It almost sounds like an episode of a made for TV drama: While all four candidates are reportedly confirmed for the Homestead Rotary Club’s debate Monday night, there is a lot of buzz on whether the former mayor — who was suspended by the governor last month after he was arrested on public corruption charges […]
Former Homestead Councilman Jeff Porter may not have as many headlines as the other two viable candidates in the Homestead mayoral race — which could arguably be a good thing. But he came out into the ring this week, with both fists swinging. Not one to bluff, Porter will see “amateur” Mark Bell‘s two-fer mailer […]
When we last reported the finances of the mayoral campaign in Homestead, we said that hotelier Mark Bell was winning slightly with a comfortable $3,500 lead over former Mayor Steve Bateman with Bell’s total reaching $18,500 in contributions in half the time. But Bell, husband to Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, actually has more than three […]
Homestead City Manager George Gretsas will very likely get a two-year extension on his contract tonight, in part as a pat on the back for his role in the investigation that led to the arrest last month of former Mayor Steve Bateman on public corruption charges. Gretsas, hired last year, doesn’t get a raise in […]
More fallout from the this week’s arrest of former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman: His campaign manager, Frank May, has resigned from the board of directors of the long-beleaguered Seminole Theater. “It is with deep regret that I resign from the Board of Directors of the Seminole Theatre effective immediately,” May started in his email, sent […]
Yup. He did it. Former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman, suspended from the post Wednesday after he was arrested on public corruption charges, has filed to regain his seat. We knew it was coming. Ladra reported to you Thursday that he was going to be at a honk and wave event that night — and there […]
In the wake of the arrest this week of the now-suspended Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman on public corruption charges, questions are starting to arise about how much his campaign manager and confidant, Frank May, had to do not only with his graft but with day-to-day city operations. Described to Ladra by several people as a shady […]
He may have gotten arrested and he may have been suspended from his post by the governor, but Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman is not going down without a fight: He is still campaigning to be re-elected mayor. Nevermind the scathing details in the arrest warrant that charges him with multiple counts of unlawful compensation — […]
Interestingly enough, there is a common denominator in the two different arrests this month of three local mayors on corruption charges: South Dade lobbyist turned FBI informant Michael Kesti. Kesti, who served Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi up to federal authorities as a paid informant in a bribery […]
An automated poll in Homestead has raised the possibility of yet another candidate in this year’s already interesting mayoral race. Vice Mayor Jon Burgess was mentioned as one of the candidates in a poll of 250 voters done Thursday (and which, ooops, reportedly reached a number of businesses, too). The poll has some people thinking […]