Political Cortadito makes some easy recommendations for the Aug. 20 ballot

Absentee or mail-in ballots started arriving at voters’ homes more than a week ago. That means people are already voting for their county commissioners, mayor, judges, school board members, and state legislators and county constitutional officers in their preferred party primary.

Most of the really good races don’t happen until November. And among those on the Aug. 20 ballot, some are not easy to call. Like the the Miami-Dade mayor’s race (more on that later), or the Republican primary for the new county sheriff. Miami-Dade Public Safety Director James Reyes is the only qualified Democrat. But it’s hard on the crowded GOP ticket, where Ladra likes two or three candidates and personally knows five or six.

Maybe we will just stick with who not to vote for, which has already been well documented.

But before it’s too late, here are some of the easy recommendations for Ladra.

Dem primary for Congress, District 27

In the Democratic primary for the 27th Congressional District, former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey and Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Baez-Geller are battling it out for the opportunity to go up against U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar in November. Both are fine candidates and certainly more qualified than the TV journalist who keeps taking credit for shit she didn’t do. Each have a slew of endorsements from elected Democrats.

But the district is more than 70% Hispanic, and Baez-Geller is the daughter of a Colombian mother and a Cuban father — both of the big demos in the district. Voters will identify more with her.

She’s also a woman. While both she and Davey have done a good job of attacking Salazar on her terrible record and reminding voters about her lies, all campaign strategists know that it’s easier — and less unseemly — for a woman to go after a woman than for man to do it.

Baez-Geller has also been a champion on the school board and is an accessible and hard-working public servant. Ladra is not saying that Davey isn’t. But this isn’t his party. Go home, Mike.

Republican primary for Florida House, District 115

In the Republican primary for state rep in District 115, voters have to go with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Omar Blanco. The other candidate is Alian Collazo, who is a Tampa transplant being propped up by former Sen. Frank Artiles, whose speciality is paying ghost candidates to run and who is awaiting trial for this very corrupt and desperate act for having paid a candidate to run in the state senate District 37 seat in 2022.

Collazo, who registered to vote in Miami-Dade from Largo, Fla., in February, is a shill. Blanco is a true public servant married to a teacher, another public servant. There is no contest here.

Collazo may try to make Blanco look like a weak Republican with badly cropped photos in mailers and text messages, but he is the one would courted Joe Biden when he was a student government leader at Florida International University. And he’s the one who vacations in communist Cuba.

Dem primary Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections

For our first elected Supervisor of Elections, Ladra is all-in for former State Rep. and election lawyer extraordinaire JC Planas. Sure, he has his faults. He is not always on the winning side. He was told earlier this month by the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to pay more than $5,000 in costs incurred by former Miami Beach commissioner and mayoral contender Michael Gongora for what was deemed, basically, a frivolous complaint filed while he represented a political opponent. But that’s certainly not what Planas and his client think.

And there is nobody on this green Earth that is better suited for this job than Planas. Certainly not political operative Willis Howard — onetime campaign consultant and chief of staff to former North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo, who was arrested last year on felony charges of illegal voting — or Arnold “Arnie” Benjamin Weiss, who jumped in this April and has loaned himself $21,000 of the $45,000 he has raised.

JC is also the best option if Democrats want to beat the Republican candidate, State Rep. Alina Garcia, who is going to have the support of Sen. Marco Rubio, the Republican Party of Florida and even Donald Trump. Garcia doesn’t have a primary.

Republican primary for tax collector

In the Republican primary for tax collector, Hialeah Councilman Bryan Calvo should be elected over Dariel Fernandez, who is a shill for Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo. Enough said. It doesn’t really matter anyway because former State Rep. and former Miami Beach Commissioner David Richardson, who is unopposed in the Democrat field, will win in November. But at least Calvo, who dared to sue Bovo over the release of 911 records, is independent. That should be rewarded.

For Miami-Dade School Board, District 7

In the non-partisan Miami-Dade School Board race for District 7, incumbent Mary Blanco — no relation to Omar Blanco — is trying to get elected for the first time. She was appointed last year by DeSantis, who has been able to put three other right wing Miami-Dade school board members in office. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez mailed a letter to voters last week urging them to keep Blanco on the board.

“Governor DeSantis and I endorse Mary Blanco and ask you to vote for her,” it reads. “During her time in office, Mary Blanco has proven to be a fighter for parents, students and teaches. Mary has consistently fought against Biden’s radical liberal agenda and the left’s constant attempt to infiltrate our schools.”

Oh, so it’s going to be about that. Ladra really hates it when Cuban American politicians stoke the community’s fears to score points and promote their own political agenda. It’s a low blow. And, ironically, it smacks of totalitarianism.

