Campaign finance reports filed last week by the candidates for Coral Gables mayor and commissioner show that nobody did very well in the final quarter of 2024. Donations slowed down big time.
Mayor Vince Lago actually gave money back instead of raising any. His campaign report shows zero contributions, but that he returned two $1,000 checks from Pumayana, a residential developer and investor with projects in the city, and C2S Construction Solutions, an interior renovations firm based in Sunny Isles Beach. We don’t know why those checks, given in June, were returned on Nov. 19. But it’s not because they were duplicates. Political Cortadito checked.
Lago’s political action committee, Coral Gables First, also reported zero contributions and also returned a $2,500 check to Pumayana, as well as two $1,000 checks to Bahama Sunrise Development, which, according to the Florida Department of Corporations, is partially owned by Pumayana. Those contributions were also refunded on Nov. 19.
Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who decided in December to challenge the mayor instead of running for reelection, isn’t doing much better. Menendez, who raised almost $15,000 last year as a commission candidate, only raised $2,550 more in the last quarter.
But Menendez is also spending less, hundreds compared to $40,700 spent so far by Lago, more than half of which ($28K) went to his campaign manager, Jesse Manzano.
Read related: Kirk Menendez runs for Coral Gables mayor against city bully Vince Lago
Still Coach Kirk has raised a total only $17,550 compared to $167,000 raised by Lago just in his campaign account, not including the PAC. Of course, that’s thanks to many maximum contributions of $1,000. Of the 201 contributors listed on Lago’s campaign report, a whopping 151 have given the most that they can. Those include checks from Benjamin Leon, who Donald Trump has named as ambassador to Spain, and a whole football team of lobbyists, including former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla and South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez.
In comparison, of Menendez’s 40 contributors, only eight gave the maximum $1,000 donation.
Lago also has a bunch of bundles, like $15K in 15 maximum checks from real estate investor Tomas Cabrerizo‘s multiple companies, and $11,000 from developer Allen Morris, who got a his 10-story Ponce Park Residences project approved unanimously by the commission in May. Lago praised the project, and the developer, who reduced the size and density of the luxury condominium, which was originally planned for 16 stories. The $11K came in 11 separate checks on June 12, less than a month after the approval.
Leon gave another $5,000 from his companies and Lago also got $5,000 from JustWell Health, which is a healthcare and a real estate holdings firm.
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anne Anderson has reported raising only $$11,550 from 14 donors — 11 of those contributed the maximum $1,000, including herself. She also got two $1,000 checks from former Commissioner Wayne Withers, but only $250 from former Mayor Don Slesnick. Anderson’s campaign account shows she has spent $1,600 so far.
Attorney Richard Lara, Lago’s pick to run for commission against Menendez (now an open seat) has raised more than Anderson, an incumbent, with a reported total of $63,350.70 from 139 donors. Of those, 32 gave the maximum $1,000. Lara’s support has also waned since he announced at a commission meeting last February. He reported only $1,750 raised in the final quarter of 2024, after reporting $3,080 in the third quarter.
But he’s spending like the campaign was a shopping spree, with almost $23,700 spent so far, including $1,500 monthly consulting fees to Nicolas Cabrera, son of former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera and lackey of Lago. He’s also paid Alex Miranda, the former chief of staff and campaign spokesman for former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine (a Democrat who ran for governor), $3,000.
Running against Lara is attorney Thomas “Tom” Wells, a Menendez ally who has, so far, paid for everything himself. A total of $2,878 on signs, door hangers, a website, business cards and campaign buttons. Wells, who is the vice chair of the charter review committee, is a regular at Birdie’s Bistro, formerly Burger Bob’s, and is a well known entity in the City Beautiful. Unlike Lara. So maybe he doesn’t need so much money. It also appears, from the 2023 election, where both of Lago’s well-funded candidates lost, that money doesn’t matter as much in the Gables as in other cities.
Laureano Cancio, who is running against Anderson, is also counting on that. Cancio, like Michael Anthony Abbot — a fat chance candidate for mayor — has raised $100 to pay bank fees.
“The last election was won by people who didn’t have the most money. You can win without money,” Cancio told Political Cortadito, adding that he’s counting on the Lago backlash to hurt his sidekick, the vice mayor. “The mayor is pretty much hated by everybody,” he said.
“I’m spending the least amount of money I can and I’m not beholden to anybody,” Cancio added.
But he is concerned about the Lago/Anderson/Lara slate. “These three candidates seem to be running as a team and, if the trend is not reversed by Election Day, it is very possible that they might take the majority control of the commission, to the delight of Lago who lost that control two years ago.”
Cancio is counting on forums and other public speaking engagements to reach voters and while he is the only candidate, so far, to bring up education needs and the idea of the city running it’s own school system — in light of all the development — he recognizes that the biggest issue will be that very development.
“Overdevelopment seems to be the issue most likely to prevent the troika of Lago, Lara, and Anderson from walking away with victory,” he told Political Cortadito this week. “Coral Gables voters have identified this issue as being of critical concern for the community. Lago’s critics have even predicted that the issue could become the mayor’s Waterloo.”
Ladra love how he talks.
Two new candidates who announced last week, Felix Pardo and Claudia Miro, don’t have any financial reports yet.
Fundraising for Coral Gables election slows, incumbents count on max gifts added by Ladra on
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