Suarez is District 7 commissioner

Well, this just in. Former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez won the District 7 race, with 53 percent of the vote. But only 214 people more voted for him on Election Day. As expected, Suarez led the absentee ballot race by a whopping 1,200 votes. Hmmmm…Former State Rep. Julio Robaina, who led by a nose in […]

District 7 results to come shortly

The District 7 commissioner will be known shortly. Or at least the one for now. The Third District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that the county could and should release the results of the vote count in that election, which has been suppressed since Tuesday folowing the ruling of a trial judge earlier this week. […]

District 7 vote count in court

District 7 voters may get to know on Thursday, finally, who they collectively chose as new commissioner Tuesday to replace Carlos Gimenez, who resigned to run for mayor. Or they may still be in the dark if the Third District Court of Appeal upholds a decision by a Miami Dade Circuit Court judge to temporarily […]

Robaina’s win = a big loss

Some might think former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina came out on top in Tuesday’s Miami-Dade mayoral race, getting the most votes of all 11 candidates. But, trust Ladra, it’s a huge political loss and Robaina is shaking his big, cheeky babyface today. Robaina, who enjoyed a 29-point lead four weeks ago, spent more than $1 […]

District 7 #s needed sooner

A judge on Monday told Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Lester Sola to keep the winner of Tuesday’s District 7 election a secret for up to a week — until he can hear arguments from a local TV attorney activist who sued when he tried but was not able to qualify for the race. That’s victory #2 […]

Mayor X expected in court

Both candidates for county commissioner in District 7 were in court Monday — but not in body. Former State Rep. Julio Robaina and former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez were each called on the telephone — and put on speaker — by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge William Thomas in the middle of a hearing for a […]

Mayoral Robaina tops $1.2 mil

The latest campaign finance report filed by mayoral candidate Julio Robaina, whose resigns as Hialeah mayor today, has topped the $1.2 million mark. And that does not include the monies donated to two PACs run by his friends and supporters. That means he collected another $442,000 in donations. Even if all of them were the […]

Cancio sign on TV at Heat game

That was not Ladra’s imagination, after all. Thought maybe election fever was getting to my brain and I saw signs everywhere. No, really. Political signs, that is. Even behind the Bulls basket at the Miami Heat game Sunday night. There was that nasty, angry, braided Bull, missing another free throw, and the Miami fans waving […]

Robaina look-a-like big hit at JFK

No, folks, that was not Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, running for county mayor, at the JFK Library on West 49th Street in the City of Progress for the last day of early voting on Saturday. Ladra sped over there as soon as we got the tip, but didn’t make it in time and missed this […]

A tale of Two Different Carloses

It seems that the only thing Hialeah Mayor and county mayoral candidate Julio Robaina can do these days to try to stop his spiraling numbers and keep the heat off him for possible ties to organized crime and a federal investigation into his finances is to go on the attack — again. A recent TV […]