Redfern backs Gimenez, at last

Who needs Uncle Luke? Carlos Gimenez has snagged himself the sister! While it may not come as a surprise, Gabrielle Redfern has become the third of the former candidates in the May 24 mayoral race to endorse the former county commissioner in the June 28 runoff. With endorsements from former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente (REP, […]

Questions re the Bank of Julito

We’ve heard for months now that state and federal authorities are investigating former Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina, a candidate for Miami-Dade mayor, for possible loan sharking activities (or “usury” like the feds call it or “shadow banking” like the media calls it) as well as possible tax evasion from the, naturally, non-reported income of such […]

Uncle Luke is really a hero

Everybody’s got it wrong. We gotta give Luther Campbell a medal. His endorsement of former Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina for the Miami-Dade mayoral post was not a sell-out, flip-flop documented example of hypocrisy. It was brilliant! Uncle Luke got Robaina to promise a taxpayer-paid position when elected for a political favor, a big no-no according […]

Gimenez House in Hialeah ‘hood

Maybe Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Carlos Gimenez digs Hialeah, after all. The former county commissioner has taken some disproportionate flack for a robocall that disses the City of Progress, which he says his campaign has nothing to do with (more on that later). But he sure spends a lot of time there. Saturday’s caravan through the […]

Robaina $ tied to housing scandal

Every once in a while, mayoral candidate Julio Robaina says something that is so true it’s hard to believe it came out of his mouth. Earlier this week, he said “the devil is in the details” at the Miami Foundation’s forum. We are pretty sure he was talking about some budget issue. So are we […]

Luke jumps fence to Robaina

Ladra is not a big Star Wars fan, but doesn’t Luke Skywalker betray the force in one of those movies to join Darth Vader in his evil plans? Well, looks like it happened again. Former rapper and mayoral candidate Luther Campbell, known as Luke Skywalker in the rap world, backed out of an endorsement for […]

2 must-read Miami city blogs

While Ladra is concentrating on the very important county mayoral race and other distractions, we thank our lucky stars that Al Crespo and the writers at Investigation Miami are out there keeping tabs on the antics at the city of Miami. Crespo was first to report the pending resignation of City Manager Tony Crapp (Hey, […]

Robaina: Elect "us" as mayor

There was one word that mayoral candidate Julio Robaina kept bringing up in the debate Wednesday night by The Miami Foundation at the University of Miami that caused Ladra’s ears to perk up every time: “We.” Robaina keeps referring to himself in plural. Is he planning to clone himself or suffering from a multiple personality […]

Luke gets cold feet? Or switches?

Carlos Gimenez was left standing at the altar Wednesday, so to speak. The former county commissioner and mayoral candidate was ready to announce a surprise “major endorsement” everyone knew was going to be from Luther Campbell, one of the nine candidates that did not make the run-off, at an inner city park Wednesday morning that […]

Cordial debate hides differences

The two candidates for Miami-Dade mayor seemed sorta similar and even chummy Wednesday at a debate presented by The Miami Foundation at the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus. But don’t let looks fool ya. Former county commissioner Carlos Gimenez and former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina are polar opposites. Chuckling and patting each other on […]