Brandon Rosado, Ladra’s cachorro intern, has a keen eye for campaigns and elections. He wanted to provide his own analysis of his ballot for our readers. So just in time, without any further ado (and tiny bit of editing for syntax, not style or substance), is Brandon’s ballot picks for Tuesday’s elections — from top to, literally, bottom.
By BRANDON ROSADO for Political Cortadito
President of the United States: Donald J. Trump vs. Joseph R. Biden
Come on, deja la moneria.
Seriously though, the Trump campaign struck gold in South Florida by conflating Joe Biden’s campaign with the “radical left.” All these veteranos de la tercera edad from Venezuela or Cuba are afraid of any connection to socialism in any form, and with good reason. But, unfortunately for progressives across the country, Joe Biden is definitely not controlled by the “radical left.” For perspective, here’s what “Comrade Biden” told a room full of multimillionaires in the summer of 2019: “[If I’m elected president] No one’s standard of living will change, nothing fundamentally would change.”
Biden doesn’t support policies like Medicare for All and has a record of supporting policies that could cut social safety nets like Social Security. So believe me when I tell you: Joe Biden is not controlled by the radical left, nor is he a socialist, or anything of that nature.
And beyond this election, we as Americans need to learn to shake off that ignorance that harkens back to the Red Scare, and realize that we are the only developed country with no universal healthcare, the only developed country that doesn’t mandate paid vacation or paid sick days, and the only developed country where you can find a worker who makes $18,000 a year pay more in taxes than our billionaire president.
Also note that the third-party candidates weren’t included. That’s because this is not the election to be throwing away your vote. Vote wisely.
Representative in Congress, District 26: Carlos Gimenez vs. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
The race to become the representative of Florida’s southernmost congressional district has been one of the ugliest of this election cycle. Both campaigns have focused in on each other’s alleged corruption and made that the primary focus. So let’s start with Carlos Gimenez. His whole deal, according to DMP’s campaign, is that he supposedly gave out a new contract to MCM, the construction corporation that built the failed FIU bridge that killed six. Not only is the owner of MCM, Jorge Munilla, related to Gimenez’s wife Lourdes (they’re primitos), but the Gimenez sons have also either worked or lobbied for MCM themselves.
Now, the Mucarsel-Powell campaign ad did get one thing wrong: Gimenez did not award MCM a new contract, he merely extended an already existent contract. In any case, the fact that a corporation so intertwined with the Mayor’s family is awarded a contract by the Mayor in the first place is not something I am comfortable with, and you shouldn’t be either.
Read related: More millions in Miami-Dade’s Esteban Bovo vs Daniella Levine Cava for mayor
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s cardinal sin, on the other hand, at least in the eyes of the Gimenez campaign, is the fact that Fiesta Restaurant Group, a publicly traded company worth $189 million and parent company of Pollo Tropical, among many other restaurants in Florida, received $15 million in government loans as a result of the Paycheck Protection Program, which Debbie supported, and which was meant to help small businesses hold on to their employees. The caveat is the fact that her husband works as an executive for the company. When this was reported however, the company returned the money. It should also be noted that several other big restaurant companies in Florida also received tens of millions in loans from the same program, so the DMP connection could very well be a coincidence.
In the end, this race could be decide by the race for the White House: the incumbent DMP voted against Trump 95% of the time, representing a district that he lost in 2016 by 16 points. Perhaps if Trump flips the district, Carlos Gimenez will move up the political ladder.
State Senator, District 39: Ana Maria Rodriguez vs. Javier E. Fernandez vs…Celso D. Alfonso?
Let’s start with the elephant in the room—well, more like the mouse, because they have not made any noise in this race. Literally any noise: the Celso Alfonso campaign has no website, no Twitter, nothing; they only raised a grand total of $2k, which was a loan he made to himself. I’m not entirely sure how he qualified, or, more importantly, why he felt the need to qualify, but he’s on the ballot anyway.
The real race is between Republican Ana Maria Rodriguez and Democrat Javier E. Fernandez, and could be very important in closing the gap between Republicans and Democrats in Tallahassee. The current senator for the district, Republican Anitere Flores, is termed-out, and if she is replaced by the Democrat Fernandez, the Republican advantage of 23 to 17 will shrink even further, already having slipped by five in the past ten years.
Fernandez’s focus in his campaign was on education (increasing public school funding and raising the pay of teachers) and gun control (he was rated 0% by the NRA). Rodriguez too has stirred up fear about “socialism” with her campaign, and focusing on her conservative values of lowering taxes and deregulating business (she voted in support of decreasing the corporate income tax).
State Representative, District 120: James “Jim” Mooney vs. Clint Barras
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on this race, in which I basically describe how Jim Mooney, who ran his campaign on how he’s a Republican willing to address the climate emergency, isn’t willing to address the climate emergency (judging from his political and financial support).
Clint Barras on the other hand might be my favorite candidate on the entire ballot: in a district staring down a threat to its very existence, he understands the causes of the climate emergency, and has a comprehensive plan on how to deal with it; in a district ravaged by COVID-19, and lacking any affordable healthcare, he “100% support[s] Medicare for All.” Clint Barras is the progressive voice we need in Tallahassee.
