Vice Mayor Vince Lago had his second best month of fundraising for his mayoral campaign in December, collecting a total of $42,000 — more than twice the $17K that Commissioner Pat Keon, his only opponent so far, got from her rich Coral Gables and Key Biscayne friends.
This brings their totals to $158,628 for Lago, who has been collecting contributions since October of 2019, and $117,000 for Keon, who loaned herself $100K after she announced in November, probably to scare anybody else away.
Lago’s money includes little bundling, much less than one might expect, except for a bunch of husband and wife checks and a few bundles from real estate interests, of course, but nothing over $4,000 that Ladra could find so far.
Read related: Coral Gables mayoral race in April shapes up as Pat Keon vs Vince Lago
That includes $4,000 from developer Tony Argiz and from Behar Font and Partners architects, who are thought to be in favor of the Miracle Mile reboot… but wouldn’t that mean they’d give to Keon? After all, she’s the one driving this speeding Pinto “clean-up” of the famous Gables zoning code, with Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli shouting directions from the backseat, as Lago tries to slow the speed down. Valdes-Fauli, who is not running for re-election, hasn’t donated to either.
The most notable difference between the two financial reports is that Lago doesn’t have any money from himself. That means all $158K plus he’s raised have been from real people who support him. Many of those are votes.
If Ladra is counting right, Pat Keon has 17 sure votes. Well, 12. Five donors are not Gables residents.