Newly elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter wasn’t the only one who won in that city’s election Tuesday night. The Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which went hot and heavy behind the Democrat against hotelier and Republican Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner and uber conservative Republican Lynda Bell, claimed his 55-45 victory in that heated race as […]
Everybody saw it coming: Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez and the two councilmen up for re-election coasted back into office Tuesday on what looks like a mandate from the people. But what most people don’t realize is that, much more than simply an absentee ballot problem, Hialeah has a wider “hostile election climate” where many […]
Now that Mark Bell‘s bid for Homestead mayor is a thing of the past, how will his loss Tuesday to former Councilman Jeff Porter — who he outspent at least 4 to 1 — affect his wife, Miami-Dade Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell? That is what everyone was buzzing about Wednesday. Bell is up for […]
After a one-sided, well-funded campaign that went pretty much unchecked and unchallenged by anyone — including yours truly — the $830-million bond referendum (read: public tax) for the modernization of Jackson Memorial Hospital passed overwhelmingly Tuesday. Some might be surprised that this ballot question passed in an anti-tax community still reeling from the proposal to […]
Millionaire Philip Levine‘s considerable campaign investment was apparently another smart business move, as evidenced Tuesday when the political neophyte media mogul won the Miami Beach mayoral race outright, without a need for a runoff, with just over 50 percent of the vote. Fifty point 48, actually. At one point, it was 52.44% when it was […]
Score one for Homestead mayoral candidate Mark Bell, whose campaign attorney filed an ethics complaint against former Councilman Jeff Porter for what they called a “maliciously false” mailer focused on a $25,000 CRA grant given to Bell’s Redland Hotel earlier this year. The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found probable cause Wednesday that […]
Former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman might have thought the worst was over, but today he faces additional charges of public corruption for misuse of campaign funds. In August, Bateman was arrested on charges of unlawful compensation for using his position as mayor to secure a secret lobbying gig he never disclosed. Then he is suspended […]
Oh, the irony! Millionaire businessman Philip Levine, who wants to be mayor of Miami Beach, had a press conference Wednesday to refute accusations that he seeks to silence critics and quash questions he doesn’t like, deciding for himself (read: decided for him by his handlers) who is a journalist and who is not. Or at […]
Miami Beach millionaire candidate Philip Levine and his campaign people have repeatedly tried to silence any criticism of his platform and hush legitimate questions about his motives or agenda. Levine’s attorney and former State Rep. JC Planas — who told Ladra his principal job is to ensure that laws are adhered to by both his […]
DEVELOPING STORY: Looks like Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton is going to try to make good on his threat to fire Town Attorney Joseph Geller. It comes as no surprise. One of the first things Slaton told people he would do as the new mayor of the small town was change the city attorney. On […]