Voters in Coral Gables might think that Vice Mayor Vince Lago endorses commission candidate Javier Baños in the Group 3 race. That’s because a mailer arrived in mailboxes Wednesday making it look that way.
But that is not the case. Baños knows Lago is extremely popular and bound to win. He is intentionally misleading voters because he wants some of that Lago love.
The mailer doesn’t specifically say that Lago endorses the former South Miami candidate (he lost) and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo protegé. But it has a photo of Baños with the vice mayor and the words “Ready to represent” below them.
Like, they’re both ready to represent. Together. It’s inferred.
Read related: Miami politics creep into Coral Gables election via Javier Baños, Claudia Miro
That picture, however, was taken at an event two years ago, Lago said. It is a blown up, cropped close-up of the two men — but there were eight or 10 other people in the original, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and a priest at St. Theresa. That’s why it’s so grainy. Baños really blew it up.
“That’s a public photo at an event,” Lago told Ladra Wednesday. It is probably safe to say that Lago takes a lot of photos with people at events. He has been in office for eight years.
But Baños cut those other people out for a reason. He wants voters to believe that Lago is behind him, when he’s not. Lago says he is staying out of the two commission races, mostly because he has his own election but probably also because he would have to serve with whoever wins.
That’s one reason why he brushed the mailer off. He said the other candidates can post photos with him, too. Lago appointed Alex Bucelo to a city board and has coffee with PJ Mitchell every quarter.
He doesn’t do that with Baños.
This is not the first misleading mailer for the Baños campaign.
Read related: Miami political pals of Javier Baños attack Alex Bucelo in Coral Gables race
The candidate denied having anything to do with an attack mailer on Bucelo that was paid for, mostly, by former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who gave $25,000. It’s one of several ties to the political underbelly of the Magic City that Baños not only has, but lies about.
He told Ladra he had nothing to do with the political committee, Citizens for a Better Miami-Dade Government. Yet, his name and email and phone number are on the documents as a contact. In fact, his name is on a bunch of PACs, including Carollo’s, which is not a super clean industry.
Also, that’s not the only time Sarnoff may have been involved in the Gables commission race. Remember the $40,000 that Baños loaned himself in February? Right after the same amount from Sarnoff disappeared in a Carollo PAC.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
This is different from the mailer that went out for Lago with former Commissioner Maria Anderson among many of the current and former electeds supporting him. Anderson said she never gave Lago permission to use her likeness and that she had not endorsed anyone.
“I have, over the last seven years since leaving office, kept out of the spotlight in Gables politics,” Anderson told Ladra. “The use of my name and photo without permission is unsettling to me
“It may not change the course of any election, but it says a bit about the potential future mayor.”
Yeah, it says he made a mistake. Well, not him but someone on his campaign team. He apologized. He can’t take the mailers back but said he isn’t using the photo anymore.
With Baños, it’s a clear case of intending to fool and defraud the voters.
There are too many red flags with Baños. Carollo. Sarnoff. The mystery PAC. The $40K. The lies. It’s not worth taking a chance on all this when there are three perfectly good candidates to choose from without him.
Ladra is anyone but Baños and his disingenuous mailer only seals it.
Javier Baños tries to get some Vince Lago love in Coral Gables election added by Ladra on
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Quite concerning that Lago can’t properly manage what his campaign team does. How is he going to manage the city? Even worse, he passed the blame onto “someone” in his campaign team. This is not the action of a true leader. Disappointing that Ladra makes excuses for poor ethics.
Banos and Lago have godfathers in the Miami political machine. Banos ties to Crazy Carollo should scare everyone. Lago’s godfather is Xavier Suarez, who had a Miami mayoral election thrown out by a judge because of a pattern of fraudulent, intentional and criminal conduct. 21 were charged for absentee vote fraud! Ladra likes Lago, but Gables no likes these Miami sons.
One other odd coincidence is that , according to the Campaign Finance Report on the Coral Gables Election website both Vince Lago and Javier Banos use the same political consulting group American Strategies. American Strategies is run by Ariel Fernandez, so I would assume Lago must have been aware of the Banos mailer before it went out. I can not see a situation where a campaign manager would have sent out a mail piece linking two of his canidates without both of their approval.
Besides where canidates get their funding ,with who they spend their money is also important because they are only a small group of campaign consulting firms that run political elections in Miami Dade.
Robert ,
As someone told me ” There is a thin line , close to microscopic between Hialeah politics and politics in the rest of Miami the only difference is often that the politicians outside of Hialeah are a bit more polished not so much chusmeria y hablando basura como son en hialeah .”
When I called Keon about the Miracle Mile rezoning, she lied to me. She said in no uncertain terms that height was not changing. When I discovered that the key was remote parking which changed the economics dramatically. When I called her on this, she didn’t respond. Keon will pave Coral Gables if she can. Whatever warts Lago may have, he will be a strong supporter of the Coral Gables we love.
I’m not voting for Bucelo because he sent me a link to this crap. If his team thinks this is important imagine how in over his head he will be when dealing with real issues in a coral gables like let’s say, a budget or west Matheson negotiating. Thanks but I’ll pass.
It is becoming apparent that the coming election in the “ City Beautiful” is looking and feeling more like La Ciudad full of caca, with aspirants throwing manure at one another, neglecting the issues that should be seriously addressed.
For Pete’s sake, what is the matter with these candidates? Maybe it is the voters fault for permitting this sort of nonsense and chicanery.
