Most people were shocked when they learned that Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian died Wednesday. Mayor Dan Gelber announced the death late in the commission meeting, one of several recent meetings that Samuelian had missed, right before they took a 30 minute recess. “Mark was a brilliant and thoughtful man who cared deeply for our […]
And Circuit Court Judge Robert Watson needs to publicly distance himself One of the things that judicial candidates can’t do, according to the very strict judicial rules in the state, is campaign or get too political. It’s canon number 7 in the Florida Supreme Court’s Judicial Code of Conduct: A Judge or Candidate for Judicial […]
Five incumbent state representatives in Miami-Dade — four Republicans, one Democrat — were re-elected more than two months before the primary Friday when nobody qualified to run against them. State Reps. Tom Fabricio in District 110, David Borrero in 111, Alex Rizo in 112 and Daniel “Danny” Perez, the future Speaker of the House, in […]
Former Congressman David “Nine Lives” Rivera just sucked all the air out of the Florida state primary this August. Rivera surprised everybody when he filed late Friday to run for state rep in the open 119 District against a bunch of other Republicans who are suddenly in an interesting, nationally-watched race. That’s because David Rivera […]
The sudden and unexpected plan to put the city of Miami’s administration building and City Hall at the publicly-owned Melreese — adjacent to the future Miami Freedom Park — grew like a hungry monster last week when Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla suggested moving the police and fire departments and, heck, solid waste to […]
At noon Tuesday, former Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg became a Miami-Dade county commissioner after nobody qualified to run against her in District 4, where Sally Heyman is termed out. It is the only county commission race that is uncontested — maybe the $400K she raised scared would-bes away — as 19 other candidates qualified […]
Former elected and three-time loser Renier Diaz de la Portilla has raised $62,700 in little more than a month for his judicial race, according to the latest campaign finance report. And many of the campaign contributions are from real estate developers and special interests in the city of Miami, where his big brother is a […]
A second member of the Miami Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit has filed a complaint against Chief Manuel Morales, saying that he is corrupt and unethical and has used his position to retaliate against some officers and reward lackeys. The accusations from Wanda Jean-Baptiste, a 16-year veteran, mirror those made by former IA Commander Brandon […]
Key Biscayne teacher intends to run against incumbent in District 6 And then there were four. Miami-Dade School Board Member Mari Tere Rojas, the last incumbent to stand alone, drew a challenge last week from first grade teacher Sandra Manzieri, a teacher at the Key Biscayne K-8 Center. Qualifying doesn’t end until noon Friday, but […]
How in the world can Miami-Dade’s first female mayor, a self-proclaimed progressive who fights for equality and champions immigrants, women and the LGBT community visit a country like Qatar for no good reason? This is a country with an abysmal human rights record, according to Amnesty International. Women and gays are routinely discriminated against and […]