County mayoral bout begins in earnest — and in jest

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With 45 days left before the Aug. 14 primary, the Miami-Dade mayoral election — a sleeper compared to last year’s epic post-recall battle — is ratcheting up a little.

There are going to be quite a few debates in July, starting with the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association on the 16th and followed by the Latin American Business Association on the 20th and the Downtown Bay Forum on the 31st. There will likely be some radio and TV debates in between, ending with a head-to-head contest on Michael Putney Aug. 5. Robocalls are in the can and the Cuban AM radio is already chock with more mayoral race talk.

We also already have the first attack ad against incumbent Mayor Carlos Gimenez in a YouTube parody of his own dramatic movie-trailer-like commercial created by a new twitter handle that seems to exist solely to jab the mayor and former State Rep. Juan Zapata, who is running for commissioner in District 11, and calls itself @Miami’sColada, which Ladra thinks is a lovely homage to Political Cortadito. At first, I thought the PBA — which is openly endorsing Commission Chairman Joe Martinez against Gimenez — had done the 47-second ad, which has been tweeted by my copycat at least a dozen times. It has their standard signature: a bad cut-and-paste job with the mayor’s own words taken out of context. When he says he has “more pensions” (he really said “four”) it was at his victory party last year and he was mocking a false and, ultimately, unsuccessful smear campaign. When he said he’s running “for selfish reasons,” he follows that with those reasons and says he wants to keep the county a better place for his children and his grandchildren, naturally cut out of the parody ad. Ladra knows. Gimenez gives the same, tired speech everywhere he goes. And the text used about cutting jobs and hiring his deputy mayors sounds almost word-for-word like the argument PBA President John Rivera always makes against Gimenez.

But Rivera told Ladra that, while he would love to take credit for what he called a hilarious bit —  which is not that funny if it’s only had 228 views as of today (but watch my promotion get it viral!) — it wasn’t the PBA. Rivera said the union has produced an ad against Gimenez, but it’s not gone out — yet. “Fighting the devil every day,” is how he calls the anti Gimenez campaign. A little dramatic, yes?

So, we look elsewhere. Both Martinez and county cop Manny Machado, who is Zapata’s biggest challenger, are being represented by Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador, so maybe it’s her or one of her lackeys. Maybe it’s Vanessa Brito moonlighting off her job as one of the PAC principals in Vote for a New Miami-Dade with Norman Braman and Marty Margulies (more on that later). Tirador won’t talk to me anymore since I smacked her down on Cuban radio and TV last year during the heated mayoral race between Gimenez and former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, who is eerily silent on everything but maybe he’s just busy making more millions.

So, while Martinez’s people stick to getting cops to talk bad about Gimenez at community meetings, paying for yard signs illegally out of a PAC and forming anonymous twitter handles that create commercials out of context — campaign tactics that indicate he is desperately grasping at straws — the mayor and his people are focused on keeping momentum. They are busy with events and fundraisers and meet-and-greets. Volunteers stood in the 90-degree heat Saturday at two intersections — 117th and Kendall and, later, 87th and Bird Road — to get supporters to honk and wave for Gimenez.

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“These are all friends and family — people who have been with us from the beginning,” said Lourdes Portela, the mayor’s wife, who Ladra hopes had plenty of sunscreen. As she egged cars to honk for her hubby, campaign communications coordinator and G-Man Tom Martinelli tweeted from the median. No, I don’t think he’s originally from here. But those aren’t the only risks this campaign is taking.

Recently, Gimenez announced the newest G-Man: Former Genting lobbyist Jesse Manzano will manage his campaign, which is seemingly trying to keep a respectful but polite distance from former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the only proven Tirador antidote who cinched the Gimenez victory last go-around with his intense and nerve-wracking style. Dean DLP, who is getting back into business with a bid for State House 112, has his own races (yes, plural) to run. Besides, he isn’t needed as much in this completely different election for Gimenez. Still, his notable absence may not be an accident, either, from what las malas lenguas say. And yet, for all his real or perceived faults, the Dean does not have the visible ties (not yet; there are rumors) that people immediately noted between Manzano and Genting, the group of investors who want to bring resort destination casino gambling to Miami. To get the Gimenez gig, Manzano — a bipartisan operative who has worked the campaigns of Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Democrat Miami Mayor Manny Diaz — had to quit what must have been a very lucrative paycheck at Genting, where he worked for only a few months, we are reminded by a Gimenez staffer. Right? Riiiiight. Except he might have been there for a short while by design. And the mayoral campaign could be short (five months at the longest, perhaps even less) so he can always go back to Genting, which has been rumored to be funding a bunch of state campaigns (more on that later) but only minimal donations, so far, can be seen in the reports of incumbents. Man, we can’t wait til the second quarter reports are filed next week! Ladra loves the smell of campaign reports in the morning.

Manzano, one of a new rising generation of political movers and shakers (more on that later), also ran one of the 11 mayoral campaigns last year — the one for former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente, who joined the Gimenez campaign [officially, because he’s been there the whole time] a few days before Manzano. So, basically, we all know they’re a package deal. Manzano took Llorente — who Ladra just knows has some future office still in mind — to third place and he knows a winner when he sees one and wants to get a first place prize. So he’ll sacrifice a job, temporarily, if he has to for this feather.

But Gimenez is going to get attacked on the Genting ties. And he’s going to be called a communist sooner rather than later. That’s what all desperate candidates in Miami do. Point a finger and call the other guy a commie so that predictable older and high-performing Cuban voters become incensed. Former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina — who lost to Gimenez in a close race after the recall last year — apparently had his campaign do it about a week before the run-off when his numbers started to fall. But it wasn’t enough. Ladra expects Martinez and/or his people to do it much sooner.

Because — and I’m going to say it since everyone is thinking it — there might not be a runoff, folks. Unless the other five non-candidates in the shrinking field each get enough of a bite to keep the mayor under 50 percent — Gimenez could very well take it in the first round if things keep going his way.

Especially if Martinez keeps campaigning in the dark.