Thanks, but no thanks. That’s what a smart Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jean Monestime told a group of Democrats at a fundraiser Thursday night after weeks of pressure to have him run for the mayoral seat against incumbent Mayor Carlos Gimenez. He told them he was “greatly honored” by the consideration and blah blah blah, but […]
Betsy Perez may have lost the commission election in Miami Beach, but she’s got two nice board appointments, thanks to Godpapi Mayor Phillip Levine. Maybe she can steer more money her hubby’s way on the Cultural Affairs Board (She and Rudy Perez own a production company that put on the mayor’s centennial concert last year). […]
Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi can’t step left or right at City Hall without running into a challenger. Last month, Town Councilman Ceasar Mestre filed to run for the mayor’s seat now held by his one-time friend and ally. On Monday, Manny Cid became the second council member to file paperwork to run in what […]
Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jean Monestime isn’t the first Democrat that the local Party leaders have courted for a mayoral run. First it was former Congressman Joe Garcia, who was beaten in 2014 by Carlos Curbelo after his chief of staff and longtime campaign manager was caught requesting mass amounts of absentee ballots without the voters’ […]
It looks like that famous Harvard education that Miami-Commissioner Juan Zapata is getting — which has brought him so much grief — hasn’t helped him understand the difference between a true mandate and a marketing plan. Zapata, who has been against the Pet’s Trust Initiative voted by almost 65% of the residents in 2012, used […]
There have been a few recent volleys in the battle for the public land that is now occupied by the Dade County Youth Fair and dearly coveted by Florida International University for it’s much-ballyhooed expansion plans. None of them really matter, since The Fair has no intention of moving and we are still where we […]
Missing from the long list of electeds who are hosting Former Gov. Jeb Bush at a breakfast Monday morning in Hialeah: Mayor Carlos Hernandez. Was he snubbed because he’s an admitted loanshark? Hernandez isn’t on the host committee list. Could be because he hasn’t come out publicly for any candidate yet, as far as Ladra can tell. But it could […]
Every Republican leader and/or activist has a favorite primary candidate and in this weird landscape where the outsiders are gaining ground on both the establishment and Tea Party boys, they are making their choices known. Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo are still behind the failing campaign of former Gov. Jeb Bush. State Sen. Miguel […]
The front of the card looks normal enough. Except maybe the Baby Jesus might be pouting like Kylie Jenner and making a gang hand symbol, I don’t know. But when you open the Christmas greeting from Southern Strategy Group lobbyist Nelson Diaz — also the Miami-Dade Republican Party Chairman — you realize that the yellow […]
Failed Miami commission candidate Teresa “The Missus” Sarnoff, who gave up the runoff after she came in a distant second to Commissioner Ken Russell, got a consolation prize Monday when Gov. Rick Scott appointed her to the Florida Transportation Commission. Some people are calling it payback after Mrs. Sarnoff and her husband, then Miami Commissioner […]