‘Chip’ Withers vs Pat Keon because of the Paseo project

‘Chip’ Withers vs Pat Keon because of the Paseo project

Former Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli isn’t the only one who wants his old job back at City Hall. Former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers, who served for 20 years before leaving office in 2011, qualified last month — for the seat occupied by incumbent Commissioner Pat Keon. He could have run for the open seat. But […]

Carlos Gimenez plans bogus ‘leadership’ lessons for cronies

Carlos Gimenez plans bogus ‘leadership’ lessons for cronies

And the $350,000 would go to an FIU program run by a former president — who gave $20,000 to his campaigns Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez must have opened another drawer the other day. Because he found some more money for something he wants that means absolutely nothing to the constituents and people who he allegedly serves. Gimenez […]

Obamacare, Medicaid changes scare Jackson doctors, nurses

Obamacare, Medicaid changes scare Jackson doctors, nurses

Giddy Republicans are about to dismantle the Affordable Healthcare Act, removing a safety net that catches 2.2 million Floridians who may otherwise not have insurance. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott and our state GOP legislators want to turn Medicaid into a capped voucher system that could cut out some people with chronic care needs. At the […]

More money, less scrutiny in Miami Dade water projects

More money, less scrutiny in Miami Dade water projects

If there is anything we should have learned from the discovery last year that the mayor’s best friend was making $200 an hour as a subcontractor on a Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department project is that these contracts need a little more scrutiny. But it looks like we learned nothing because they aren’t getting it. […]

Fundraising slow for Joe Carollo, Zoraida Barreiro

Fundraising slow for Joe Carollo, Zoraida Barreiro

Both Zoraida Barreiro and Joe Carollo filed their first campaign finance report in their race for the same city of Miami commission seat and they must be a tad disappointed.  Sure, $14,000 (Barreiro) and $10,000 (Carollo) is respectable — for any novice, first-time no-name. But Barreiro is wife of Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, who must […]

Esteban Bovo to FDOT: ‘Open up NW 170th Street bridge’

Esteban Bovo to FDOT: ‘Open up NW 170th Street bridge’

Miami-Dade Commissoner Esteban Bovo wants the Florida Department of Transportation to open up the Northwest 170th Street bridge over I-75 so that people who live on the west side in Hialeah — where more development is coming, including the American Dream Miami mega mall — can cross over more easily to the Palmetto Expressway and […]

The Cortadito Calendar for President’s Day week

The Cortadito Calendar for President’s Day week

February is the short month. And it is almost over already. Key word: Almost. Because first, there are a few more poltical events for the Cortadito Calendar: A town hall without an elected, a film screening, a fundraiser, a party to open a shiny new police station, another moratorium on medical marijuana, more talk about […]

Jeannett Slesnick winning Gables mayoral money race

Jeannett Slesnick winning Gables mayoral money race

In the race for Coral Gables mayor, Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is outraising her sole declared oppponent, former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, almost two to one. According to the latest campaign finance reports filed last week, Slesnick raised $45,350 in January, compared to $24,800 raised by Valdes-Fauli. She also raised $9,950 in December, while the former mayor […]

Miami-Dade commissioners ignore public, facts on detainers

Miami-Dade commissioners ignore public, facts on detainers

The saddest part about Friday’s Miami-Dade Commission meeting wasn’t that commissioners ignored the fearful cries and pleas of more than 100 people who urged them to reject Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s directive to hold illegal immigrants arrested in Miami-Dade for an additional 48 hours so they can be picked up by federal authorities. It was pretty […]

Miami voters: Watch your ABs; Al Lorenzo is back at work

Miami voters: Watch your ABs; Al Lorenzo is back at work

Miami seems to be a forgiving town, politically speaking. Miami-Dade Commissioner Xaver Suarez is a respected leader and viable contender for the county mayor’s post in 2020 despite having been removed from his Miami mayoral seat in 2007 due to widespread absentee ballot fraud in the 2006 city election. Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz continues […]