Oooops! Daniella Levine’s ‘early’ endorsement list changes

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Miami-Dade County Commission hopeful Daniella Levine Cava, who filed Friday to run against Vice Chairwoman Lynda Bell, is set to announce her candidacy this afternoon, again, with a slew of “special guests” including local electeds and former electeds who, one would surmise, support her bid.

But Ladra is curious about who is not on the list.

And the way that two people suddenly disappeared from the list from one day to the next. Like on Lost.

Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter and former State Rep. and South Miami Mayor Julio “The Good One” Robaina were on the list of those guests Monday. By Tuesday morning, both were gone. Porter seems to have been replaced by Homestead Councilwoman Judy Waldman.

The newly elected mayor of the largest city in District 8 told Ladra that he had not decided to endorse anyone and, in fact, the premature press release put him in an awkward position with Bell, with whom he is meeting today.

“I didn’t really know my name was going to be on the list,” Porter said, adding that there had been some texting back and forth but that he never “agreed to be on any kind of steering committee.”

“Some people are embracing her completely, but I really don’t know Daniella that well,” Porter added.

Ladra believes the Miami-Dade Democrats, who are all out on Levine Cava, may have jumped the gun, just assuming that Porter owed them one from the ground work they did on his recent victorious mayoral campaign. This is their way of cobrando la cuenta.

Dade Dems Chairwoman Annette Taddeo could not be reached for comment. Two messages were left with her. One, curiously, just before Porter’s name disappeared from the list.

Porter says he does not believe this race is about parties — and he is kidding himself if he really believes that.

The meeting with Bell was scheduled before the holidays. “Her office represents our city. It’s proper protocol for us to sit down,” Porter said. He hadn’t planned on talking about the race, but now that his name is on a list with a bulls-eye on her, he sorta has to.

“I intend to tell her it’s early in this election to be choosing a side. Especially with a candidate I don’t have much knowledge on. I think she’s a very nice person, that’s the extent of it,” Porter said.

He’s more concerned with a coalition that he is sort of spearheading of five mayors in South Dade cities to address issues that confront them all. “We have a tremendous opportunity as mayors working with each other and for each other,” he said.

Of those, three mayors are notably MIA from the Levine lovefest list: Los que brillan por su ausencia are Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace, the Democrat mayor whose wife works with Levine in some community project, a social worker who founded Human Services Coalition, Palmetto Bay Mayor Shelley Stanczyk and Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall, who met with Levine twice in the past several weeks.

“She was very cordial. We had a nice conversation,”said MacDougall, who is not only involved in his own Congressional bid to oust U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia from office but is a pretty diehard Republican to boot.

“She did not ask for my endorsement but she did elude to wanting it. I know she’ll do a good job if she’s elected, but I’m not going to get involved in this contest,” Mayor Mac told Ladra.

“Moss is my county commissioner,” Wallace told Ladra, but then he hinted that he may, nonetheless, endorse Levine eventually.

“There’s no big deal here. I was at work and I was busy being mayor of Florida City. It’s pretty early,” Wallace said. “It’s not a negative or a positive. It’s just early.”

It’s also early in the process of annexation that Florida City still needs the county to approve, by the way.

So that leaves Stanczyk, who is both a Democrat and mayor of a city within the commission district. Stanczyk is up for re-election and unlike Wallace, who observers believe is a shoe-in, she is rumored to be facing a potential battle with Councilman Patrick Fiore, a friend and ally of Vice Mayor John DuBois, who not only helped Mark Bell with his campaign but also with the down payment on his hotel. You would think that Stanczyk would be first in line to support a challenge to Bell.

Yet she, too, says it is too early.

“She’s been a fair commissioner and I haven’t made up my mind,” Stanczyk told Ladra.

It’s also early in the process of the Village purchasing land from the county for a desired fire station.

Ladra guesses that Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, who is the only one of the South Dade mayors on the support list, doesn’t need anything from the county.

Oh, that’s right, Pinecrest was drawn out of Bell’s district. Lerner’s commissioner is Commissioner Xavier “Mayor Sir” Suarez.

  Daniella Levine, Ed MacDougall, Jeff Porter, Lynda Bell, Miami-Dade Democrats