Miami District 2 Commissioner Sabina Covo may have bit off more than she can chew. Many voters have expressed disappointment. It’s one reason why she faces no fewer than seven challengers in the Nov. 7 election, which feels more like a race for an open seat.
Covo has been in office since February, when she won a special election — with only 29% of the vote — among 12 candidates to fill the term left by Ken Russell when he resigned to run for Congress (and lost in the primary). During this time she shines more for what she hasn’t done than for what she has done.
What did she say or do when dozens of balloons were released last month during a wedding at Bayfront Park, which is in Covo’s district, littering the park and Biscayne Bay? Nada. Did she make any statement or demand any inquiry or changes after that 8-year-old boy plunged into an open cement pit at Maurice Ferre Park, which is also in her district? Nope.
Crickets.
Yet, Covo — who many suspect is being groomed for higher office — was sure to send a partisan mass text to express her disappointment with the Miami-Dade School Board’s vote against LGBTQ awareness month. And she was sure to show up at the inauguration of the Celia Cruz exhibit at the Tower Theater, now under control of Commissioner Joe Carollo.
It looks like she only voted against giving Carollo control of the theater because she knew it would pass. Or is she gunning for control of the Olympia Theater? Because Covo was all giddy at the microphone celebrating the event next to Carollo and his wife.
Didn’t Covo run on a platform that she was going to rally against the corruption at City Hall? Is this how she does it? There have been so many opportunities, even just to make a statement of support for these investigations into the mayor’s gifts and suspended Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla‘s bribery charges.
More crickets.
Maybe Covo is too busy drumming up dollars for her re-election. Another disappointment is all the lobbyist and special interest money in her campaign.
The most recent campaign finance records — which are only through June — show that she is raising money like an incumbent. Between her campaign account ($69,400) and her political action committee, Dream Miami ($238,150), she’s got more than $300K raised.
Read related: Sabina Covo leads Miami District 2 candidates in campaign fundraising
It includes $25,000 from attorney Jay Solowsky, vice president of the Brickell Homeowners Association, $12,500 from Jorge Mas, who is building Miami Freedom Park on the Melreese golf course, and $15,000 from Becker Boards, which was gunning for the billboard ordinance that was killed this week, $10,000 from real estate investor Gregory Freedman, co-founder and co CEO of BH3, and $8,000 from Event Entertainment Group. Aabad Melwani, who operates the Rickenbacker Marina and was shaken down by ADLP according to a lawsuit, gave Covo $5,000 from his different entities.
Three of the challengers are candidates who ran with Covo in February: James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, Eddy Leal, the former general counsel for Mayor Francis Suarez, and Christi Reeves Tasker, a home decor and fashion jewelry designer who lives in Brickell.
Also running are local preservation and LGBTQ activist Damian Pardo; Alicia Susan Kossick, owner of the Polished Coconut in the Grove; Gabriela Ariana Chirinos and Michael Castro.
And, this time, Covo is going to need more than 29% of the vote.
Miami Commissioner Sabina Covo disappoints, faces seven challengers added by Ladra on
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