Campaign contributions show same ol’ special interests
There is a safety hazard on U.S. 1 at 37th Avenue and Ladra can’t believe it hasn’t caused any accidents yet.
It’s a billboard for the re-election campaign of Miami Commissioner Sabina Covo, who won a special election in February to replace Ken Russell, who resigned to run for Congress then lost the primary. And it says she is “fighting corruption.” And “delivering results.”
TV commercials say she “exposed corruption” and “held the powerful accountable.”
Just how exactly is she doing any of that? By attending the Celia Cruz exhibit opening at the Tower Theater and legitimizing the historic venue’s takeover by Commissioner Joe Carollo, who a judge found liable for violating first amendment rights to the tune of $63 million? Or is it by getting campaign contributions from some of the same people who give to Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was arrested on public corruption charges like bribery and money laundering?
Read related: Miami Commissioner Sabina Covo disappoints, faces seven challengers
Covo got a $5,000 check for her Dream Miami political action committee from the Bercow Radell law firm on June 7. ADLP got a $5,000 check from the firm for his PAC, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County, exactly a week later. OKO Group, which is a real estate development company, gave $10,000 to the Dream PAC in January and $35,000 to Diaz de la Portilla’s PAC in June. Additive Strategies, a business consultant firm on Brickell, gave $3,000 to Covo in January and $50K to ADLP in May.
The most recent report filed last week shows she also got a $15,000 contribution from Suntex, a marine operator in Texas that ADLP is trying to get a contract for on Rickenbacker. Other shared contributors include Adler Development, Edgewater Management, Bayside Marketplace, and former commissioner Marc Sarnoff‘s PAC, Truth is the Daughter of Time, which gave Covo’s PAC $20,000.
Nobody will believe that Sarnoff did not check that off with ADLP and/or Carollo first.
Both Diaz de la Portilla and Covo also got a contribution from Becker Boards, the company hoping to get LED billboards approved for downtown Miami. Commissioners voted against the ordinance to allow such signage and Covo said she would return the $15,000 check she got from them for her PAC. Her consultant, Christian Ulvert, confirmed to Ladra that the contribution had been returned earlier this month, which is why it is not reflected in the campaign report.
But did she return the $20K she got from Sarnoff or any other lobbyists working on their behalf?
Read related: Sabina Covo leads Miami District 2 candidates in campaign fundraising
She still has a bunch of money from almost every single lobbyist in town and other special interests, including a lot of real estate development money. More than $200,000 in the last three months has almost doubled her warchest.
When asked what she had done to fight corruption, Covo only said what she intends to do: Campaign contribution reforms modeled after Miami Beach (which still has loopholes), a requirement to post lobbyist meetings online, and the creation of an Inspector General’s office that is independent from the city manager, mayor or commission.
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“This was recently implemented in Miami Beach and it’s time that Miami does the same,” she told Ladra.
So what has she delivered on in terms of fighting corruption. Nada. She hasn’t even commented on the tree removal at Maurice Ferre Park, which Carollo is itching to develop with a gym and other amenities.
The achievements over the last eight months she listed include providing protective and educational signage for the Morningside bird rookery, establishing a process to plant native plants in the swales, creating a sports and rec advisor board, moving to permanently pedestrianize Fuller Street in Coconut Grove.
Oh, and she co-sponsored urging the county to purchase Bird Key for environmental preservation.
So the billboard claim is false. She is not fighting corruption. She’s planting trees and providing educational signage. That just doesn’t sound as good on a billboard.
Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight? added by Ladra on
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[…] has done little to address these issues. And on the eve of this month’s elections received campaign contributions Of the many donors that state law enforcement agencies have given to Diaz de la Portilla was […]
[…] has done little to address these issues. And on the eve of this month’s elections received campaign contributions Of the many donors that state law enforcement agencies have given to Diaz de la Portilla was […]
[…] Read related: Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight? […]
[…] Read related: Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight? […]
[…] Read related: Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight? […]
[…] Read related: Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight? […]
Hello Denise,
Have you called James to ask him?
This is funny. Last I checked both Damian and Sabina have aligned themselves with Carollo and will continue to allow him to roam free as he prepares his run for Mayor. James great job calling out corruption but what are you gonna do on day one? We don’t have time to waste while you figure it out. Cleaning up
Brickell is great but you need way more experience and knowledge about our city codes and processes if you plan to fix Miami.
D2 Voter:
We’re two weeks away from Election Day, which means that many of you are being swamped with TV ads, paid social media posts, radio spots and postcards related to the District 2 race.
Because she has spent the past few months collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the special interests that want to exploit our city, most of these ads are being funded by Sabina Covo and the political committee she controls, DREAM PC.
