Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber won re-election easily Tuesday. Like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Gelber had basically no opposition. But instead of getting 80% of the vote, like Baby X did across the causeway, Gelber won with 62%, which is still a comfortable victory if not an overwhelming mandate.
He also won on his pet project, the non-binding referendum asking voters if the city should ban alcohol sales after 2 a.m., effectively moving last call up three hours (more on that later). Almost 57% of the voters said yes. Ladra wonders if the ballot question helped him or hurt him. Or if he helped the ballot question.
Which came first?
Commissioner Mark Samuelian won before a ballot was cast because a judge ruled that his only challenger, reality TV has-been-turned-real estate investor Fabian Basabe, did not meet the legal residency requirements and had recently voted in another municipality.
The other two open seat races are headed into runoffs Nov. 16.
Read related: Miami Beach election ramps up with mostly familiar faces on the ballot
And these contests could tilt the commission on the the 2 a.m. last call initiative. Now that Gelber got the non-binding referendum passed, he has the political cover to bring the concept to the new commission. He already said it’s going to be the first thing on his agenda (more on that later).
Gelber still needs the votes to get it approved. Is that why he’s supporting Raquel Pacheco, a retired soldier, business owner and PTA mom who lost her first race against Commissioner Ricky Arriola in 2019.
In Group 1, Pacheco will face former Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez, who left office for a failed congressional bid then lost her first comeback attempt in 2019 (she lost against Commissioner Steven Meiner).
Rosen-Gonzalez got 34% of the vote Tuesday. Pacheco got 30% and did slightly better than the former commissioner on Election Day.
But that’s not so great considering that the Miami-Dade Democratic Party pushed hard for Pacheco, sending out several mailers and staffing phone banks. She was also endorsed by Gelber and former Mayor Philip Levine, the two architects of the real estate scheme disguised as a “safety first” 2 a.m. last call referendum. So when Phil and Dan try to turn Ocean Drive into Brickell Beach with luxury high-rises replacing restaurants and bars, Pacheco will likely be a yes vote.
Rosen-Gonzalez told Ladra Wednesday that she will respect the will of the voters, but she’ll also stay vigilant about overdevelopment efforts and the process for granting exemptions, which can be easily corrupted (read: sold).
Read related: Dan Gelber and Phil Levine are caught conspiring to auction off Miami Beach
“I want to make sure it doesn’t create an alcohol mafia,” she told Ladra, adding that she doesn’t want good businesses to be punished just because of a few bad apples.
It’s a true testament to her strength and popularity that Rosen Gonzalez even got into the runoff, let alone place first, after she was abandoned by the Democratic Party and the attacks that were leveled against her.
First the party’s screening committee created a fake, intentional “controversy” with a complaint that her claim to be Hispanic was false because she wasn’t born Hispanic. Which seems unwoke. Her kids are Hispanic. They speak in Spanish to their father. Her community is Hispanic. Rosen Gonzalez habla español. She has Hispanic in-laws. She certainly identifies as Hispanic. So what if she’s a convert? Eh, find a better attack.
And not those misleading text messages saying Rosen Gonzalez, who always fights to preserve the historic nature of the city, lied when she rallied residents to save the North Shore library branch because it was never in danger of being sold. Well, guess what? It was. The city only held off on the sale of the oceanfront property that is said to be worth $75 million because of the push back that Kristen created.
Why is the Democratic Party so interested in this race. And were those mailers for Pacheco really paid for by developer money?
The Miami-Dade Dems’ political action committee did collect some interesting contributions in recent months that stick out and may have been donated for this race. Like a pass throuh.
ANF Group Inc., a general contracting and developing firm with interests in Miami Beach — currently working on the Canopy Park project at 500 Alton Road, a 3-acre public park at the city’s gateway — gave $10,000 in May.
And, lo and behold, Christian Ulvert, the political consultant for both Gelber and Levine gave $25,000 from his New Leadership for Florida PAC on May 11. In April, New Leadership got at least $40,000 in contributions from real estate investment interests and developers with Beach ties. Coincidence?
Preservationists and labor are still with Rosen Gonzalez, who got the endorsement from the South Florida AFL-CIO. SAVE, the pro-equality organization that many think Ulvert controls, endorsed Pacheco and, in Group 3, Alex Fernandez, a onetime aide to former Miami Beach Commissioner DeeDee Weithorn who now works for Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.
Read related: Economist finds 2 AM last call rollback could cost Miami Beach millions
Fernandez, who will likely leave Sosa’s office if elected, heads into the second round with a comfortable 10-point lead against realtor and investor Stephen Cohen. They got 36% and 26% of the vote, respectively.
“I am honored by the trust placed in me by the community as we move toward the run-off,” Fernandez said in a statement.
“Miami Beach residents want a cleaner and safer community. They deserve a city commissioner with the judgment and experience to immediately and effectively address our community’s most pressing issues by implementing measures to tackle crime, crackdown on illegal short-term rentals, advance our flood mitigation strategies, and control overdevelopment.”
Both men want the job that pays $6,000 a year so bad that they have poured their own money into their campaigns. Fernandez has loaned himself almost $65,000 of the $165,000 raised since September and through Oct. 28. But that’s nothing compared to rich boy Cohen, who has loaned himself about $331,000 — which is quite a lot but, remember, he’s in real estate — getting about $4,000 in donations from others.
Fernandez doesn’t have a PAC but has registered to raise funds for A Safer Miami Beach, which promoted the yes vote on the 2 a.m. last call. He also has a $1,000 donation from Culvert’s New Leadership PAC.
Neither he nor Cohen had even $20K left as of Oct. 28. Neither did Rosen Gonzalez, who raised almost $100,000 from 209 individual donors, and Pacheco, who raised almost $65,000, including a $10K loan to herself.
But, of course, they all started raising money again on Wednesday. Because this is going to be a quick turnaround. Vote-by-mail or absentee ballots have to go out immediately and the last day to request one is by 5 p.m. Saturday. There will be three days of early voting from Nov. 12 to the 14th.
No time to rest for these four.
Miami Beach commission runoffs could stack the deck against Ocean Drive added by Ladra on
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