Voters in Coral Gables might think that Vice Mayor Vince Lago endorses commission candidate Javier Baños in the Group 3 race. That’s because a mailer arrived in mailboxes Wednesday making it look that way.
But that is not the case. Baños knows Lago is extremely popular and bound to win. He is intentionally misleading voters because he wants some of that Lago love.
The mailer doesn’t specifically say that Lago endorses the former South Miami candidate (he lost) and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo protegé. But it has a photo of Baños with the vice mayor and the words “Ready to represent” below them.
Like, they’re both ready to represent. Together. It’s inferred.
Read related: Miami politics creep into Coral Gables election via Javier Baños, Claudia Miro
That picture, however, was taken at an event two years ago, Lago said. It is a blown up, cropped close-up of the two men — but there were eight or 10 other people in the original, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and a priest at St. Theresa. That’s why it’s so grainy. Baños really blew it up.
“That’s a public photo at an event,” Lago told Ladra Wednesday. It is probably safe to say that Lago takes a lot of photos with people at events. He has been in office for eight years.
But Baños cut those other people out for a reason. He wants voters to believe that Lago is behind him, when he’s not. Lago says he is staying out of the two commission races, mostly because he has his own election but probably also because he would have to serve with whoever wins.
That’s one reason why he brushed the mailer off. He said the other candidates can post photos with him, too. Lago appointed Alex Bucelo to a city board and has coffee with PJ Mitchell every quarter.
He doesn’t do that with Baños.
This is not the first misleading mailer for the Baños campaign.
Read related: Miami political pals of Javier Baños attack Alex Bucelo in Coral Gables race
The candidate denied having anything to do with an attack mailer on Bucelo that was paid for, mostly, by former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who gave $25,000. It’s one of several ties to the political underbelly of the Magic City that Baños not only has, but lies about.
He told Ladra he had nothing to do with the political committee, Citizens for a Better Miami-Dade Government. Yet, his name and email and phone number are on the documents as a contact. In fact, his name is on a bunch of PACs, including Carollo’s, which is not a super clean industry.
Also, that’s not the only time Sarnoff may have been involved in the Gables commission race. Remember the $40,000 that Baños loaned himself in February? Right after the same amount from Sarnoff disappeared in a Carollo PAC.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
This is different from the mailer that went out for Lago with former Commissioner Maria Anderson among many of the current and former electeds supporting him. Anderson said she never gave Lago permission to use her likeness and that she had not endorsed anyone.
“I have, over the last seven years since leaving office, kept out of the spotlight in Gables politics,” Anderson told Ladra. “The use of my name and photo without permission is unsettling to me
“It may not change the course of any election, but it says a bit about the potential future mayor.”
Yeah, it says he made a mistake. Well, not him but someone on his campaign team. He apologized. He can’t take the mailers back but said he isn’t using the photo anymore.
With Baños, it’s a clear case of intending to fool and defraud the voters.
There are too many red flags with Baños. Carollo. Sarnoff. The mystery PAC. The $40K. The lies. It’s not worth taking a chance on all this when there are three perfectly good candidates to choose from without him.
Ladra is anyone but Baños and his disingenuous mailer only seals it.
Javier Baños tries to get some Vince Lago love in Coral Gables election added by Ladra on
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