Miami-Dade County District 7's four-way race shines for Raquel Regalado

There are four candidates in the race for Miami-Dade Commission District 7, but unless you live there, you might only think there are two. Or, at the most, three.

Former State Rep. and Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner has been battling it out on social media with Kendall activist and Pets’ Trust co-founder Michael Rosenberg, who threw his hat into the ring at the last minute although it now seems like it was meticulously planned out, and vice versa, leaving former School Board Member and mayoral candidate extraordinaire Raquel Regalado plenty of time to reach out to actual voters.

The fourth candidate, former police officer Ralph “Who?” Suarez, doesn’t really have a chance. The best thing he’s got going for him is his name, and that’s already high up on the ballot so people are not as likely to confuse him with one of those Suarezes. And he doesn’t get Zoom. Suarez hasn’t been able to participate in the virtual forums and screenings because he can’t figure out the technology. How is he going to attend virtual government meetings in a COVID19 world? Because you just know they’re going to keep having them. Do we really want two Javier Soutos on the county commission?

Okay, let’s get it out: Everyone knows Ladra is partial to Regalado, a charming, fast-talking, media saavy single mother with super spidey senses, mad legal skills, nerdy smarts and a head for policy. She is a lawyer and a journalist who grew up in Miami Cuban radio stations and campaign offices. She has really, been groomed and training for this her whole life. And she is, by far, the most prepared person for the job. Not only because she is current — almost prophetic, actually — on news and issues and because she can work Zoom, but also because she is a fighter, an advocate with a track record of getting things done.

She is the real deal. And if she had been elected mayor in 2016 like she should have been, we probably wouldn’t be riding this COVID19 roller-coaster right now and definitely wouldn’t have been giving no-bid deals to the current mayor’s family and friends.

Yes, I once worked with Regalado on the 2016 mayoral campaign, precisely because of how smart she is, but I ain’t working with her now and don’t owe her squat. If anything she owes me for the many times Ladra has gone on the air on her show to provide local political commentary and color. And, in fact, I once worked for Lerner and consider Mike a friend. They are all good people with good intentions. Raquel is just a better choice, especially right now when there’s going to be a sea change on that commission due to the term limit departures of five veterans.

Still, I’m mesmerized with the showdown between Michael “Not Ready for PrimeTime” Rosenberg and Cindy “Shut up” Lerner. It’s like watching a car accident in slow motion.

Let’s take Lerner first, out of respect because she is a former state rep and gave me some work when I first left the Miami Herald and before I found Ladra.

Nobody likes her in Pinecrest, where las malas lenguas say all the people who served with her and the residents will vote against her. Why? All you have to do is watch this 10-minute YouTube video — and it does get painful — to see how those people were bullied and terrorized when she was in charge. Ladra bets she had trouble sharing in pre-school.

Lerner was also the number one cheerleader for an expensive special taxing district for homes in the village that are currently on well water to be connected to the county system. The plan would cost homeowners an average of $160 more each year in taxes for the next 20 years, and really, the county should be responsible for that. These people already pay taxes. It’s hard to imagine her working on behalf of the residents for a change. Pinecrest voters rejected her notion by 63%.

A state rep for a single term from 2000 to 2002 and Pinecrest Mayor from 2008 to 2016, Lerner says she is running to “engage residents in helping guide the future.” But she really just enrages residents who don’t want her guiding the future. Her proudest achievements are creating a bunch of councils in Pinecrest and serving as president of the Miami-Dade County League of Cities. She is making her experience in and knowledge of climate change action into her biggest asset.

Maybe Raquel can appoint her to some climate change committee when she wins.

While Cindy may be the best fundraising candidate, she is almost even with Regalado in cash on hand. Of the $260,300 she raised, she only has about $127,500 left, according to the latest campaign finance reports, and new ones are due next week. Regalado has been much thriftier and although she only raised half as much in total, she has $100K left. Stands to reason she can stretch that out better.

