The Miami Herald appropriate calls it the year of the bust. That’s because 2013 was particularly packed with political corruption — or at least the kind we found out about, anyway. But it was also the year of disgust as electeds promoted corporate welfare for the millionaire owner of the Miami Dolphins, another millionaire bought […]
Norweigan Cruise Line is not the only private company to get millions of taxpayer dollars in “marketing incentives” from a Miami-Dade government that is allegedly “tightening its belt.” In addition to the $3 million commissioners approved (in consent agenda, no less) for the cruise company earlier this month, dozens of airlines have received at least $4.3 […]
The days between Christmas and New Year’s typically make for a slow week in politics and government. So, there were fewer public events and photo ops than usual, so our new “Political pics of the week” segment — where we take a look at what our electeds did via visual images — is short, but […]
As New Year’s Eve approaches, everyone looks anxiously to the state and local elections in 2014. But in one of Ladra’s favorite cities, the heat is already turning up for elections that won’t come ’til 2015. And, when you start to peel the political onion, it’s really about the elections in 2017. Make no mistake […]
They did it again. All the Miami-Dade County Commissioners, except for Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, used their county emails and the county email list to send the 25,000 or so employees who have email another holiday greeting for Christmas. Guess Ladra’s barking about that during Thanksgiving and how it reeked of abuse of their public position […]
A new weekend segment on Political Cortadito will recap photos from the week that show our elected representatives in action. You know, kinda like a visual week in review. Ladra’s new walking on Instagram, but several politicos already use it — as well as twitter and Facebook — to let people know what they are […]
Steve Shiver’s sweetheart deal to build a 32-lane bowling alley on city property in Homestead seemed like a sure thing. Homestead council members, sitting as a committee of the whole — which is just another name for the Homestead Council — had agreed last week to sell the bowling alley to a group of developers […]
Almost everyone in the political 305 has the same basic theory about the very public and nasty breakup between consultant/lobbyist David Custin and campaign attorney JC Planas — that it has to do with newly-elected Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. Oh, and money, of course. A couple of sources close Beach government have suggested that […]
On the same day, in the same meeting, in the same room where the Miami-Dade Commission voted Tuesday to keep taking 5% from 25,000 or so county employees contributing to a group healthcare subsidy fund that they were promised would end in January, the county gave $3 million away to NCL Cruise Lines. All while Miami-Dade Mayor […]
Three months ago, when the Miami-Dade Commission restored a 5% concession to the county airport and sanitation employees, Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa repeatedly said that she could not give to one group and not the others when their time came. She even used the analogy of her children, saying she couldn’t give one milk and deny […]