Alex Penelas and Steve Bovo steal the show, spar again in last mayoral debate

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In what was likely the last televised debate of the four leading Miami-Dade mayoral candidates, the time and drama was dominated, yet again, by former mayor Alex Penelas and current Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo, who traded jabs and interrupted each other like they were alone on the stage.

Ladra could watch Tuesday’s AmericaTeve debate again and again. And so can you at this link. Felix Guillermo moderated the group of rowdy teenagers as best he could.

Bovo started it by brandishing a mailer that landed in mailboxes this week that, like numerous others, ties him to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro through his buddy, former Congressman David Rivera, who has been caught doing business with the government — and possibly funneling money into the campaign through third party donations.

“My father taught me from six years of age to be a man,” Bovo said, and Ladra thinks that could be child abuse. “And this mailer is not the work of a man.”

Guillermo asked Penelas why Bovo shouldn’t be elected.

“Mr. Bovo doesn’t have the experience to face the problems we have,” Penelas said, turning Bovo’s claims that the other candidates would defund the police — a false narrative that has become the focal point of the only Republican candidate’s campaign — right back at him.

“He says he will never take funds from the police, but 11 times he has taken money from Miami-Dade Police,” Penelas said about Mayor Carlos Gimenez budget cuts  that Bovo supported time and time again. “One time, he would have eliminated 480 positions.”

Penelas was cast by Bovo as a tax-happy liar who fooled people on the half-penny tax for transit, does nothing but attack him and his family, and “wants the same extreme left we saw in Seattle.

“Where is the proof,” asked Penelas. “The only one who has given more to police is named Alex Penelas.”

Read related: Big 4 Miami-Dade mayoral candidates together raise $12 million plus for race

“His campaign is a failure because his message is to raise taxes and nobody wants that,” Bovo said.

The other two had to fight to get a word in edgewise.

Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, speaking her mediocre Spanish with big ones, tried to distance herself from the other two who share the dais with her. “These three men had their chance,” she said, though she has been in office for six years so one might argue she has, too.

“They are the past. I am the only one who has always been innovative. I’m ready and prepared.”

Commissioner Xavier Suarez scoffed and said that she doesn’t know what to do with the budget, citing her proposal to take millions million from the Building Better Communities fund to use for infrastructure. “That’s illegal. That money is assigned,” Suarez said.

When asked why his campaign was relying so hard on his son, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, proud Papa X didn’t back down. “I’m proud that Francis supports me,” he said. “We are in agreement 90% of the time. I think he is the most popular mayor in America right now.”

He pointed out that of the $12 million plus spent so far on this election, his campaign has spent only $1 million. “Of course he helped me like I’ll help him in his re-election next year.”

The other main thing in the Suarez campaign is the promise of free transit and Guillermo asked him how he would be able to do that without raising taxes.

“The cities have proven it can be done. They have provided free transit with 20% of the half-penny funds,” X said, referring to free trolleys and circulators in many municipalities. He said that no taxes need to be raised because there were many savings that the county could make if it were more efficient. Suarez said, yet again alienating employees, that 4,000 county workers make $100K a year or more, that there were 18 administrative buildings (Ladra has seen how some of them are practically empty; used for storage), and more than 7,000 vehicles being maintained.

Read related: Competing polls show Daniella Levine Cava in runoff for Miami-Dade mayor 

Much to Bovo’s disappointment, none of the candidates said they would raise taxes. Not yet.

“It’s not the time to raise taxes,” Levine Cava said. “People are suffering so much. We shouldn’t. We can’t. We won’t.” She said there could be savings found and cited using solar energy and electric vehicles. But she didn’t say she wouldn’t raise taxes in year three or year four of her administration if elected.

Levine Cava also has not said that she will not run in a special election to fill her seat if she is not elected mayor. She refused to say it on Tuesday, either, and did not answer Guillermo’s question as to her motivation for not resigning in a way that would allow for a concurrent election in District 8.

“I resigned as the law required,” she said, again, like a soldier caught across enemy lines just repeats his name and number. It sounds like she’s not telling all.

She said she has 40 years experience heading non-profits — but of course, she makes profit. As part of a family land acquisition and management business, her net worth has doubled from $3 million to $6 million in the six years she’s been elected, mostly from the purchase of properties in foreclosure.

“My promise is simple. I will be honest,” she said. Hmph.

She also doubled down on her support for bus rapid transit instead of rail along the South corridor, a sell-out move that has irked many in the south and is working against her.

Penelas agreed that the timing was wrong for a tax hike — again, leaving open the possibility in the future — and defended the half-penny tax fund he created and blamed the others for misspending it.

“It wasn’t to pay for all the promises. It was to leverage federal and state dollars,” he said. “It was to expand transit but the commission took that money to cover the hole, to balance the budget.”

He said that that en verything has gotten worse while the three have been in office. “None of them have taken responsibility. On the contrary, they all blame me and I left the county 16 years ago.

“I’m sick of excuses and that’s why I’m running. If you’re satisfied with what’s happening, you have three options. If you want something different, a mayor with experience, a mayor who has the capacity to confront the challenges of this county, my name is Alex Penelas.”

Bovo ended it bringing it full circle to the mailer he said Penelas sent. “We have the opportunity to reject this kind of campaign,” he said, bragging about his response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Early voting is through Sunday at the locations you can find here. The election ends Tuesday and the top two vote-getters will compete in a runoff during the general election.

So, we may be a week from the end of round 1. But the fun’s just begun, really.

  Alex Penelas, Daniella Levine Cava, Esteban Bovo, Miami-Dade Mayor 2020, Xavier Suarez