Fresh from his re-election Tuesday, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, in his third term now, doesn’t have time to rest. He has to make sure that his commission candidate, who will give him back the majority on the dais that he lost almost two years ago, wins in a runoff two weeks from now.
Richard Lara, general counsel for the Spanish Broadcasting System network of radio stations, got 47% of the vote on Tuesday, which was a majority but not enough to cinch a victory. Lara, who is Lago’s hand-picked pocket vote, heads into a runoff against attorney Tom Wells, who sits on the city’s charter review committee, who came in second with 39%.
“Now we have to get out there and support Richard Lara for the next two weeks. We have a runoff,” Lago said Tuesday night in a short victory speech clip for the A Day In Miami podcast’s Instagram account. The mayor already has one vote with the re-election of Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson — who won with 58% of the vote Tuesday — but he needs another guaranteed ally if he’s not going to stay on the losing end of a 3-2 avalanche for the next two years.
“I’m counting on your support to bring civility, trust and respect back to the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said in his short clip.
He’s one to talk.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
Claudia Miro, a transit lobbyist at Freebee and one-time assistant to former Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, came in a distant third with 13.5%.
But she’s the darling on Wednesday because both Wells and Lara, and their respective campaigns, will want Miro’s endorsement. Throwing her support — and 1,356 votes — one way or the other could make or break either one of the two runoff candidates.
“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Miro told Political Cortadito late Tuesday, adding that she was proud of her campaign and had no regrets.
“I would have regretted not running,” she said. “I can hold my he’d up high. I had a clean campaign and ran on my own attributes and qualifications. I still think I was the best choice but, as we know, sometimes the most qualified candidate doesn’t win.”
Ouch.
Well, lots of other people are thinking about her endorsement, and speculating that Miro — who was once Anderson’s appointment to the planning and zoning board until she upset the mayor with a vote and got kicked off — was always a spoiler sleeper candidate who will throw her weight behind Lara.
This could be because she was standing on the same side of the street near Lago during early voting over the weekend.
Or because she has complained about Wells’ negative campaigning.
Wells, whose motto is “neighbors restoring civility” and who signed a clean campaign promise form — the only one in the race to do so — has taken some digs at Miro. She’s noticed.
Or maybe because Sarnoff and Mason Pertnoy, an attorney who represents Lago (and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo), gave her $1,000 each for her campaign.
Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost to Lago 55% to 38%, was more forthcoming in his support for Wells and said in his concession speech Tuesday night that the attention had to be turned to the runoff.
“We have to do everything we can to help Tom get over the hump,” Menendez told a small crowd of family and friends at Birdie’s Bistro. He said he had known Lara for more than 25 years but was voting for Wells because of Lara’s association with Lago.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Richard Lara has not voted in the city since 1999
“I don’t endorse anybody but I’m voting for anybody who is not linked to those who don’t have our best interests at heart,” Menendez said, and it’s more complicated that it sounds. He is voting against Lara.
“There is still a fight in us left and it’s fighting for Tom. And by fighting for Tom, it’s a fight for our community,” Menendez said.
It’s going to be a hard fight. Lara will certainly have more money and more people working for his campaign. He raised more than $169,000 as of April 3, according to the most recent campaign finance report, and still had about $75K in the bank. Wells has financed his own campaign to the tune of $36,000 plus, according to his reports.
And while the mayoral race is no longer a draw on the ballot, and the runoff hits on Easter week, Lago will use his organization and campaign machinery, as well as financial support, to help Lara win. He will get his people out to vote.
He has to. The mayor will continue to be powerless without Lara on the commission.
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It is a COMPLETE INSULT to the residents of Coral Gables for Richard Lara to ask for their votes. NO TIENE VERGÜENZA.
That he has received any votes at all is evidence that the residents aren’t paying attention!
RICHARD LARA HADN’T VOTED IN A CORAL GABLES ELECTION SINCE 1999.
THAT’S 25 YEARS! (I assume he voted in this one, but you know what happens when you assume…)
How would anyone believe that he cares a whit about OUR city???
To add insult to injury, RICHARD LARA LIES ABOUT LIVING IN CORAL GABLES SINCE THE AGE OF 14. He left the city in 2003 and LIVED IN WESTCHESTER FOR 18 YEARS, before returning to Coral Gables in 2021. And when he returned, he still DIDN’T VOTE IN OUR 2021 or 2023 ELECTIONS OR RUNOFFS!
Richard Lara doesn’t give a damn about our city. He’s had no concern for Coral Gables, ever. Says he loves Coral Gables.
What BS!
Involved, informed, engaged, concerned residents VOTE. Lara doesn’t.
THE CHOICE IS CLEAR.
