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Women’s Republican club snubs female Republican Miami mayoral candidates
The Women’s Republican Club of Miami Federated will have a forum next week for the Miami mayoral candidates — but the two Republican women in the race, June Savage and Alyssa Crocker, haven’t been invited.
Savage isn’t just Republican. She’s a dues-paying members of the club.
“There’s no excuse,” Savage told Political Cortadito. “Imagine advocating for conservative women and only inviting elite men. Appalling advocacy, that’s for sure.”
The club responded to Savage by telling her that the invite went only to the candidates who are polling over 5%, which is the same criteria used by the CBS Miami and Downtown Neighbors Association debate last month. So, did the WRCMF do their own poll? Or did they get DNA’s poll?
Read related: Alyssa Crocker: mother, advocate, fighter — and Miami mayoral candidate
Savage asked for the poll and calls the rationale a “bullshit meter.” So, Ladra can’t help but like her.
“No one knows who paid for it. No one got to see it,” she says about the poll. “And I know numbers go up and down within a week. I know Ken Russell‘s numbers are up, for instance.” That’s solid hearsay based on his performance at the DNA debate.
“All Republicans should be invited,” Savage said of the Republican club’s event Oct. 20, adding that all the Democrat candidates — that would include super long shot Elijah John Bowdre — were invited to the Coconut Grove Democratic Club’s forum earlier this month. “Why are we any different? Because we have more corruption on our end?”
It’s not just a problem for now, Savage says. “This will change the landscape of future grassroots candidates for years,” she said.
She’s not wrong.
Savage is also upset for Crocker, who is a black woman Republican. “This would be a fantastic way to promote to our daughters and sons that you don’t have to be white to run for office, that you don’t have to be a man,” she told Ladra.
Emails and calls to Aida Zayas, the president of the WRCMF, were not returned. Megan Pearl, the club’s secretary, responded in an email: “We give a platform to Republican candidates irrespective of gender because our mission as reflected in our mission statement is to elect Republicans to office. In this instance we decided to limit the size of the panel to afford our members time to hear those candidates polling at over 5% answer more questions.”
That’s not exactly what it says on the organization’s website, under the “Our Mission” area: “WRCMF nurtures a robust network of women in South Florida who produce results in elections. We commit ourselves to advance the participation of Republican Women in all areas of the political system and are dedicated to encouraging and empowering women of all ages and backgrounds. Our goal is to strengthen the Republican Party and work to influence the crucial issues that face our community, state, and nation.”
Keyword: Women. It’s in there twice. No matter.
“We’ve had prior panels with large numbers of candidates and we felt given how this election has been on and off, and is quickly approaching, it would be the in the best interest of our members to get the maximum time to hear those candidates with the best chance of winning,” Pearl said. “Accordingly, we invited those candidates who are registered republicans and polling over 5%.”
Read related: June Savage: The uninvited guest who won’t stay quiet in Miami mayor’s race
Cut out the two Democrats in the top — Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former Miami Commissioner Russell — and the lone independent, which is former Miami-Dade Commissioner Mayor Sir Xavier Suarez, and that leaves us with three men standing: Commissioner Joe Carollo, former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, and former city manager Emilio Gonzalez, who, las malas lenguas say, already has the club’s support.
Gonzalez told Political Cortadito that he thought the women should be invited.
“If you’re going to have a women’s Republican event and there are women Republican candidates, I think all Republicans should be invited,” he said, adding that he does not have an inside track. “I don’t know anybody there.”
Savage said she contacted State Rep. Alex Rizo, the past chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, and got this response: “I find this troubling and offensive and would use this as an opportunity to call ut the WRCM and place a questioning spotlight on them,” she said he texted her. “You have just as much legitimacy to be showcased as a candidate at that event as any other that has been invited. Un fact, I would say that you should have been one of the first to be invited as a dues paying member.
“Regardless of where you are polling right now.”
The club has a week to course correct. The event starts at 6 p.m. Monday, October. 20, at Bay 13, 65 Alhambra, in Coral Gables, which is outside the city of Miami, where there are probably lots of places they could have held this event and drawn more actual voters.
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The post Women’s Republican club snubs female Republican Miami mayoral candidates appeared first on Political Cortadito.