Almost all of them are smears and nasty lies against her opponents. Sabina is using money from special interests to attack me for an incident over 20 years ago when I was stopped by a police officer for having tinted windows — an incident that ended when I paid a fine.
She is using money from special interest to pursue a truly bizarre attack on Damian Pardo about some Facebook post that he did. She is using special interest money to attack Eddy Leal, essentially, for the crime of having worked as a real estate attorney.
All these attacks have two goals. The first is voter suppression. Politicians like Sabina, who in less than one year has become a cog in the wheel that is Miami’s corrupt “pay-to-play” machine, are counting on voters getting overwhelmed by all the attacks, coming to the conclusion that all the options are bad, and staying home. While that is undemocratic and just plain mean, the second goal is even worse. By using dirty money from special interests to throw mud at her opponents, Sabina is hoping —ironically— that you’ll forget about all that dirty money she’s raised, and the promises she’s made behind the scenes to get that cash in the first place.
I am asking you, dear neighbor, to not fall for Sabina’s obvious trick. Any impartial observer can agree that Commissioner Covo has failed and embarrassed our district. From forgetting the Pledge of Allegiance at her first public meeting, hanging out with Commissioners instead of standing up to them and their corruption, introducing clearly unconstitutional legislation that would have gone against our civil rights, and voting (again, and again, and again, and again) for the special interests, lobbyists and developers that are now padding her campaign account, Commissioner Covo has been a failure.
Even the things she HAS accomplished leave much to be desired. At public forum after public forum during this election cycle, when asked about her accomplishments on areas such as public safety or environmental protection, Commissioner Covo can mainly point out to the fact that she’s sent some emails, asked the city manager for situation updates, or made statements on social media.
The one thing she has done, the major accomplishment she touts everywhere, is scheduling once-a-week “open office hours” where constituents can come and talk to her. She is particularly proud of coming up with the idea of sometimes having those office hours outside of City Hall. Let’s leave aside the fact that Covo is often late for these office hours. Somehow, Commissioner Covo seems to think that being available to her constituents for two hours every week is some kind of Olympic record-breaking triumph.
But the reality is the people in our district want and deserve a commissioner who is available, responsive and effective much more than just two hours a week. The people in our district want and deserve a commissioner who is not going to be saddled with paying back all the favors to the special interests that gave her tens of thousands of dollars each during this campaign. The people in our district want and deserve a commissioner who is not afraid to call the leaders of Miami CORRUPT, to their face, and stand up for change. The people in our district want and deserve a commissioner with a record of accomplishment.
I humbly ask for your vote, as I believe I meet all these conditions. While I have never held public office, in the past few years as a community advocate, I have been able to create relationships, mobilize neighbors and get results. Even without an elected position, I led the fight against the awful LED billboard ordinance — pushed through by the people who gave over $55,000 to Sabina — which would have turned our City’s urban core into a mini Times Square. I have been front and center in calling out the lack of attention to the homeless issue and getting at least some funding. And I have been there as our parks are under assault to protect them from inappropriate tree removals and development, forcing change by the Bayfront Park Trust, for example.
Again, I know many of you might feel discouraged, with the barrage of slimy attack ads by Sabina, about the options we have. I beg you to see through the dirty tricks and ask for your support and your vote.
My names is James Torres and I approve this message
James Torres
305-942-5722
Damian Pardo is the clear choice for this election. Vote Pardo.
vote james torres
simple
ABC=’s anybody but covo
Pardo is fundraising as we speak (very openly btw) from all the political insiders and special interests. Do a deep dive into his campaign contributions and check out the sponsors of his upcoming fundraiser at capital grill. He’s dirty! He doesn’t have the support of the gay community.
@SJ
Torres yells really. wow show us proof please
Arrested, over? and also that was addressed 1K times in the Miami Herald and other places, did he not get the endorsement in Feb? yes he did. and your trying to create a fake narrative.
Torres for the win and a win for the community.
” Commissioner Sabina Covo billboard boasts fight vs corruption — what fight?”
As the saying goes —
” I’ll vote for someone NEW over a proven up for sale , self serving politician but if that new politician I voted for becomes what I voted against , I will just as easily vote against them so hope they do not take me for granted ”
Torres was arrested multiple times. He is an outsider and isn’t from Miami. When you talk to him, he just yells – he is so angry all the time. He is a hot head. He has good intentions, but we need someone with a level head on city hall.
Covo is a failure. She is on her 4th marriage. She hasnt been able to hold down a steady job in years. She was a mediocre freelance journalist – which means no one actually employed her. She wrote a book that sold a handful of copies. She is an ambitious social climber and the attack ads she is sending out against the candidates shows that.
