The photogenic highlight of the week has to be the emotional installation ceremony where Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime was installed chairman. But there were other things going on this week, too. A ground-breaking, a ribbon-cutting and even a couple of parades. The first of two parades was last weekend as politicos pressed the flesh with […]
Miami Beach activist Mike Burke is also an intrepid cartoonist who sometimes submits his ideas to Political Cortadito. This week, he took aim at Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has done everything in her power to thwart marriage equality, defending the same-sex marriage state ban and becoming suddenly silent when a state court reversed […]
From the what-a-difference-a-day-makes category: Freshly minted Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jean Monestime took his oath of office Friday, and immediately pledged to use his position to defend the county’s neediest residents — who, by the way, live in his district — with a “Chairman’s Council of Prosperity Initiatives” he said he hopes will bring more people […]
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has restructured the city’s finance committee, booting Commissioner Deede Weithorn, the longtime chair, and appointing himself and two cronies just as they get ready to tackle next year’s budget. The move — ten months before Weithorn is termed out — has everyone wondering just what he’s up to. Ladra will […]
The historic installation Friday of Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime, the first Haitian American to hold the chairman’s position, is likely to draw a lot more local politicians than these ceremonies normally do anyway. Miami Herald reporter Doug Hanks tweeted late Thursday that even Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio might be in attendance. I […]
The takeaway from Wednesday’s Miami-Dade School Board meeting is not that members gave their attorney 20 days to present options on taking legal action against the county mayor or the state or whoever it is that is responsible for the backlog at the Value Adjustment Board that has caused annual budget shortfalls in the hundreds […]
The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found Wednesday that there was no probable cause to a complaint against former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez for violating the Mandatory Fair Campaign Practices Ordinance when he ran for Miami-Dade Property Appraiser last year. Filed by then-candidate Pedro Garcia, who won the election Nov. 4, the complaint […]
Maybe he got immunity from criminal prosecution when Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez testified in the federal tax evasion case that the U.S. government ultimately lost against former Mayor Julio Robaina. But he’s not getting off totally scot-free. In the very first case where the the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has enforced the […]
Well, well, well. It appears that there is no huge, life-endangering emergency at the downtown Miami-Dade Civil Courthouse after all. You know… the health and safety hazards like mold and crumbling columns that lawyers and judges told us were killing them slowly day by day or quickly any day now. They lied. The county’s assessment […]
She’s in. Taking a cue from Hillary Clinton at the national level, Teresa Sarnoff officially filed paperwork Tuesday designating a bank account for her bid for Miami city commissioner in the seat to be vacated by her termed-out husband, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. It’s been rumored and expected for months. Maybe the recent rash of candidates […]