It may not rank as high on our corruption scales as a mayor charged with unlawful compensation for a secret lobbying gig or another politico getting passed $3,000 in closet kickbacks. But we’re on a roll. Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo may have used his elected position to get out of a traffic ticket last August. And […]
Can Miami Beach mayoral candidate Philip Levine speak for himself? Apparently only when lobbyist and campaign consultant David Custin gives him permission. In my attempt to talk to a political candidate as a political blogger, I tried contacting his handlers, which include Custin and attorney JC Planas, who I called after Custin threatened and insulted me. […]
Does Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower really want to be a commissioner, or does she want to travel to some other exotic place next year on the taxpayer’s dime? Bower, who is termed out but decided to run for commission after she thwarted an attempt to stop her, has come under fire before for her […]
More fallout from the this week’s arrest of former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman: His campaign manager, Frank May, has resigned from the board of directors of the long-beleaguered Seminole Theater. “It is with deep regret that I resign from the Board of Directors of the Seminole Theatre effective immediately,” May started in his email, sent […]
Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi decided not to run, after all, for the seat from which he was suspended earlier this month, after he was arrested on federal bribery and extortion charges in an FBI sting where he allegedly and knowingly facilitated bogus grant applications in exchange for kickbacks and campaign contributions. The race to […]
Yup. He did it. Former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman, suspended from the post Wednesday after he was arrested on public corruption charges, has filed to regain his seat. We knew it was coming. Ladra reported to you Thursday that he was going to be at a honk and wave event that night — and there […]
In the wake of the arrest this week of the now-suspended Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman on public corruption charges, questions are starting to arise about how much his campaign manager and confidant, Frank May, had to do not only with his graft but with day-to-day city operations. Described to Ladra by several people as a shady […]
The union impasse meeting droned on and on and on. But after the brilliant and funny and engaging in-your-face-liars speech by union lawyer extraordinaire Mark Richards, the second best moment for Ladra was when Commissioner Barbara Jordan brought up one of my guilty pleasures: The ABC show Scandal, which is, of course, about political intrigue, […]
He may have gotten arrested and he may have been suspended from his post by the governor, but Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman is not going down without a fight: He is still campaigning to be re-elected mayor. Nevermind the scathing details in the arrest warrant that charges him with multiple counts of unlawful compensation — […]
Miami Lakes Councilman Nelson Hernandez thinks he can win the special mayoral election by lining up support from the Hialeah-Tallahassee mafia, which is throwing him a fundraiser next week. Sen. Rene Garcia, State Reps. Jose Oliva, Eddy “Here Comes Hialeah” Gonzalez and Manny Diaz, Jr., as well as Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo have invited […]