There doesn’t have to be a looming election for another mystery mailer to turn up in mailboxes in Miami Beach. This one, that landed last week, targets Mayor Dan Gelber and calls him a dictator for closing beaches and businesses for too long in response to the COVID19 pandemic.
There’s even an image of Gelber wearing Fidel Castro‘s signature green comandante’s uniform and hat.
But there is no disclaimer. Deja vu.
The mailer was sent with a stamp, which likely makes it impossible to track via a bulky mail number. A Santa stamp to boot. Cute. It’s also 
more expensive, so someone wanted real bad to slam Gelber. But nobody knows who paid for this mailer and how many people it went to or why.
“When will The Dictator allow us to return to our jobs? What will happen to the small businesses and workers while we wait,” the mailer asks in a flurry of desperate questions on one side that also says, “Open Miami Beach for business now!”
Commissioner Ricky Arriola has been on the mayor’s backside about the beach closings and the slowness to reopen the economy, which relies heavily on tourism and the restaurant industry. He’s the one that immediately comes to everyone’s mind — especially since Arriola has even used that exact word, dictator, to describe Gelber on Facebook. The Miami Herald published a story about it, which is quoted on the mailer’s other side.
Read related: Amid Miami Beach chaos, Mayor Dan Gelber raises funds for race
And there’s even a little picture of Arriola behind Comandante Gelber on the front of the mailer.
But it just seems too obvious, no? Besides, sources say Arriola and Gelber are still pretty tight, despite the rhetoric.
“I don’t know who sent the mailer out but my guess would be someone who wants to run for Mayor next year against Dan,” 
Arriola told Ladra in a long email response, adding that it wasn’t him, but mincing no words about the issue.
“The mayor and I are friends but we see this lockdown situation very differently. He hasn’t been interested in any opinion on the matter but his own and Jimmy is his puppet,” Arriola said, referring to City Manager Jimmy Morales. “I have tried pleading with them to listen to all segments of the medical community and not just the ones they agree with.
“Regardless of things, we will move forward and try and stir the city back to a more normal way of living. A perpetual and fear based lockdown cannot sustain itself,” Arriola continued.
“This is a virus that according to the CDC has an infection fatality rate of .26%. The seasonal flu is between .1% and .15%. The policy to shut down the economy, throw 40 million Americans out of work (and in the process about 27 million will lose their health care), and wreck our children’s education, for a virus that is at best 2x more lethal than the flu, is nonsensical to me and there were many approaches we could have taken besides a complete shutdown.”
Rea related: Epidemiologist explains why social distancing is #1 weapon vs COVID19
Miami Beach is still largely locked down. The popular bars on Washington Avenue and Lincoln Road are still closed. Movie theaters are closed. Beaches are closed and many businesses, such as gyms — which are allowed to 
reopen on Monday in Miami-Dade County — have not been allowed to reopen. Miami-Dade’s reopening on Monday include tattoo parlors, dog parks — something two commissioners brought up at the county’s Tuesday meeting — Airbnb units and summer camps. Gimenez said he likely won’t reopen beaches until after he lifts a midnight curfew, which the county mayor imposed after several nights of loud protests of the George Floyd murder at the hands of police. Ladra doesn’t know why they can’t just close beaches at night.
Miami Beach Commissioners will meet Friday and consider a resolution to extend the state of emergency through June 12, according to the agenda. There is also a discussion and update on COVID19 and an item on the city’s small business assistance program. Ladra suspects there will be some discussion about following the county’s reopenings a few days earlier next week instead of waiting until the 12th.
“Our summer camps are going to be virtual camps. Children’s playgrounds remain closed,” Arriola told Ladra. “This is idiotic. Jimmy and Dan have terrorized our residents with as much doom and gloom as anyone can bare.
“Meanwhile, thousands of protestors gather in downtown with no social distancing and masks are optional,” he said, referring to the protests that erupted last week after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. “But our kids can’t play on a swing, even if their parent wipes it down with extra strength Lysol! This is not about science, it’s about politics.”
“Having the most draconian shutdown policies gets you on Primetime live with Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer.”
Did he just accuse his “friend” the mayor of grandstanding and causing pain for publicity.
And, no, Arriola says, he is not running for mayor next year. “Or anything else. The level of mediocrity in politics is more than I can take. I’ll finish my term and be done with elected office.
“I pray for our community. Our leaders are small minded and spineless.”
Okay, so now Ladra likes him and now he quits?
When called on Thursday to comment on the mailer, Gelber said “nothing.” No, it’s not that he didn’t say anything. He actually said the word “nothing” and “I have nothing to say.”
Read related: Anonymous mailer hits Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and commissioner
To which Ladra says “skeeetchyyyy.”
Former Mayor Matti Bower said she got one of the mailers at her home — and disapproves. “It’s an ugly piece, to have him dressed as Fidel,” Bower told Ladra, adding that she thinks the attack is unfounded.
“I think he has handled this crisis, actually, pretty well. I may not agree with everything he has done, but on this particular issue, he was calming, factual and and has handled it mostly well.”
She, too, noticed similarities between this recent mailer and another mystery mailer in 2018 bashing the sweet deal $50,000 job 
that Gelber offered former Commissioner Joy Malakoff after she decided not to run for reelection. There was no disclaimer on that piece, either. And it had text in tilted blocks like this one.
It also targeted Commissioner Micky Steinberg, who Malakoff gave campaign contributions to. But the mayor was the main target, repeatedly calling him unethical. “Did you actually think it would be different with Gelber? Ask Mayor Gelber to explain this unethical payoff attempt,” it reads on the front.
Nobody knows who sent that one either, although many blamed former commissioner and one-time mayoral candidate Michael Grieco, who is a very proactive State Rep today, because he was easy pickings. Low-hanging fruit due to his history with fishy political action committees. But he said he would have hit Arriola, too, if it was him and, hmmmm, Arriola was not in that one.
But this could be a serial anonymous hit piece mailer stomping around in Miami Beach. Maybe the Commission on Ethics and Public Trust or the State Attorneys Office should look into.
The best part of a mystery is figuring it out.
Miami Beach mystery mailer attacks ‘dictator’ Dan Gelber’s COVID response added by Ladra on
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