Voters in Miami-Dade District 7 were reminded Wednesday about former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner‘s sometimes stormy disposition.
Lerner, who is running again for county commissioner against incumbent Raquel Regalado, has famously lashed out at residents — losing her temper, shouting, cursing, banging her gavel, rolling her eyes and walking out of the village meetings in a huff.
In one meeting, she threatened to “have it out in the back room” with someone.
“Who’s Cindy Lerner trying to fool,” the mailer asks on one side. “Does Cindy Lerner think for one minute we forgot? Cindy Lerner had a pattern of verbal abuse, not just one single incident,” it says on the other.
Read related: Cindy Lerner had a pattern of verbal abuse, not just one single incident
The mailer quotes a Miami Herald story with some of her best, or worst, lines:
- “You know what, sit down,” she told a resident.
- “God damn it,” she yelled, banging her fists on the dais.
- “I’m not putting up with this shit,” she said, walking out.
Even Political Cortadito is cited in a 2020 story where she is quoted as saying, “If you open your mouth one more time…” and “If you don’t like the way I talk to you or anybody else, let’s have it out in the back room.”
Those clips were strung together in a web video released during the 2020 race by the same name, which Lerner lost, after getting into a runoff with Regalado, with 49% of the vote, a 1,300 vote difference. Was it the video? It sure didn’t help. People remember it today.
But Lerner’s outbursts are so infamous, that she herself made a video addressing it last year to kick off this campaign. Like, she’s not embarrassed at all.
Read related: Cindy Lerner makes it official vs Raquel Regalado in 2024 Miami-Dade race
In the two-minute message, she tries to infer that she lost her cool because she was fed up with the corruption in Miami-Dade. But all her example cases — Joe Carollo, Francis Suarez, Vince Lago, Alex Diaz de la Portilla — happened after those episodes. And, more importantly, Lerner wasn’t yelling at politicos in those meetings. She was yelling and disrespecting residents. Voters. Constituents.
Us.
While the web video of her yelling and screaming has gotten 1,800 views, her own video trying to explain it has gotten about a third of that.
The mailer that arrived in Kendall homes on Wednesday may be an old hit against Lerner, but it was paid for by a new political action committee, Defending Democracy in Miami-Dade, which filed paperwork July 2 and hasn’t reported any transactions yet. So, we don’t know who’s paying for this piece. Raul Miro, Jr., of North Miami Beach is the chairman and treasurer.
But it has to be on Regalado’s behalf.
There’s another candidate in the race, but Richard Praschnik loaned himself $18,000 of the $22K he’s raised and Ladra doubts that it’s him putting this mailer out.
Mailer drops in Miami-Dade District 7 race — a hit on Cindy Lerner’s temper added by Ladra on
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Just like Trump, Ms Lerner “offends” people. At least she doesn’t smile while she is sticking it to you like Ms Regalado does. I’m tired of the same old mafia running and ruining this once great area called Kendall. Time for a change.
Regalado does not respond to constituents and she completely sold out on the UDB and other environmental issues. I’ll never vote for again.
I’m considering Cindy this time around. Regalado has not done much for the district except allow overdevelopment and over regulation. She has been a sound bite commissioner, mostly going after Lolita the whale. So what if Cindy yells, that means there’s passion! I can yell back too.
I saw the video. It looks to me like it was spliced together from a number of meetings. Was someone purposely trying to provoke Mayor Lerner, over and over? To make her lose her temper, which she obviously did? I suspect but can’t prove that is what happened, and that video may have cost her the previous election. Since then, I’ve met with Mayor Lerner many times and believe she has our neighborhoods and residents foremost in mind and not the big development interests that have our Commissions, City and County, in a development stranglehold. To me, she is level-headed and straight forward. Losing one’s temper should be avoided, but who amongst us hasn’t done that? Cindy has my vote.
If Cindy were a man, I don’t think it would even appear on this site as a topic of discussion. Political mailers—i.e. negative campaigning—are always garbage claims. That said, it can be exasperating to be a public official. More to the point, occasional bursts of temper should take a backseat to actual policies, and Cindy is dedicated to environmental protection (proven by her record ans mayor of Pinecrest) and putting a lid on unwise development. Regalado may appear to be all pretty and nice, but she voted to move the UDB, which will have adverse consequences to the surrounding ecosystem as well as traffic. Regalado is not to be trusted and could never earn my vote given her history. The County Commission is already weighted against environmental and development concerns—let’s put aside this nonsense and vote for someone who will represent our best interests.
Cindy Lerner is a psychopath. Why would anyone that has seen the disrespect for residents/taxpayers want a tyrant? Vote for any of the other candidates instead but always VET them first (research) to avoid buyers remorse.
Rita Schwartz ,
Great video and agree —
” It is incomprehensible that someone that behaves this way would be elected to any public office.”
However choices here are terrible and smooth talking Raquel Regalado is up for sale .
” Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I’ll take Cindy over a self indulgent and self serving politician like Regalado.”
No Cubans , no problems far as politicians go is my Cuban motto as all owned by developers add politics here is a family business..
Back Rooms Deals and Homestead Office deals is How You get to be MAYOR in #OURCOUNTY?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG6s8ZYXBe8
This yutube video has 6.6k views. Go to youtube and type in “meet Cindy Lerner, she is the “most rude, discourteous person…’ and “very disrespectful”.
“And, more importantly, Lerner wasn’t yelling at politicos in those meetings. She was yelling and disrespecting residents. Voters. Constituents”. You got it right Political Cortadito!
And I’d take Praschnik over BOTH of them. Sick and tired of politicians who play footsie with development and high rolling donors. I won’t vote for someone who saw no problem with writing and promoting legislation that creates ADUs in unincorporated Dade ,destroying any remaining zoning laws while leaving her “city folk” untouched. Or someone who promoted putting crematoriums next to residential homes instead of keeping them only in industrial areas. But also won’t vote for someone who has even less respect for their constituents than is already displayed by our current commission during meetings. To postpone certain agenda topics at meetings til less people are able to show for their measly two minutes speaking time is already disrespectful enough.
Nope, I will vote for the LEAST “connected” to the “powers that be”, gets the LEAST amount of donations from developers and others that want to pack south Fla. with more buildings and traffic, and understands that promoting more bond issues to raise more money from us is NOT how you should be balancing your budget, especially when it is “repurposed” and spent on other items. Time to start voting for non politicians, who don’t ride in on copious donations, and are more like the people he is supposed to represent. Time to try something different. Praschnik.
Ms. Regalado only knows how to make backroom deal that benefit her , sad Vote for Lerner someone that has a pair!
I couldn’t agree more with the comments from Jaime Reyes. Voters have a clear choice if they want a fighter who will not be bought off by developers. It looks like the same old operatives like the Mayor’s Christian Ulvert have to resort to the same old tactics of distraction from the issues to preserve Regalado in her seat. She flipped on her big campaign promises, leaving many of us very disappointed as she sold out. Cindy’s commitment is to community and environmental preservation. We need her leadership and fight to preserve what little we have left.
Wow so Cindy is an assertive woman that speaks her mind! Well what do you know. Personally, I prefer someone that tells like it is instead of the flip flopping’ back door developer deals Regalado engages in. Let’s not forget how Regalado was the swing vote for the UDB and voted to move it.Thanks to her vote developers are submitting plans outside of the UDB and in environmentally sensitive land that will flood when we get a storm. More development means less quality of life for you and me. Let’s not forget how she flip flopped on the Coconut grove playhouse too. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I’ll take Cindy over a self indulgent and self serving politician like Regalado.