Port Miami that broke ground in 2018 and was expected to be completed this September. We’ll see that’s extended due to coronavirus circumstances, too.
• Real estate developer Rex Barker gave $22,400 in maximum contributions from him and his wife, an accountant. Barker is CFO of J. Milton and Associates, which has built over 50,000 rental units, more than $2 billion in condominium development and produces $200 million in annual gross income, according to its website.
• Homestead farmer Paul DiMare gave $22,400 in a total of four contributions from him and his wife, a homemaker. DiMare — yeah, the tomato guy — and his wife Swanee are Coral Gables residents and philanthropists and he was named the state’s 2016 Farmer of the Year.
• Ahamad Khamsi, a former Latin American TV executive who now builds mansions in Miami Beach, gave $20K in four contributions from him and his wife.
• Terra Group CEO Pedro Martin, a prolific Miami developer, gave $20,000 in four checks from himself and his wife. It’s a trend in bundling.
• Maximo Alvarez of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors — with ties to the Chavez/Maduro regime — donated at least $11,200. Alvarez has previously been attacked in Miami politics for selling gas from Citgo, the oil giant controlled by the Venezuelan government. In 2006, Alvarez was a vocal opponent of a Citgo boycott.
• Douglas Kimmelman, an investment manager (could it get more obvious) at Energy Capital Partners and Surfside resident, gave $11,200. Wonder what investments he is managing here.
• Developer Tibor Hollo, chairman and president of Florida East Coast Realty and local real estate legend, gave at least $11,200. Gimenez declared July 18, 2017 “Tibor Hollo Day.”
• Eric Zichella — the Miami-Dade lobbyist whose clients include Florida Power & Light and numerous developers and government contractors, including the Fisher Island developer he was able to rid the community council for WHEN — gave $5,600 to the campaign. In 2016, Zichella sued to keep a referendum that would bar county contractors and their lobbyists from making political donations off of the ballot.  Gimenez later removed the referendum from the ballot and then successfully appealed a lower court’s decision – ensuring Miami-Dade voters could not vote for campaign finance reform.
• Domingo Moreira, the other Miami-based seafood magnate, donated $5,600 to the campaign.  In 2001, police and guards at his fish farm in Guatemala killed two protesters, who were part of a group complaining the farming operation devastated the local fishing industry, fenced off the most bountiful waters, and killed area’s wild fish by deoxygenating the water.  In 1991, Moreira drew criticism from Miami Cuban women after he argued a free Cuba should not have laws protecting women’s rights.
• Edward Easton, chairman of the Easton Group, a real estate development firm who pushed to build beyond the urban development line, also gave $5,600. Easton, an appointment to a state oversight board created to reform Miami-Dade public schools, tried to privatize school maintenance in a move that would have laid off up to 300 workers and that was opposed by the local teachers’ union. He later threatened to withhold $100 million in school funding if the Miami-Dade School Board did not layoff up to 113 construction department workers. Easton also pushed to remove all matters of construction, maintenance, and land acquisition from the elected Miami-Dade School Board members and transfer the jurisdiction to his state board.
• Cesar Alvarez, Senior Chairman of Greenberg Traurig, one of South Florida’s biggest lobbying firms, gave $5,600. Certainly other attorneys with the firm did also, on Cesar’s say or not.
• Gregorio Galicot didn’t give a lot and we have never heard of him. He owns BBG Communications, which faced a class action lawsuit for “ripping off” US troops overseas by overcharging them for calls home to their loved ones. He only gave $250 to the campaign, that Ladra can see so far. But he’s a big Trump donor so how much do you wanna bet there’s more Galicot money in the next Gimenez report?

These are the people who want Carlos Gimenez in Congress. Makes for a pretty interesting support group. Can’t say it’s grass roots or community-based, though, can we?

Read related: Carlos Gimenez qualifies with wrong name check for congressional bid

How will these special interests benefit — or how have they already benefitted — from their sizable investments? Giving more than $80K to a congressional candidate ain’t just because you’re a fan. And many of these donations are being made by county interests while he is still mayor.

After all, Gimenez — who got more than $170K from developers and construction firms — has the power to deem construction sites as “essential businesses” during an emergency shut down for a pandemic.

Ladra can’t wait to see the next reports filed in July, and the contributions that could be tied to Monday’s reopening.