If you want the CHUSMERIA from City of Miami in Coral Gables – then vote for Javier Banos! That is what he brings. He pretends he doesn’t know his wife’s relative Joe Carollo even though he is his accountant and is funded by Sarnoff. He lies and says he doesn’t know about attack mailers funded by a PAC that lists him as the treasurer and coincidentally only attacks his opponents. This is a turning point. A vote for Banos is a vote for City of Miami politics in the Gables.
As a very involved Coral Gables resident I don’t see how someone who has followed Coral Gables politics for many years could say that “there are three perfectly good candidates to choose from without him”, when referring to Javier Banos. I have not only been present, but have taken the time to go back and read, and watch the videos of Commission Meetings, board meetings, sunshine meetings, etc. Yes, there are three other candidates but they appear to only surface when they have personal interests in mind. Where was Kirk all these years? Oh, he was, as a child/adolescent participating in Youth Center activities and as an adult he has coached there! He DOES have a claim to fame now as one of the persons who fought to have an area of the Crafts section up zoned! Why? Because “that area does not look like Coral Gables” when in reality they were fighting to be able to sell their properties to the developers! Where was he all the long years he has lived there? Did he ask to have a median built because the street is “too wide”? Did he request to have trees planted? Now he has the gall to send a mailer saying that he will “stand up to overdevelopment! Say that to the residents of the other areas of the Craft Section who are extremely worried that their RESIDENTIAL area will be next. Say it to those residents that will have their homes over shadowed by the buildings that he, Kirk, fought for.
Having been born and raised in Coral Gables certainly does not make anyone a “perfectly good candidate.” Where have they been while we were fighting the re-zoning and up zoning? Some of them haven’t even attended the forums, town hall meetings, etc. Why are developers holding fundraisers for them? What are their plans to improve our City?
As far as I am concerned there is only one candidate in that group that deserves, and has earned our support. The only one that was there rain or shine, at any time the issues concerning the future of our city were being discussed! The only one who relentlessly fought for us! The only one who understands one of the issues most5 important for the fiscal well being of our city, the unfunded pensions. He is very well versed on pensions and HAS a plan on how to fix them. That candidate is JAVIER Banos!
Mr. Toilet will will be flushed in april. Maybe he can keep his promise and move to Hawaii!
Teresita is correct. Seems like Lago knew or didn’t care much about the photo. Clearly they know each other and I think they would work well with each other. Lago also said a few others can do the same!!!! Where is the story here? Why doesn’t ladra put the real mailer image in color on her site instead of the USPS low resolution black and white? Very dishonest. Lago and Baños both care a lot about the pension reform.
As a voter I don’t care about a Maria Anderson endorsement or not. She mislead voters about the reserves her last election. What was her legacy?
Yes, everyone should go to http://www.coralgables.com then City Clerk and the Election Home. There you can see for yourself who has given to whom. If you want to have fun, see if you can count on your fingers how many developers have given the max to Lago. Then ask yourself why is that, if he is so anti- development. The truth is, he lives from it.
Well, well! I do not know anyone who is perfect. As far as I’m concerned anyone who makes a mistake and admits to it, should be praised and not criticized. I’m still waiting to hear from anyone who can tell me that Pat Keon has admitted to not telling the truth about her connections to developers. All anyone has to do is go to http://www.CoralGables.com and watch the videos of the Commission Meetings to observe her trying to give them everything they asked for! Have we forgotten how hard she pushed to convince her fellow commissioners to go along with the building of a hotel, at 220 Miracle Mile, with no lobby, no parking and using the public alley as their own? Does anyone remember her interest in getting the rezoning “review” through so the developers can go higher and not have to have parking?
Interesting how the facts get twisted. And you love to bark at candidates that don’t pay to advertise on your site.
Lago and Baños will work well together.
It seem the others candidates are afraid of Mr. Baños and can’t talk about the facts and debate the issues. Because on the issues he WINS!
Baños is the one with the experience and knows what to do.
Stick to the issues.. ladras demasiado.
Love,
Teresita
Banos is a teat sucking politician desperately looking for a host community.
He will do anything, say anything, move anywhere to try and get elected.
I’m not clear on Ladra’s on points.
So both Baños and Largo are using sketchy endorsements but one is borderline ethics violations and the other is a meaningless oversight? And you think the Mayor being BBFs with candidates on his commission is a good thing? That’s how logrolling gets started. Unfortunately
there is going to be some nose holding on this vote.
I would not want someone dishonest representing the City Beautiful, clearly Mr. Banos is as dishonest as they come!
Just makes me wonder what else is he capable of doing that would hurt the City of Coral Gables.
Lago making a mistake? Really? This column is obviously biased towards him. He calculates every move. He is a builder, a developer. Everyone needs to open their eyes.
How does a seasoned politician ‘accidentally’ put someone’s picture and name in an ad? I’m not buying it. Lago needs to release a retraction to the Anderson endorsement.
Well stated, Maria. BTW, we miss your decency on the commission.
My issue with my name being used without my permission is not accurately portrayed in this article. I never had a conversation with Lago, never gave permission, and in the end, as I know from personal experience, it is the candidate who bears responsibility. An apology after the fact, does not take away from using my name and likeness which has value to me personally.
I fully agree, Baños is the slick, untrustworthy type of politician with many hidden agendas. Exactly the opposite of what Coral Gables needs.
Mr. Bathroom these tricks don’t work for educated voter like coral gables.