Phillip Levine goon boots Ladra from 1st Amendment event

Phillip Levine goon boots Ladra from 1st Amendment event

Oh, the irony! Millionaire businessman Philip Levine, who wants to be mayor of Miami Beach, had a press conference Wednesday to refute accusations that he seeks to silence critics and quash questions he doesn’t like, deciding for himself (read: decided for him by his handlers) who is a journalist and who is not. Or at […]

Philip Levine’s campaign of complaints seeks to silence us

Philip Levine’s campaign of complaints seeks to silence us

Miami Beach millionaire candidate Philip Levine and his campaign people have repeatedly tried to silence any criticism of his platform and hush legitimate questions about his motives or agenda. Levine’s attorney and former State Rep. JC Planas — who told Ladra his principal job is to ensure that laws are adhered to by both his […]

New Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton wants new attorney

New Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton wants new attorney

DEVELOPING STORY: Looks like Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton is going to try to make good on his threat to fire Town Attorney Joseph Geller. It comes as no surprise. One of the first things Slaton told people he would do as the new mayor of the small town was change the city attorney. On […]

Community group asks Gov. Scott to intervene in Doral mess

Community group asks Gov. Scott to intervene in Doral mess

DEVELOPING STORY: A group of community activists in Doral have asked Florida Gov. Rick Scott to intervene in the city’s mess. The Doral Community Coalition wrote a letter to Scott last week asking him to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the allegations about possible public corruption and conflicts of interest that have arisen […]

Votes trickle, pour in; Deadline for AB requests Wednesday

Votes trickle, pour in; Deadline for AB requests Wednesday

The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 5 election is on Wednesday and with a week to go before Election Day, the county has already received more than a quarter of the ABs it has mailed out. Miami-Dade voters get to decide whether or not to fund $830 million worth of modernization […]

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

A probable cause hearing has been scheduled on what was a questionable ethics complaint to begin with, filed against one of the candidates in the uglier-by-the-minute Homestead mayoral race, looking very much like a campaign move made simply to bolster Mark Bell‘s chances in the heated runoff against former Councilman Jeff Porter. Note that the […]

SAO: No Sunshine Law violation in Hialeah. Really? Really?

SAO: No Sunshine Law violation in Hialeah. Really? Really?

In a stunningly quick turnaround by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, which usually moves at the speed of coffee in a watched cafetera, Hialeah’s Seguro Que Yes Council was cleared of allegations that they committed mass violation of the Sunshine Law by meeting together minutes before they were to vote on the city’s annual budget. […]

Levine handler Jonah Wolfson dodges ethics questions

Levine handler Jonah Wolfson dodges ethics questions

As Ladra researched the Miami Beach mayoral elections and talked to dozens of people, one name came up as often as that of the candidates’: Commissioner Jonah “Potty Mouth” Wolfson, un fosforito with possible ethics lapses who is hell bent on getting questionable millionaire jerk Philip Levine elected and is alternately described as Levine’s attack […]

Jail cell mocks mayor Carlos Hernandez in Hialeah election

Jail cell mocks mayor Carlos Hernandez in Hialeah election

If you have nothing to do later today, pass by the John F. Kennedy Library in Hialeah, where early voting always promises a show or, in this case, a large artistic election installation. Former Mayor Julio “The Other” Martinez has built a jail cell, a 5X8 cage really, with four orange-jumper wearing dummies inside and […]

Editorial Cartoon: Miami Beach City Hall or Bower Tower?

Editorial Cartoon: Miami Beach City Hall or Bower Tower?

So, the only person who answered my open call for editorial cartoons is Mike Burke, who has a fixation with Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower. Not a Basic Instinct kind of fixation but an All The President’s Men kind of fixation. Burke’s beefs are pretty plentiful. He doesn’t like the way she travels on the […]