June Savage: The uninvited guest who won’t stay quiet in Miami mayor’s race
Part of a series of profiles about the Miami mayoral candidates
Mayoral candidate June Savage — who could have the best political name ever for wild Miami — might not be on every debate stage. But that hasn’t stopped her from making noise in the city’s crowded race.
The real estate sales associate with One Sotheby’s says she’s running for mayor because she’s tired of “government waste,” crumbling infrastructure, environmental neglect, and what she sees as a general lack of safety in the city she calls home. Savage who lives near Coconut Grove, is one of 13 candidates vying for the mayor’s seat in the Nov. 4 election — and she’s not shy about saying exactly what she thinks.
“I am a perfectionist and not attached to lobbyists or developers,” Savage told the Miami Herald recently. “I have international business experience along with high-level management and negotiation skills. I am boots on the ground. I stay true to my promises and speak truth.”
That last part checks out. Savage definitely speaks truth — or at least her truth — and she does it loud enough for everyone to hear.
She’s already earned a bit of a reputation for calling out what she sees as unfair treatment by the political establishment. Savage crashed one of the first mayoral forums, hosted by a group of progressive organizations, and was not allowed in. Then she complained about being excluded from the Downtown Neighbors Alliance debate, which only invited the six candidates that polled over 5%. And now the Republican woman — one of two in the race — is protesting the Women’s Republican Club of Miami Federated, after they didn’t invite her to their own candidate meet-and-greet.
Read related: Eight candidates, maybe 9, will attend progressive Miami mayoral forum
In other words, if there’s a mayoral stage in Miami, June Savage wants on it — and she’s not afraid to make a scene if she’s left out.
While she is sometimes spotted wearing a MAGA hat, it’s green not red, and she’s also not your typical GOP echo chamber. Savage calls herself “a liberal Republican.” She loves the arts and theater, plays the congas and paints, and has been seen riding her bicycle with her parrot on her shoulder at the “hippie market” in the Grove.
“People just want to label you because you’re registered with a specific party,” Savage told Political Cortadito, adding that the GOP just has a “better business sense.” But she identifies more as a DAR — or member of the Daughters of the American Revolution — which is now promoting diversity to erase their racist past.
She promises to be a present mayor and says she will quit her luxury residential real estate work — “it’s very easy for me to refer out business” — and be full time at City Hall. “Francis has been going around being Mr. Tech, Mr. Bitcoin. All he does are his workout videos.”
While she is not against growth, she says construction has gone out of control and overstepped the infrastructure. She wants to see more “green initiatives” and especially wants to do something to shore up the barrier islands and update the city’s hurricane plan. She also says that the city needs to be more involved in getting more educational choices for Miami families. But, according to her website, her political bread and butter is the same as everyone else’s: Address the homelessness, support first responders, fight for Biscayne Bay, and simplify the permitting process.
Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all before.
She has also spoken at the city commission meetings and recently supported the giveaway of the Olympia Theater to Academica for its SLAM charter school to use.
Read related: One-liners and other memorable moments from Miami mayoral debate
Savage has flirted with political ambition before, once campaigning to run for mayor of Miami Beach. Now she’s shifted those high hope sights across Biscayne Bay to the big chair at City Hall. Her campaign style is direct, sometimes abrasive, and unapologetically her. She doesn’t mince words, hedge bets, hide her frustrations, and doesn’t seem to care who gets uncomfortable when she talks.
That bluntness has earned her a few admirers — and a few critics. Some who’ve seen her at community meetings or online comment threads say she “tells it like it is.” Others say she comes off as politically incorrect, making jokes about women by age and weight.
Still, Savage seems undeterred. She’s positioning herself as the no-nonsense, outsider candidate — the one who isn’t backed by lobbyists, unions, or developers. The one who will, in her words, “stay true to her promises and speak truth.”
Ladra’s seen a lot of candidates like that come and go, but there’s something undeniably Miami about June Savage’s campaign. A little drama, a little defiance, and a whole lot of “I’ll do it my way.”
It’s highly unlikely that she gets double digits, let alone make it into a runoff. But one thing is certain: June Savage isn’t going quietly.
The post June Savage: The uninvited guest who won’t stay quiet in Miami mayor’s race appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Alyssa Crocker: mother, advocate, fighter — and Miami mayoral candidate
Part of a series of profiles about the Miami mayoral candidates
Alyssa Crocker says she’s not a politician — and she’s right. She’s a mother of two, an advocate for families with special needs kids, and a newcomer to Miami’s political circus. But she’s also one of the 13 people running for City of Miami mayor this November, hoping voters will see something different in her story.
