Mayor Esteban Bovo, county commissioner Rene Garcia win one, lose one
The two new councilmen voted to the Hialeah dais on Tuesday won their seats with pretty large margins. But it’s hard to call it a mandate when less than 9 percent of the registered voters in Miami-Dade’s second biggest city turned out.
FIU student Bryan Calvo beat rehab queen Angelica Pacheco, 67% to 33% — so he basically got two out of every three votes. This likely surprised Pacheco, who led the clusterbunch in round one, beating Calvo by 246 votes. What a difference two weeks make.
Ladra is glad she could play a part in educating voters on who Pacheco really is before they made the mistake of electing her. You are welcome, Councilman Calvo. And Freddy Balsera, you owe me lunch.
Read related: Two Hialeah Council races head to runoffs, coud swing power one way
Or was it the endorsement from newly elected Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo that did her in?
Calvo raised a very respectable $65,700 in eight days through Nov. 11, according to the last campaign report filed Friday. That was more than he had collected before, bringing his total to almost $105,000.
We don’t know how much more Pacheco collected since round one because — surprise, surprise — she hasn’t filed the report yet. She had reported raising $33,540 as of Oct. 28.
But don’t cry for him, Hialeah. Bovo got his man in Group 7 when Luis Rodriguez, the auto parts district manager, beat Maylin Villalonga with an even wider margin of 77% to 23%.
Read related: Esteban Bovo solidly wins second place prize job: Mayor of Hialeah
He had a lot more money than her, though. More than 50 times as much.
Rodriguez reported raising a total of $156,580 — $58,050 of which came in eight days after the first round. Some if came from maquinita people. Some came from real estate interests. He got $1,000 from former Miami Lakes Councilman Cesar Mestre, who is BFFs with former Mayor Carlos Hernandez.
Some bundled maximum donations came from companies tied to former Mayor Julio Robaina‘s onetime business partner Martin Caparros. Interesting that this group still has such a hold on Hialeah.
Read related: More on Hialeah candidate Angelica Pacheco’s arrests — and her web of lies
He didn’t really need all that money. Villalonga didn’t raise anything between the first round and the runoff and had a total of $3,050 reported on Oct. 28. It’s amazing she even made it into the runoff.
This one is a win for Bovo, who endorsed Rodriguez, Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia, also. Rodriguez is married to Garcia’s deputy chief of staff, Chastity Acosta, who also worked with him in the Florida Senate. She is also listed as an officer of Garcia’s non-profit, Healthy Living in South Florida, and at the non-profit Little Steps Foundation with Hialeah Councilman Oscar de la Rosa, Bovo’s stepson.
Rodriguez is practically the mayor’s fam, too.
In Hialeah, Luis Rodriguez and Bryan Calvo win runoffs with wide margins added by Ladra on
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