Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia filed paperwork earlier this month to run for mayor in Hialeah, after Esteban “Steve” Bovo announced that he was leaving for a Washington, D.C., lobbying gig. But is Garcia really running?
He didn’t have a press conference to announce his candidacy. There is no announcement post on any of his social media. Garcia filed quietly and without any fanfare — on April Fool’s Day, no less. He’s always had a sly sense of humor. He has also told people and the media that he is not 100% in, and has until qualifying in July to make up his mind.
His campaign is so non-existent that Bovo went on La Poderosa last week, eight days after Garcia filed his paperwork, to say he hoped to persuade Garcia to step up and run for mayor. Like he didn’t know he had already?
Many political observers say this is a ruse and that Garcia does not intend to resign his county commission seat. They say he’s just doing longtime ally Bovo a solid by freezing out the mayor’s sworn enemy, former Councilman Bryan Calvo, with the mere possibility he’s going to run. Garcia, who started his career as a Hialeah council member and went on to serve in the Florida Senate, would easily and immediately be the frontrunner. Anyone who might have donated to Calvo’s campaign might now think twice about that.
It would also discourage any other potential candidates from running for the seat. Already Council Member Jesus Tundidor, who had been a potential mayoral candidate before Garcia barely jumped in, filed paperwork — three days after Garcia did — for the commission seat in District 13 instead. But is he really going to run for county commissioner?
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’
Because observers also say that Tundidor could switch with Garcia in July, and step into the mayoral race. The other possibility is 
that Bovo and his camp support a run by Jacqueline Garcia-Roves, who was council president and is now interim acting mayor. Or someone else altogether. Commissioner Carl Zogby has also expressed interest.
Maybe Rene Garcia’s candidacy is designed to give Bovo and his clan the next two and half months to decide what happens.
But Tundidor’s political action committee, Stronger United, raised $210,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to the campaign finance reports recording transactions from Jan. 1 to the end of March — which was before Garcia filed for Hialeah mayor and before Tundidor filed for county commission. So those donations — which include $25,000 from real estate developer Michaeld Wohl and $10,000 from All American Amusements, a maquinita company that also supported former Mayor Julio Robaina — were most likely for a mayoral campaign. And there’s no way they didn’t happen without Bovo’s okay.
And the bulk of the contributions came on March 11, which was more than a month after the rumors of Bovo’s impending departure were published in the Miami Herald.
“It wouldn’t surprise me one way or another. When it comes to Hialeah, anything is on the table,” said Calvo, who resigned his seat to run for Miami-Dade tax collector last year and lost the Republican primary to Dariel Fernandez. Calvo has also heard 
the rumors of the ghost candidacy, but said he is not changing his campaign in any way.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m running regardless of who it is against.”
Sen. Garcia told Political Cortadito Thursday that his candidacy was not a political maneuver. “I am considering it seriously” he said, adding that he is “talking to residents and trying to figure it out where I best serve.” The response so far? “Honestly, it’s a mixed bag.”
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
Some people have said they want him to run and others have said that they want him and need him to stay at the county. “That weighs heavily on me,” Garcia said, adding that he’d also be the third county commissioner to step off the dais this year. District 5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins announced earlier this month — the day after Garcia filed for the Hialeah race — that she was running for Miami mayor and District 6 Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, or rather former District 6 commissioner Cabrera, resigned this week and was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
“If I leave, that’s three new seats on the commission,” said Garcia, who was automatically re-elected last year with no opposition. “I made a commitment to serve for four years.” And he’s doing some important work, he added.
“My priority has always been Northwest Dade,” Garcia said. “That’s the quagmire.”
‘Rene Garcia for Hialeah Mayor’ could be a decoy for someone else to run added by Ladra on
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