Clerk of the Circuit Court: Harvey Ruvin vs. Rubin Young
Now this race is pretty awesome. The incumbent Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin was first elected to public office in 1968 (not a typo) and is seeking for his sixth reelection in the position of Clerk of Courts, having first been elected into the position in 1992. His tenure, though, has been marked by pretty impressive work done across the board, but most notably his advocacy and activism regarding the environment (he sponsored the bill that regulated ozone depleting chemicals and banned cans powered by CFC’s), and he has subsequently and deservedly won awards from the likes of Sierra Club on account of this work. Frankly, I see no reason why he should not be reelected.
Now, if Harvey Ruvin is a dino (in that he’s o-l-d), his opponent Rubin Young is a RINO, except in reverse: he is a Republican in everything but name. Young is running as a non-partisan candidate, but when prompted about his position on the Black Lives Matter movement, for example, he gave me very Republican answer (in fact he told me he’ll always be “on the side of law and order”). The captivating thing about him though is his character, however corny that may sound. To put it in perspective, he not only ran for PRESIDENT in 1995 (he was actually one of the first presidential candidates to campaign using the internet) but he also ran for SIX governmental offices simultaneously.
Despite not receiving support from the Democratic Party, of which he was a member, these political campaigns displayed that he had a “better understanding of the law” than all those status quo politicians that rejected him, according to him anyway. This is the same mentality, though, that informs his current political campaign: he believes that his opponent has not worked for all the citizens of Miami-Dade in all those years—even going as far as to call him a “bully”—and he plans to overthrow that status quo and work for all. I can’t guarantee that he is right for the position, but at the very least his mentality is refreshing.
Should Supreme Court Justice Carlos G. Muñiz be retained in office?
Muñiz was appointed to Florida’s Supreme Court last year by Governor Ron DeSantis. At the time, he had no judicial experience whatsoever. This may explain why his Florida BAR merit-retention survey numbers are the lowest of any judge at any level in the entire state of Florida. However, quite incredibly, his incompetence as a judge is not even the biggest reason why Justice Muñiz should not be retained in office; that honor goes to his hypocrisy and lack of integrity, which are most clearly demonstrated in his days working under former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Muñiz was Bondi’s Chief of Staff, and thus directly involved in the cover-up of many scandals, which required a complete lack of both integrity and empathy towards Floridian citizens. For instance, Bondi’s most infamous scandal is that of the Donald Trump “university” scam, in which Bondi’s office, after receiving a $25k campaign donation, refused to pursue complaints of the scam university. Muñiz was not only apart of an email chain in which the inaction regarding the complaints was discussed, but he also prepared a “fact sheet” to help easily justify the inaction.
He was also instrumental in the removal of two state attorneys who were investigating mortgage fraud and defending people from being unfairly removed from their homes. The lawyers were removed for the sake of the companies that they were investigating.
Like I said, complete lack of integrity and empathy for those he is now meant to be serving. Muñiz has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school, and one of their founding principles is “protecting individual liberty,” but for most of his political career he covered for someone that did the exact opposite.
How about these other five court of appeal judges: Monica Gordo, Eric William Hendon, Fleur Jeannine Lobree, Thomas Logue, Bronwyn Catherine Miller?
Sure, I guess. Or not. Honestly, these judges virtually always retain their position, and none have made any particularly eyebrow-raising news. Check out their Florida BAR merit retention poll numbers here and decide for yourself.
Mayor of Miami-Dade: Esteban Bovo vs. Daniella Levine Cava
I believe my grandfather’s thoughts on Esteban Bovo suffice to cover this race: he already has the face, he doesn’t need the name to further identify him as un bobo, he should change it.
Bovo also taken the anti-socialist approach, showing up on Carlucho’s show to spew talking points about how he won’t allow America to turn into Cuba—he even won over Carlucho’s endorsement! Congrats on that Esteban!
Daniella Levine Cava, despite her shortcomings, is the best candidate in this race. She introduce a five-step police reform plan, including the establishment of a fully funded Independent Community Panel to hold police accountable. She has been labeled the “Water Warrior” and secured the endorsement of the Sierra Club and VoteWater. She pushed for Miami-Dade to join the UN Convention on Eliminating Discrimination of Women, making us the first county in the entire nation to do so. Plus, she would be the first woman to be mayor of Miami-Dade!
School Board Member, District 9: Dennis C. Moss vs. Luisa Santos
I also wrote a piece on this race, in which I talk about soon-to-be-former County Commissioner Dennis Moss’ potentially worrisome financial support from the real estate industry and how that might translate into his the School Board seat. It remains to be seen if there is any valid concern (we’ll keep our eyes on it if he does win), so in the meantime, we’ll judge him off of his record and career. He is considerably, um distanced from school age, to be in touch with any remnant of a school of any kind today, but as Commissioner he did have a nice record of fighting for the betterment of the youth in his district, especially those in bajo recurso neighborhoods.
Luisa Santos lacks that political experience but is younger and thus more in touch with today’s schools and the problems they face, which is arguably more important for this position.
Brandon’s ballot guide for Nov. 3 2020 added by Ladra on
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