There are two other candidates that look good. Maxeme “Max” Tuchman is a former teacher turned tech exec who has a lot of energy — and Ladra hopes she runs again another time. Because voters should choose Javier “Javi” Perez, the former, celebrated high school principal at South Dade High who lost his legs after a drunk driver plowed her SUV into him as he coached his son’s Little League game in 2016. He has had more than two dozen surgeries and walks now with two prosthetics. He returned to education and also opened a hormone replacement and wellness center near the airport.

No, this is not a pity vote. This is an admiration vote. Perez, who is beloved and respected as a principal — he must have been doing something right — has done a lot to overcome the shit thrown at him, and he’s kept a positive attitude throughout. He’d be a good example for students, teachers and parents. And other school board members.

For Miami-Dade School Board, District 9

The other county school board race sees incumbent Luisa Santos being challenged by Kimberly Beltran, a claims processor and Mary Kay beauty consultant with zero education experience. She is a big fan of DeSantis and claims in her LinkedIn to want to protect “girls sports and single sex spaces,” which is code for gender specific bathrooms. She’s also really, really Catholic, which normally isn’t an issue but could be on the School Board where culture wars reign.

Santos, who beat former county Commissioner Dennis Moss to win the seat in 2020, is not your typical educator. She is a businesswoman who ran a successful ice cream shop for several years. But she is a product of Miami-Dade public schools and was an undocumented high schooler herself, so she has a unique perspective on what some of our students face.

During her tenure, she has addressed mental health programs, food waste in our schools, closing the digital divide, improving summer school programs, providing access to menstrual hygiene products and transparency, advocating to have the school board meetings live streamed on social media platforms.

She deserves a chance to keep working on those things.

For Miami-Dade County Commission, District 3

There are only three Miami-Dade Commissioners being challenged on the Aug. 8 ballot. Each has two challengers, which means that they could go to a runoff in November if nobody gets 50% plus one.

In District 3, we have former Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon, the incumbent, being challenged by former Miami-Dade Commissoner Audrey Edmonson, who wants her seat back. Ladra doesn’t know much about Edmonson, but Hardemon needs to go to the private sector already. People call him “pay to play” Hardemon because his family is hired as lobbyists every time a developer or someone needs something from the county. You want Keon’s vote, hire his aunt.

An attorney, Hardemon is also a bad judge of clients, working for The Centner Academy — which was embroiled in that pay-for-play park scam that got former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested. He also defends Diaz de la Portilla.

If Ladra lived in District 3, she would vote for Marion Brown, who owns a construction company and who nobody has ever heard of. He’s a long shot, of course, having raised less than $3,000. But he has a great hat.

For Miami-Dade County Commission, District 7

In District 7, my girl Raquel Regalado has done a good job, even though her votes on the Calusa golf course development and moving the Urban Development Boundary were disappointing. She has worked hard to convert septic to sewer all over the county and almost singlehandedly killed the ill-conceived Miami Wilds project next to ZooMiami, which could have endangered a bunch of protected wild species.

Former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, who was also once a state rep, wants a rematch of the 2020 race that she narrowly lost to Regalado, a former Miami-Dade School Board Member. But Lerner — whose biggest claim to fame is creating committees — is just too rude and nasty to her constituents to be rewarded with another opportunity to disrespect us.

And while this is a non partisan race (wink, wink), Lerner is hyper partisan while Regalado is the most moderate Republican we have in the 305. So much so, that she is working with the Democrat Alcaldesa, Daniella Levine Cava, on a number of initiatives to benefit Miami-Dade residents (more on that later). The UNITE HERE Local 355, which represents a large group of airport workers, has been canvassing and handing out a walk piece that supports Levine Cava on one side and Regalado on the other.

We need more of that bipartisan cooperation. That should be rewarded with our vote.

Ladra suspects the third candidate, Miami-Dade School Board Police Officer Richard Praschnik, is a plant put in the District 7 race to force a runoff (more on that later).

For Miami-Dade County Commission, District 11

The county’s District 11 race is entirely in unincorporated Miami-Dade, mostly West Kendall. Commissioner Roberto “Rob” Gonzalez is one of those incumbents who has never been elected. He was appointed by Gov. DeSantis in 2022 to replace former Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was suspended after his arrest on public corruption charges and is now running for Miami-Dade Sheriff. Because Miami.

Running against him are two teachers: Bryan Paz-Hernandez and Claudia Rainville. But Rainville, the wife of a Miami-Dade Police officer, is a plant to help Gonzalez, who was endorsed by the Police Benevolent Association.

Ladra has endorsed Paz-Hernandez, not only because he is a breath of fresh air with good intentions and a sense of urgency and passion that is not seen on the commission today, but also because Gonzalez is a self-serving, right-wing, religious zealot who abuses his office.

Enough said.

Bryan Paz-Hernandez, JC Planas, Lucia Baez-Geller, Luisa Santos, Omar Blanco

Political Cortadito makes some easy recommendations for the Aug. 20 ballot added by Ladra on July 22, 2024
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