Ralph Rosado keeps lying, misleading voters in Miami Commission D4 race

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Miami Commission candidate Ralph Rosado — who is running in the special election June 3 to replace the late commissioner Manolo Reyes — may be a habitual liar.

Last week, Rosado blatantly told Ladra that Commissioner Joe Carollo was not at the park with him, directing his campaign video, on Thursday. But there is a candid phone recording that disputes that, showing Carollo guiding Rosado as he walks with his mother-in-law. Over the last week, Rosado has sent text messages saying he is a lifelong resident or longtime resident of the city of Miami — even though he can’t be both.

But that’s another lie. Rosado lived in Schenley Park, just west of Coral Gables, 3.6 miles outside the city of Miami limits, for at least five years. Records with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office show that he and his wife bought the home for $575,000 in October of 2004 and then sold it for a loss, $520,000 in October, 2009. He knows this. He was president of the Schenley Park Homeowners Association at one time.

Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo

In 2008 he bought another house in Schenley Park for $223,000 and took another loss, selling it for $145,000 three years later, according to the county records. And there was another house he bought, under the company Rosado Investment Group, in 2006 for $320,000 and sold in 2010 for $450,000, at last making a profit.

Rosado still owns a home in Schenley Park, which is an unincorporated Miami-Dade community, through his family trust. It has a market value of $1.24 million. The subdivision is called “Rosado Estates.” He also owns three vacant lots valued at more than $1 million in the same neighborhood through a company called Rafael Rosado and Leocadia E. Rosado, LLC.

He used the Rosado Investment Group address in Schenley Park when he ran for state rep, losing the Republican primary in 2010 among a crowded field. The winner was Michael Bileca, who went on to beat Democrat Lisa Lesperance and win three re-elections after until he was termed out in 2018.

That’s not something you forget.

County records also show that Rosado and his wife Maria also owned a home in Tamiami that they sold in 2005 for $300K. They purchased their current 4-bedroom, 2-bath home in the Coral Gate neighborhood of Miami in 2014 for $180,000. What a steal! the house today has an assessed value of more than $560,000 and a market value of more than $900,000. That’s one hell of an investment.

Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election

But it’s been just over 10 years, not 30 years, like he says in another text message. In a mail piece, Rosado says he’s been a district resident for nearly 25 years. His messages are conflicting: Is he a “lifelong District 4 resident,” or “someone who has lived in Miami for over 30 years” or in the district for “nearly 25 years?” Which is it?

The answer: Neither.

Rosado seems adverse to the truth. And that’s probably not what Miami voters want in a commissioner. Their other choice is Jose Regalado, who resigned his position as assistant building director to run after Reyes’ widow asked him to. Jose Regalado is the son of former Miami Mayor and now Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado. This is his first run for office.

In 2017, when Rosado ran against Manolo Reyes for the seat, he sent a mailer saying that he “spearheaded an initiative to hire 100 new officers.” Um, what? He wasn’t an incumbent. He spoke during public comments at commission meetings in favor of hiring more police officers, but he did not spearhead anything.

Read related: Candidate Ralph Rosado exaggerates ‘his’ police initiatives

A few days ago, he posted a photo of himself during a press conference about a park renovation — standing at a city of Miami podium as if he were an incumbent. It’s disingenuous.

Last month, he was caught in an outright lie after he got direction from Carollo while recording a video ad at a park. Rosado lied to Ladra and first told her Carollo was not there. “He was not directing. He wasn’t there,” Rosado said. When told that there was a candid camera video of him walking with his mother-in-law as Carollo walked backwards in front of them, with Marjory Carollo nearby holding a clipboard — is she always holding a clipboard? — he said, “I’ll get back to you.”

He has not. Rosado also did not return calls Wednesday, but he did text that he lived in the city of Miami from 1972 to 1984, from 1999 to 2002 and from 2010 to the present, including a few years at a home his wife owns while they worked on their home, Rosado told Ladra. But that is still not his whole life.

And we can’t believe what he says, anyway.

  Joe Carollo, Jose Regalado, Manolo Reyes, Ralph Rosado