The first mailer for Miami-Dade School Board District 7 went out last week, for Mary Blanco, an incumbent who has never gotten a vote in her life because she was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The ad touts endorsements from Lt. Gov. Jeannett Nuñez and Sen. Marco Rubio, because she is a political appointment, after all.
While this is officially a non-partisan seat, these are increasingly becoming very partisan. And Blanco’s mailer reflects that. Two of the three priorities identified are high on the state’s GOP agenda: Supporting school choice, which is a way to legally take funds from public schools for private schools — like the one Blanco works at — and “protecting female athletes,” which is code for anti-transgender policies.
The school board member, whose legal name is Maria Bosque-Blanco, went to Barry University and, before that, Miami Dade College, where she serves on the Board of Trustees along with School Board Member Roberto Alonso, who was also appointed by DeSantis in 2020 and then elected in November.
The mailer also has pictures of DeSantis, Nuñez and Rubio, who also provided an alleged quote: “As a lifelong educator and mother, Mary shares our values and always puts the bet interests of children and families first. he is a strong advocate of parental right, school choice and promoting common sense education policies for our students and teachers.”
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Also listed as supporters on the piece: State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, State Reps. Alina Garcia, who is running for supervisor of elections, Mike Redondo, Juan Porras, Danny Perez, the next Speaker of the House, and Alex Rizo, chairman of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade, Miami-Dade Commissioners Roberto Gonzalez (D11) and Anthony Rodriguez (D10), former Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who is now mayor of Sweetwater, and all four Republican school board members — Mari Tere Rojas, the chair, Monica Colucci, Alonso and Dan Espino, who is also a DeSantis appointment (to replace Christi Fraga, who went on to become mayor in Doral).
Missing are Republican county commissioners JC Bermudez, Kevin Marino Cabrera, Rene Garcia and Raquel Regalado, who was a school board member for six years from 2010 to 2016.
The mailer is paid for by her political action committee, Education for the Future, which has racked up $103,850 since January, according to the latest campaign finance report, more than half of which ($52K) came from other PACs, because she is a political appointment, after all. She also got almost $20K from real estate development interests and $5,000 from charter school magnate Ignazio Zulueta of Academica, one of the largest school management companies in the state, and maybe the U.S.
Add that to the $160,370 collected in her campaign account — including 32 checks from PACs and at least 25 from lobbyists — and she has raised just over $264,000. After spending $86,550 through June 14, she had $177,450 in the bank.
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Blanco, a guidance counselor at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy who was appointed last year to replace Lubby Navarro after the latter’s resignation, she has been challenged by former South Dade Senior High Principal and father Javier “Javi” Perez — who was nearly killed by a drunk driver in 2016 and lost both his legs, walking now on prosthetics — and teacher-turned-tech exec Maxeme “Max” Tuchman, who had her kickoff at the Superwheels Skating Center last year and is leading the “incumbent” in fundraising, with $275,671 raised in 965 separate contributions in just her campaign account. No need for a PAC.
Tuchman has spent $98,428 so she has more than $177,000 in hand as of June 14, also. A straight tie.
Perez has about $46,000, bur he has less than $10K left.
But Blanco is so confident that the heavy-hitter endorsements and GOP money will get her re-elected that she skipped a candidate forum last week sponsored by the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association. And it’s not for a lack of trying, said KFHA President Michael Rosenberg.
“I really tried hard to get people to attend,” Rosenberg told the people who took the time out of their own busy schedules to get informed. He explained that he gave Blanco three different dates to pick from and none of them worked out. He got an email back thanking him for his efforts but explaining that Blanco’s calendar was “extremely full.” So, Rosenberg being the wonderful pest that he is, asked when.
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“Anytime. Sunday night? 3 a.m.? Anytime,” he said. “No response. I think that’s important to know.”
Hell, yeah. We in Kendall don’t know anything about Blanco, except that she is a political appointment, after all. Nobody in Kendall should vote for her.
District 7 covers most of Kendall from Dadeland west to the edge of the Everglades and south through Kendale Lakes and the Redland into parts of Homestead and Florida City. The election is Aug. 20. If nobody gets 50%, there will be a runoff in November.
Miami-Dade School Board appointee Mary Blanco touts GOP endorsements added by Ladra on
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