VOTE FOR TOM WELLS.
Tom Wells is involved, informed, engaged, and concerned about the future of our city, and has been for over 30 years. He is civil, respectful, knowledgeable, and can help get OUR city back on track.
Check out his website. http://www.VoteTomWells.com
He’s self-funded, owes no one any favors, and truly loves OUR city.
The only thing Lara is concerned about is being the “Yes Man” for Lago. What a disgrace.
DP, do you know what that 100% raise actually represents in dollars? I bet not. Just parroting what the mayor repeats over and over.
Would you work for $36,000 for 40 years without a raise? I bet not.
Give it a rest. Is that all you’ve got?
Oh no, you also think Peter Iglesias had integrity! Of course you’d think that because he was another of Lago’s Luckiest Lackeys.
Got fired for not doing his job. It happens.
As a structural engineer he allowed City Hall to continue deteriorating…and you call that having integrity?
And I have also self-funded my campaign – almost $19,000. It shows my commitment to help correct and protect the City. I have put all of my chips into the middle of the table. Other candidates are running on PAC, special interest and real estate developer money – other people’s money (OPM). When I look at private placement offerings, I always want to see how much the founder has invested because that will tell me his passion and commitment or if it is an OPM funded investment. You know where I am.
Mr. Santos – you can vote for whomever you like. But you have a choice of me who is an independent candidate who serves on a City Committee, regularly advocates resident issues before the Commission, contributes time to his church (former Sr. Warden), is a U.S. Army veteran, works in Coral Gables at his law firm for the past 17 years, owns a home in Coral Gables for the past 30 years, is a 36 year corporate attorney with a strong accounting background (named CPA of the Year in 1999 by the FICPA) and votes in our local elections. And then you have Mr. Lara.
I understand that Mayor Lago wants Mr. Lara to win so that he can regain control of the Commission – he said that in his email on Wednesday.
I am FOR an independent search committee to choose a City Manager (not done in 2018, 2024 or 2025), FOR fiscal accountability and transparency (do not cut taxes without explaining what services get cut and who benefits from such cut) and AGAINST giving real estate developers exceptions to our Zoning Code and Comprehensive Plan that cause incompatible developments and create traffic and other concurrency issues for all of us.
I am an independent decision-maker protecting residents. Thank you for voting.
It’s unconscionable that commissioners would give themselves a 100% raise and $8700 car allowance while Coral Gables merchants are suffering and the city claims to have no money. Let’s not forget, they also fired the one guy (Peter Iglesias) that had more integrity and cared more about the city than the 3 of those bozos combined.
The fact that Wells is self-funding his campaign is HUGE for me! This guy isn’t beholden to anybody and will likely vote on the merits of the issue. Imagine that!
Alberto Santos is right -VOTE FOR LARA to end the 3 Muskeeters game at City Hall.
LADRA LOST & she knows it so do not listen to her or anyone else that is pushing Tom Wells – not a bad guy but Coral Gables needs to end the 3 Muskeeters government!!
[…] could determine whether he regains a majority on the City Commission. As originally reported by Political Cortadito, the April 22 runoff will decide the winner of the Group III seat, where Lago’s favored […]
Yes, this runoff elections will define the city of Coral Gables: it is either more of the same ( excessive compensations, hiring of cronies, subsidized friendly restaurants ) with Wells, or going back to the roots of the city with common sense governance with Lara.
While I am pleased with the election results, the work is not done because Tom Wells should be elected to the commission. From all I have read, Mr. Lara will likely blindly support the mayor, which is not good for the city. A similar reputation likely caused Alex Bucelo’s 2023 loss, and may also have been a big reason Kirk Menendez lost yesterday: we want independence, not lackeys in elected officials. That Mr. Lago, at his re-election party, urged people to support Mr. Lara raises a big red flag. A Lago/Lara faction is no better than the existing Ariel Fernandez/Melissa Castro faction.
Mr. Wells has apparently (and verifiably) self-funded his campaign to this point and appears beholden to neither any commissioner nor special interest group. I hope he can and does continue that through the runoff. He has previously apparently taken independent positions on issues, meaning he does not have a history of overwhelmingly siding with one commission faction over the other. Therefore, it stands to reason that he will be independent on the commission, which will benefit Coral Gables as a whole.
I urge everyone to vote for their candidate of choice in the runoff on 22 April. It is important. I am hopeful people will elect Mr. Wells. If he wins, I hope he, along with last night’s victors, remember we expect you to do what is in the city’s, not your own, best interests.
Insofar as there is not a dime’s worth of difference between Thomas Wells’ positions and those of Kirk Menendez, it certainly would seem that the handwriting is on the wall for the champion of civility and Fritz & Franz.