Damian Pardo is a community leader and he has my vote for City Hall.
PARDO for District 2!
Anyone BUT COVO!
Anyone who talks to her can see that she is completely incompetent. What a disgrace. Literally any of the other candidates would be better than her.
Pardo has taken $$$ from Carollo for his Gay 8 festival in Calle8, and the funny thing is that he LIES about it, because if you’re getting $$ from the “Godfather” you have to meet with him and kiss the ring!
@Damion, please don’t lie any more. For years you have gotten $$$ and tan you blame your Business partners please.
Alos, your only in this race because Christin U, *&ucked you over on$$ deals for SAVE and the Gay 8.
You as fake as COVID aka COVO!
@flipflop
Don’t be fake news like the rest !
Read and look at the video first
And why not being to light Pardo getting money from Carollo almost on a yearly bases for his festival and also don’t you find it odd that SAVE is not with him
You’re not really an informed voter !
And the mini led billboards were approved years ago via the DDA and the Commissinor before hand
Pardo has gotten thousands of dollars from joe Carollo for his gay 8 festival don’t be fooled
He has met with sloppy joe on several occasions!
I’m talking thousands of dollars
Pardo looks to be best candidate. Covo appears corrupt and Torres in 2022 stood up at a commissioners meeting and asked them to put up LED billboards in Ferre Park and bayfront park Virginia key park and all facilities owned by miami parking authority. This year he flip flopped on that issue. Now he is against. Who is the real James Torres. Better to not find out! Vote Pardo.
James Has been at the front of a lot of issues not just Downtown, OTHERS clain that he is tied to Crazy Joe, NOT a fact, and he is not. I live at the 900 Biscayne and have really seen him in action .
He has our Vote.
ABC=’ Any body but Covo But for me its TORRES
Padro has taken $$ from Special Interest not being truthful with us.
Leal— Tied to the Mayor as HIS attorney, he know where the body’s are buried. Corrupt as the rest of them.
Torres- transparent and a fighter for us ALL . i LIKE James Torres
Are u kidding. Pedestrianizing Fuller st is absurd. We need parking desperately if we need Fuller we can close it once a month not every day when it is empty – we have scammers running pay by phone parking lots – parking is desperately needed. Retailers are desperate. No one walks the Grove after a nice dinner to check out stores they can’t wait to get in their cars because they have probably pd $20 to valet and have no idea where your car is even parked and only hope they have locked your car when they parked it!
The Pardo Campaign has been the only campaign calling out corruption since May. Here we have a desperate candidate that will stop at nothing to retain power – lies, money, manipulation and strong ties to a corrupt culture. Fit right in with Carollo and DLP. Shameful!
Damien Pardo is the clear choice to win
It’s an internal struggle since she’s on a developer payroll now.
Damien Pardo is the clear choice to win!
A billboard? Did the billboard company give Covo the billboard for free? Billboard companies including their many sleazy lobbyists like Marc Sarnoff and Melissa Tapanes have been giving Covo money all year. Covo is Pay To Play like Carollo, Keon Hardemon, Christine King and Alex DLP. Vote for anyone but Covo.
She is an empty suit. We can’t afford her for the next four years.
I’m leaning toward Torres. I’d like to know what fellow readers of this newsletter think about him as a candidate.
Hello my names is Jason, and I have to tell you that COVID aka COVO is FAKE, she lies and she is a toy to Carollo and DLP. PAC accounts dont lie, and she tell US that she needs the money to get “her message out” over 200k in 45 days she is another ZILBER. We all saw what was done in the Special election … he raised oops, I mean was given $$$ hand over fist .This is crazy. this is NOT what we need in City Hall. its time for a change and I know who has my vote and my friends votes and family. Her message should be that A) I went to school to learn the Pledge B) the IRS is no longer garnishing her wages C) And stop the NEGATIVE TV ads.
James Torres has my vote(s)
Shame on COVO
OMG! TRULY OMG!
She is as fake as a 15.00 bill! She is Corrupt beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
She is a Pay to Play, simple as that. I want to shed some light on something here, Krusty Carollo/ Pay to Play Sarnoff and many others are HELPING her. look at the PAC accounts, I can also share that in the Brickell forum, James Torres opening remarks was an eye opener, he read off Covo’s PAC!!! Who does that, well someone that is not a “pay to play” someone that is not in the pockets of special interest. And she has been in office less than one year and she has learned the game to a T. She is worse than Carollo/DLP/and others.
She has to go. And this is why I’m voting for James Torres, as you all should aswell.
https://www.votejamestorres.com/
I know my ABC’s do you ? ANYBODY BUT COVO