A short-lived campaign to recall Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago seemed to fizzle this week after Miami-Dade County’s Elections Department said the group had failed to get the required number of signatures to put it on a ballot.
It may not be dead. Both Maria Cruz, the longtime Gables activist who started the recall, and attorney David Winker, representing her political action committee End The Corruption, have said the petitions that were deemed ineligible may have been planted by Lago lackeys in an attempt to thwart the effort. Especially since there was more than one petition purportedly signed by Cruz, who only signed one petition.
So, were they duplicates from a sloppily followed process or the sabotage claimed? Winker says he’s going to get to the bottom of it.
But one thing is certain: They should have submitted more than 1,719 petitions, which only gave the recall PAC a buffer of about 70 before they reached the 1,650 minimum required number, representing 5% of the City Beautiful’s 33,000 registered voters. The county reviewed all of them and verified 1,533, said Elections Supervisor Christina White in her transmittal of the petitions back to Gables City Clerk Billy Urquia.
Read related: Coral Gables mayoral recall effort may fall short on petitions. Is it sabotage?
The PAC came 117 petitions short, which could indicate more resistance to ousting the mayor than Cruz and her allies thought they would find. Certainly, there are not 117 planted duplicates.
Lago immediately crowed victory — as if 1,533 voters in his city hadn’t still signed a piece of paper trying to get rid of him. That’s still a bitter pill to swallow. And, just as he has for the entire recall campaign, Lago keeps lying about it in a statement that again blames the effort on “out-of-town developers” who want to “upzone Miracle Mile” without providing any proof. The city’s planning director has already said at a public meeting that there are no applications for any development on Miracle Mile.
That hasn’t stopped him from shopping around a criminal investigation around and perhaps pressuring the state attorney’s office to initiate one because the canvassers were paid to collect signatures. While only recall petition canvassers are prohibited from getting paid, according to state law, that is exactly why the courts have already tossed that law in several lawsuits, Winker said.
The investigation seems retaliatory. Especially since Lago has used the same get-out-the-vote group, Ven Vamos, to canvass for his election.
Read related: Coral Gables mayoral recall PAC has dark money funding from web of PACs
While the recall PAC unfortunately was funded by unknown sources, professionally funneled through multiple other PACs, according to the latest campaign finance reports for the first quarter of the year, Winker has said that the reason was that people are afraid to publicly donate because Lago is known for his retaliation.
Ladra is not so sure. While it’s not likely development money, it very well could be funds from the police and/or fire unions, which are at odds with the mayor, or even the local or state Democratic Party, who may want to cut the rising Republican’s career short.
Still, those 1,533 people who definitely signed the petition may have reason to worry. Cuidado. Get your yard in shape, or you’ll be seeing a code enforcement violation notice in your mailbox.
Recall vs Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is short by 117 petition signatures added by Ladra on
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[…] But Goldmeier did wait six months to make the complaint, which was right after she started a recall against Mayor Lago that fell short by just 117 signatures. And that seems more retaliatory than a legitimate reporting of his orchid […]
[…] Read related: Recall vs Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is short by 117 petition signatures […]
[…] Read related: Recall vs Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is short by 117 petition signatures […]
… 1500 people voting for recall is a lot of people unhappy with lago… all went out of their way… all took the risk of retaliation… there is strength to this group… this group can bring back ethics to the city… get to the bottom of the election sabotage… spread awareness of lagos lies… find good people to run the city….
What a croc when you blatantly insinuate Lago would use code enforcement officers to retaliate against petition signors. You seem to be trying to equate his behavior to that of Joe Carollo. Get real. You may not like Lago but that is beneath his behavior. You also are discrediting your blog with your one sided posts against him. By the way, I voted for Ariel, Fernandez and
Ms. Cruz loves all the attention she is getting, not realizing she is being used as a pawn.
There was sabotage, Lago himself said he had his friends planted in the project. He said it in a radio interview in Radio Mambi.
Dark Money is Not like Bribe/Donations/Contribution or PAC Money ?
My signature is one of the alleged duplicates that was used to determine the petition ineligible. I only signed one form. The people or person that sabotaged the recall effort by forging peoples signatures for duplication, should face criminal charges. We all know corrupt Lago put his hands in this. Either way, he is out come next election and hopefully the Feds investigation into his illegal real estate transactions will land him in prison.
Enough already!
Maria Cruz is not even a no-seem in the swarm of Coral Gables insects!
Let the normal election process determine who runs Coral Gables. We already have 3 Musketeers(KFC) running amock!!
Well, I’m left wondering why Gables Insider, our “most trusted source for Coral Gables News,” hasn’t reported on this news.
Time to go back and to manage Coral Gables’s business. Next April, we will decide who the Mayor should be. In the meantime, no more distractions !
There’s no conspiracy only incompetency and the fact that most residents didn’t want the recall. If we are unhappy with our elected officials, we vote them out. Let’s move on and hopefully Ms Cruz will find something more constructive to do with her time.