Highlights on issues from two online, virtual Miami-Dade mayoral forums

Highlights on issues from two online, virtual Miami-Dade mayoral forums

On the week after the vote-by-mail absentee ballots started to arrive in mailboxes, a couple of Miami-Dade mayoral forums got heated last week. It also became apparent in those debates and on TV appearances that collaboration with cities — as opposed to what the current incumbent Mayor Carlos Gimenez has done with the CARES COVID-19 […]

In Miami-Dade District 11, sleeper Robert Asencio could can Joe Martinez

In Miami-Dade District 11, sleeper Robert Asencio could can Joe Martinez

Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez is facing two challengers, but only one is a real threat. Former State Rep. Robert Asencio is a sleeper candidate who beat none other than David “Nine Lives” Rivera in 2016 for a House seat in 118 — by a scant 53 votes. Despite a canyon-sized gap in their campaign financing, […]

Miami-Dade’s Carlos Gimenez hoards COVID-19 CARES money, irks cities

Miami-Dade’s Carlos Gimenez hoards COVID-19 CARES money, irks cities

The brewing battle between Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and some city mayors over the COVID-19 pandemic response has become a food fight over $474 million in CARES federal funding for governments to help cover coronavirus-related costs — and Grimenez is getting grabby. On Monday, the county decided that all the cities would have to share […]

Mayoral race transit report card: Alex Penelas gets an A; Esteban Bovo, a D

Mayoral race transit report card: Alex Penelas gets an A; Esteban Bovo, a D

A group of transit-minded activists and volunteers have compiled the track records and positions on transportation issues for six of the seven Miami-Dade mayoral candidates, and former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas — who created the half-penny sales tax fund that was supposed to expand transit but got misused instead — gets the highest points on […]

Absentee ballots will be bigger than ever for elections in time of COVID19

Absentee ballots will be bigger than ever for elections in time of COVID19

The use of absentee or mail-in ballots has always been a concern in Miami-Dade, where veteran campaign consultants have manipulated these votes, particularly with elderly voters, for years. But a month from our first election in the time of COVID19, the Aug. 18 absentee vote will likely break records. According to Deputy Supervisor of Elections […]