Isis Garcia-Martinez: ‘He just needs a new job‘
As expected, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo — fresh from his loss in the county mayoral race last year — is running for Hialeah mayor, returning to the city where he got his political roots as a councilman and Council President before going to the Florida House.
This pretty much sets up a race between Bovo and former Council President Isis Garcia-Martinez. Former Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz has also filed paperwork, but she will likely withdraw, as she is a Bovo ally.
Or will she? Casals-Muñoz, who did not immediately return a call for comment, was curiously not there when Bovo announced his candidacy at a press conference in front of Hialeah City Hall with family and friends.
These include political consultant Ana Carbonell taking pictures, Mr. Cool refrigerator man Modesto Perez — the political godfather of Hialeah and founder of a business and neighborhood association — and Julio Ponce, executive director of the Hialeah Housing Authority, which is also a known network for absentee ballot fraud.
Not there: Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia, who replaced Bovo in District 13. Garcia did, however, say on Cuban radio Monday morning that he would support Bovo. “It’s important to have good Republicans in charge in Hialeah,” Garcia, who is also chair of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, said on Actualidad 1040 AM.
Um, isn’t Garcia-Martinez a “good Republican?”
She is likely to be supported by current Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez, who did not support Bovo’s county mayoral run.
Read related: Todo Hialeah, except Carlos Hernandez, hosts mayoral event for Esteban Bovo
Perennial candidate Juan Santana has also filed paperwork, but he won’t be much of a blip on the screen. There could be more candidates; qualifying isn’t until July. But this is really going to be El Bobo vs. Oh Mighty Isis.
Garcia-Martinez has been getting ready for this for months. She’s been knocking on doors and has raised $190,400 already. She knew she would get this challenge. Even while Bovo campaigned for county mayor against Daniella Levine Cava, las malas lenguas said it was a pre-run for the mayoral race in Hialeah this year. This is not a surprise.
“I welcome the democratic process offered to us by this great nation that gives us the opportunity to choose those that will represent us,” Garcia-Martinez said in a statement, which noted Bovo had been “recently defeated” and took a dig at his new-found unemployment status.
“Hialeah residents deserve to have a mayor who thinks of them first and not as a backup plan because he is out of options and needs a job,” she said.
“My work platform is and has always been, Hialeah first.”
Bovo first hung up on Ladra when we called early Monday afternoon. Then he did not return the call or text messages seeking more information about his campaign.
“Over the years, one of my greatest honors in public service has been to serve the hard-working families of Hialeah, as their city councilman, council president, state representative and county commissioner,” Bovo said in a statement.
Read related: More millions in Miami-Dade’s Esteban Bovo vs. Daniella Levine Cava for mayor
Naturally, Bovo did better in Hialeah for the county mayoral race than anywhere else, with 70% of the vote in the second largest city in Miami-Dade. But he spent close to $4 million and he was running against a progressive liberal who couldn’t find Gus Machado Ford without a GPS to save her life. Perhaps he should have done better.
And Isis is not DLC. In Hialeah, she’s virtual royalty.
In an Instagram post at Hialeah City Hall Monday, recorded seconds before he filed his paperwork, Bovo called the City of Progress a “blue collar town” with “a lot of family values and principles that I am going to defend as your mayor.”
Read related: Esteban Bovo uses lies, scare tactics and division to campaign for county mayor
It looks like he’s been campaigning on social media for weeks, posting videos from COVID food distributions and an event with Gov. Ron DeSantis, the most popular Republican in the country after Donald Trump, who encouraged Bovo to run for Hialeah mayor.
Councilman Oscar de la Rosa, Bovo’s stepson who was elected in 2019, was quoted as saying that he would resign if his stepdad was elected.
After losing the county mayoral race, Steve Bovo se tira for mayor en Hialeah added by Ladra on
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Esteban Bovo is not perfect.
Nonetheless, I ask you: Have any of us devoted 18 years of our professional lives to working with animals?
Esteban Bovo worked with horses at Hialeah Race Track for 18 years of his life.
I have found him to be unfailingly honest.
Additionally, in an era where major politicians betray their supporters, by destroying their income by telling them they are not allowed to work, Esteban Bovo — in this Covid 19 Era — should have been elected Mayor of Miami-Dade County.
“La BOTELLA Politica ” The Reality is That They Can’t Stay Away From Receiving Money W/O Working ? This Carrer Worthless Politicians All they do Is LIE ! He Say He works for the People of Hialeah WOW ? How Come He Approved The Express Lanes on The Palmetto ? How come has he Discriminated The People On The North End of The City and The Overpass to I 75 . He Has Voted W/ The Interest of Lobbyistand DONORS In Mind And Manipulated County Codes 31- 25 And Tarriff # 10 For The Benefit of Uber & Lyft Allowing Them To Work W/O License or Regulations ? $$$$$$
If Hialeah elects Bovo
It will only confirm it’s status as “La ciudad que progresa pa tras”
” Only in a cesspool of a county, with the most corrupt State Attorney in the country ”
LOL BEAUTIFUL but we make peace with the fact that the majority of voters wouldn’t have it any other way , I wish people here would open their eyes but I respect those who do vote which in Miami is a small percentage of those who can.
There’s a little friction between the Governor of Florida, who does not want to give his Imprimatur ,and the Mayor of Hialeah. Now the Honorable Miami-Dade County Commissioner, and Chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party , is qualifying his support for Republican Hialeah electoral candidates. It smacks of a private conversation in the Republican ranks .
Get the absentee ballots ready! King Boletero Esteban Bovo has got plans for Hialeah! This character should be wearing pinstripes instead of an Armani suit.
Only in a cesspool of a county, with the most corrupt State Attorney in the country can a boletero like Bovo stay out of prison long enough to continue to run for office.
Why bother with a new election Estevita, just recycle the fraudulent ballots el Tío Robaina and your campaign office assistant collected for you in 2012. You are a despicable amoeba of a man y de Bono no tienes nada.