The four candidates in the two Coral Gables city commission runoff races will be grilled Wednesday at the only debate before the April 27 election. It’s going to be as if they were in virtual court.
“Former U.S. Attorney Leon Kellner will use his prosecutorial skills to extract truthful answers,” reads an ominous email from the Coral Gables Neighbors Association. “This will be the first and only debate this election and we saved this tough-question format for the runoffs.”
Residents are encouraged to send questions to LeonKellner@comcast.net.
Sue Kawalerski, who is an active member of the CGNA, wouldn’t give Ladra a preview. “I want to keep the candidates off balance,” she said. “Because they’re prepared for the same old softball questions.”
Read related: In snobby Coral Gables, ‘not one of us’ plagues some candidates at elections
Also participating in the debate: Good Gables Government, the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables, the Ponce Neighbors Association and Urban Core Community Coalition — which means this ain’t a friendly audience for candidates Jose Valdes-Fauli and Javier Baños.
In Group 2, Rhonda Anderson — who already has the endorsement of three of her former opponents — and Valdes-Fauli, the brother of the current mayor, will face off at 7 p.m. In Group 3, Baños, who is Joe Carollo‘s cousin and campaign treasurer, will face soccer dad Kirk Menendez, Mr. Coral Gables, starting at 8 p.m.
That’s an hour each for two candidates! This is a chance to get some things on the record.
If the questions are going to be real, let’s suggest some good ones.
First and foremost, let’s ask Kirk Menendez what he’s getting for the two houses he owns in the Crafts Section, where he recently successfully fought for an upzoning. He told the Miami Herald that he wasn’t selling, but c’mon. Nobody fights that hard to change upzone their street so they can live next door to restaurant. What offers has he had? When did he get the first one?
Also, how much money does he owe? Documents show Menendez has three mortgages on his two houses for a total of $900,000. What did he do with that? Also, what did he do when he was the chief of staff for former Miami Commissioner Marc “Shady” Sarnoff?
Read related: Two Coral Gables commission races head into runoffs in two weeks
Let’s also ask his opponent, Javier Baños, how many political action committees he’s the accountant for or involved in and where he got that $40,000 he suddenly loaned himself after it disappeared from Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo’s PAC, which he was the treasurer of. Can he tell us about the inside deals at the Bayfront Park Management Trust, where he was appointed by Carollo?
Jose Valdes-Fauli needs to answer for the negative whisper campaigns against his opponents and why he never spoke up against his bully brother or the upzoning of Miracle Mile. Did he have anything to do with the firing of Cecilia Slesnick from the Coral Gables Museum, where he is a board member, two years ago on Election Day when her mother-in-law was running against his brother?
Rhonda Anderson, who has been on the planning and zoning board for so long, should tell everybody where she was when the development grew out of control. Was she on a bathroom break? And will she be just as ineffective in swaying the other votes on the commission?
To hear their answers, register here and receive the Zoom link to the debate.
One and only Coral Gables runoff debate will have ‘hard questions’ added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →