Coral Gables: Developers, lobbyists lead, giving $753K to elect Richard Lara

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The latest campaign finance reports for the Coral Gables election show that newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara spent more than three quarters of a million dollars to win the race for Group 3, which went into a runoff in April against activist and attorney Tom Wells. Between his own campaign account and Coral Gables First, which is Mayor Vince Lago‘s political action committee, Lara raised more than $813,000 and spent at least $753,650, according to the reports.

Lara won with 55% of the vote. He had 4,359 of the city’s registered voters cast ballots for him. That means he spent $173 on each vote. At least it’s less than in Miami’s special election last month to replace the late commissioner Manolo Reyes, where Ralph Rosado’s campaign spent about $545 per vote (more on that later).

Meanwhile, in the City Beautiful, Wells spent about $5.50 a vote.

Money doesn’t always win these races. We’ve seen that in the Gables with the 2023 election of commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez, who were outspent by their opponents, both of whom also got the support of the mayor’s PAC. But this year, the dollars did count.

Lara spent almost $200,000 on advertising through consultant Alex Miranda. He also gave Nicolas Cabrera, son of former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, $1,500 as a campaign consultant, but he was really a body man, which is a personal assistant who provides close, on-the-ground support, handling logistical and personal needs. Maybe Cabrera posted the pics on Instagram. But he was not the campaign consultant.

That honor goes to Jesse Mazano, Lago’s own political consultant, whose firm Berthier Group got paid $76,747 from the Gables First PAC. More than $35,000 of that was for text messaging. Voters told Ladra they were getting texts daily at one point.

The PAC also spent almost $34,000 on direct mail, which were reportedly also arriving daily toward the end of the runoff.

That’s almost twice as much as Wells spent on his entire campaign, which was $19,421 — all out of his own pocket. Wells spent $5,656 on mail-outs, $3,080 on yard signs and a whole $244.57 on text messaging, according to his report.

But who really paid for Lara’s victory? Well, a quick analysis of the latest contribution show that developers and lobbyists were particularly generous. Between the PAC and the bundles of maximum $1,000 checks to the campaign, the big donors include:

• Developer Stuart Miller, executive chairman and co-chief executive officer of Lennar Corporation, gave $50,000
• Dagrosa Capital Partners, the real estate developing firm where Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is senior partner, gave $25,000.
• Developer Tomas Cabrerizo, who sold his Gables home in March for $14 million, gave at least $25,000 — $20K to the PAC and $5,000 in bundled checks to the Lara campaign.
• Benjamin Leon, the medicare mogul recently appointed ambassador to Spain by President Donald Trump, and a serial campaign contributor, gave at least $17,000 through his companies and relatives to both the PAC and the Lara campaign.
• Developer Allan Morris, whose firm is building the luxury residential Ponce Park Residences tower, gave $10,000 to the PAC
• Jorge Mas, the developer of, among other things, Miami Freedom Park, gave $15,000 from his multiple companies.
• Companies linked to developer Armando Codina gave $10,000 between the PAC and the Lara campaign
• Lobbyist Manny Kadre gave $10,000 to the PAC between his own money and his firm’s.
• Alex Pirez, who owns MOCCA Construction, gave $8,000
• Saulo Perez, real estate investor and broker, gave $5,000.
• Developer Ignazio Caltagirone, who is building a luxury townhome project on Palermo Avenue, gave $5,000.
• Tatiana Pino, the widow of developer Sergio Pino — who committed suicide last year during a police investigation about hiring a hitman to kill his wife — gave $3,000 through the companies she now controls.
• Developer Rogelio Tovar gave $3,000 in bundled checks to the Lara campaign.

Everybody knows that there is now way that Lara would have raised more than $813,000 all by himself. He would not have gotten most of those campaign funds if not for L’Ego, who pushed him to run.

Well, so far, Lara has been nothing but an echo for both the mayor and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson. He hasn’t added anything new to the conversation about anything or offered any new and different ideas.

It seems people got what they paid for.

  Richard Lara, Vince Lago