Rosenberg has only raised $4,250, which is sad because Ladra would hate to see him lose to Suarez, who has raised over $22,700 and has less than half of that left. Mike needs to place third.

Of course, Rosenberg has his myriad connections and the backing of the P.A.G.E. 2020 PAC, formed last year by Pets’ Trust co-founder Rita Schwartz. They’ve paid for the mobile billboard and the mailer that arrived on Wednesday and whatever else Rosenberg is campaigning with.

But Lerner drew first blood on Twitter when she poked Mike about his sweet secret deal with the people who want to develop the abandoned Calusa Golf Course adjacent to his property into anywhere between 500 and 1,000 homes. He has already admitted that he would have to recuse himself from the many future county votes on any development there. And without the district’s own commissioner representing his constituency — which includes many Kendall residents outside of Calusa — the project is almost a done deal.

Ladra can’t help but wonder if that was part of his settlement. You know, the one he can’t talk about.

Rosenberg, the longtime president of the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association and a perceived anti-development liberal, says he can’t talk about it. He hides behind his attorney and the gag order even though he gives everyone his phone number and dares them to call him so he can explain. Why? When he won’t explain it to Ladra? He needs to come clean in a public space, like right here. Don’t bother to comment unless you’re going to own it. If you want to be an elected you have to be more transparent than this.

Ladra has always liked Mike and supported the Pets’ Trust Initiative so hard that it later led to vouching for his candidates and community projects. He is nothing if not passionate. About everything. He famously slept in a dog cage at the county animal shelter to make his point about the need for the Pets’ Trust and still goes out from time to time to feed the strays, even though he has now taken on more of our community’s social ills. He has also made it his mission since surviving heart surgery to get people to take their health seriously. He’s relentless. And he’s got a lot of good ideas.

But he’s scattershot, thinks he’s always right, and is simply not ready for the kind of burden that a county commission seat brings. Ladra is worried about him. Rosenberg is proud to say that he’s a songwriter and majored in piano and composed a song that he has promoted on the campaign. But we don’t need a piano man on the commission. We need someone with experience who can build consensus and put us on the right track with transit and housing, not someone who’s trying something new.

It’s not that Ladra doesn’t think Rosenberg is honest. He is. Mostly. Except for the golf course deal. That we know of. But he’s also a little clueless sometimes. Rosenberg has said that people think he’s a lawyer when they first meet him. Who are these people? They need to get out more. Ladra thought Rosenberg was a lunatic when she first met him. He also likes to say that he owns his own small business — but he fails to mention that the business is in California, not here.

Rosenberg is running to “implement the people’s will” on the Pets’ Trust, which passed with more than 65% of the vote in 2012, and because, he says, he wants to be a commissioner rather than to continue to come to County Hall to complain and try to convince commissioners to do the right thing.

What he doesn’t remember is he still has to convince at least six of them.

Mike also has illegally placed yard signs in the public right of way and bus stops all over the district, which either proves he’s not ready for for prime time or that he knows the rules and doesn’t care (same with the PAC paid ads). In fact, Ladra has not seen one single sign placed on private property. He either can’t find many people to volunteer their front yards or he is too lazy to try. Either way, not a good sign for a future commissioner.

As absentee ballots drop this week (look in the mailbox starting Friday), Ladra suspects that Rosenberg and Lerner will divide the Anglo Democrat vote between them and give Regalado the edge. Can it be enough for Raquel to win outright in August?

Either way it’s a win-win for us (and Ladra lives in the district). A runoff only promises to provide us with a more focused cat fight between Lerner and Regalado. And if Raquel wins in round one we don’t have to keep listening to Lerner’s grating voice and Mike’s lofty and sometimes incoherent thoughts.

But whether in August or November, Ladra both endorses and predicts a Regalado win eventually.

Cindy Lerner, Miami-Dade Commission races, Michael Rosenberg, Raquel Regalado

Miami-Dade County District 7’s four-way race shines for Raquel Regalado added by Ladra on July 16, 2020
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