Now it’s getting interesting.
Coral Gables Commissioner Kirk Menendez filed paperwork Wednesday to run for mayor against incumbent Vince Lago, the egomaniac that he’s been battling for the last 20 months on the dais, setting the City Beautiful voters up for a gut-wrenching, nasty election. Menendez knows that Lago, who has raised and spent at least $1.4 million through his political action committee, is going to get ugly. Or uglier, as it were.
But he’s had it.
“I gave him every chance to mend fences and bring our community together,” Menendez told Political Cortadito about his decision to challenge the Lago. “But as time went by, I lost hope that he could redeem himself.”
Menendez, who won his first commission race in 2021 in a field of five, was going to run for re-election against a Lago recruited and backed candidate named Richard Lara, a big shot attorney for a radio giant who is likely to run against someone else now for the open seat. Las malas lenguas say Felix Pardo is considering. Coach Kirk, as Menendez is familiarly known, shifted his attention to the mayoral seat Wednesday. He promised to “bring civility, stability, and selfless leadership in a continued commitment to prioritizing the voices of residents.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago gets shut down, censured by 3 he disparaged
“As we celebrate our centennial, the future of Coral Gables is as bright as it has ever been. I remain steadfast in my commitment to the values and ideals that define our Coral Gables community,” Menendez said in a statement. “This is an exciting time for our residents, as our City Beautiful embarks on its journey into the next 100 years. I ask for your support, so that together, we can preserve and protect the way of life that makes Coral Gables so special.”
Menendez is also known as Mr. Coral Gables because of his longtime community activism, including a stint as chairman of the city’s parks and recreation advisory board, and deep roots in the City Beautiful. He volunteers at St. Theresa School, Church of the Little Flower, Knights of Columbus and the Gift Meal Project. He grew up at the Youth Center before it was the “War Memorial Youth Center” and later became a beloved soccer coach. He is currently president of the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association.
These credentials will serve him well against Lago, who may be better funded but is quickly losing support among voters because of his political attacks and constant complaining on the dais. The mayor has taken sour grapes to a whole new level. That might be why his fundraising has slowed down dramatically, raising less than $10,000 for both his PAC and his campaign account (which has $169K total) since June. According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Lago’s PAC, Coral Gables First, has about $110,00 left from its $1.5 million total raised.
It may not really matter. As evidenced by the last election, where Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez beat the mayor’s handpicked candidates — which were better financed — Gables voters are not easily bought. Menendez himself beat the better funded candidate backed by Lago in 2021. These local elections are driven more by the issues dividing the community — development, traffic, annexation. This year, we’ll add the hostility at City Hall, where the mayor — who almost got into fisticuffs with the city manager in a conference room earlier this year — has made multiple public records requests through real or imaginary proxies in vendetta battles with the three commissioner who don’t carry his water.
Read related: Vince Lago tries to sneak election date change into strategic plan via committee
Lago has already used his PAC money to go after Castro, Fernandez and Menendez. His camp sends regular text messages to Gables voters questioning his colleagues’ motives and calling them incompetent. Sour, sour grapes.
He’s also spent some of his political capital on a failed petition effort to put three referendum questions on the Gables ballot, one of which would move the election from April to November. He realized, after the last election, that hardcore Gables super voters are harder to fool than the general election voters who show up for presidential or state races and pay no attention to micro local politics.
Lago has been poison on and off the dais. On the dais, he is the master of gas lighting, accusing the three commissioners who have butt heads with him of creating political drama when it is he who turns everything into a fight. Off the dais, he’s gone on radio and television programs to disparaged his colleagues and their family members. Last October, Menendez moved to censure the mayor during a commission meeting. He got the censure approved 3-2, with only Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson — the mayor’s only ally who has recently shown signs of wavering — voting against the censure.
In April, let’s see if Menendez can get voters to censure Lago.
It’s going to be interesting.
Kirk Menendez runs for Coral Gables mayor against city bully Vince Lago added by Ladra on
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