To be sure, she is one of the lucky seven candidates considered long shots in this crowded clusterbunch that includes experienced, known (read: tainted) frontrunners like Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former City Commissioner Ken Russell and former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, as well as oxygen-sucking parasites like Commissioner Joe Carollo and former City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, whose campaign is really a redemption tour after public corruption charges against him were dropped last year. Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Mayor Sir Xavier Suarez — who was the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami in 1995 — wants his old job back, too.
So, there’s very little room in the clown car for relatively unknowns like Crocker, who is one of the candidates that has not been invited to a number of forums or the Downtown Neighbors Association debate with CBS Miami because she polled under 5%. She has only raised $1,500, and no contribution is bigger than $350. So, there’s very little campaign presence. And she has zero endorsements.
But this is likely not the last time we’ve heard from her.
Read related: Michael Hepburn writes ‘Love Letter’ to Miami, but will voters actually read it?
Crocker, who lives in Little Havana but says she has family ties to Liberty City, claims she has spent the last decade working remotely in business development, though she didn’t list a primary or secondary income source in her qualifying papers. She’s been something of a nomad over the past five years — with addresses in Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Augustine, West Palm Beach, and Miami Shores — before settling in Miami, where Crocker now wants to take on City Hall. She had a business in St. Augustine, LJG Staffing Solutions, but it went inactive in 2021.
She might look like a bombshell on Love Island or like she just walked off a fashion runway, but Crocker’s got a lot going on behind that show-stopper smile.
Her campaign website paints the picture of a woman forged by adversity and driven by purpose. A proud mom of two boys with special needs — one with a rare genetic disorder and the other with autism — Crocker says her life has been defined by “resilience, compassion, and relentless determination.” She’s been an advocate for equal access to healthcare, affordable services, and better support for children and adults with disabilities.
Crocker’s previous address in Liberty City is also home to Jay’s Learning Center, an after-school, day-care and tutoring space for under-served children in the community. It is owned by Beverly Crocker-Johnson.
But her personal story goes much deeper — and darker. Crocker’s father, Dr. Derek Crocker, died as a result of medical negligence at North Shore Medical Center, she says — a tragedy that pushed her into the world of legislative advocacy. She’s testified and worked on state bills this year that focused on medical accountability in the case of negligent death.
Read related: Primetime politics: Local 10 News puts Miami mayoral hopefuls in the hot seat
“I still hear my father’s death rattle in my ear,” she testified in Tallahassee six months ago for a law that modified the state’s medical malpractice laws repealing restrictions on wrongful death lawsuits, allowing certain family members to sue for non-economic damages like pain and suffering and removing exceptions that prevented adult children from suing for a parent’s death and parents from suing for the death of an adult child due to medical negligence.
“I haven’t slept very much since he died. In every other setting, senseless murder leads to a trial and incarceration,” Crocker said, standing at the podium in the state capitol. “In a medical setting, as an adult child of divorced parents in Florida, it’s led to my grief, fear and my soul irreparably shattered in microscopic fragments, near remnants of what it once was.
“Beyond fear and grief, I feel festering rage and indescribable pain,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion.
“Nobody should have to go through this, but here we are. Florida citizens will continue to endure devastating and senseless loss if we do not pass this bill,” she said. “My father’s death should not be in vain.”
And she’s not shy about naming that same motivation in her campaign — “justice, accountability, and community reform.”
But it might just be in her DNA.
Her uncle Jay was the victim of a hate crime that she says helped shape national precedent. Her grandfather and another uncle served in the military, and that sense of duty shows in her campaign platform, which pledges to support veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and families struggling to make ends meet in an increasingly unaffordable city.
Read related: One-liners and other memorable moments from Miami mayoral debate
If elected mayor Crocker promises to demand accountability and transparency, strengthen domestic violence prevention, prioritize veterans’ housing, and tackle climate resilience and youth crime. It’s an ambitious to-do list for someone who’s still relatively new to Miami politics — and to Miami, period.
But maybe that’s the point. Crocker is selling herself as an outsider — someone untainted by the political games and pay-to-play culture that has dogged the city for decades. Her campaign pitch is personal: she’s not running as a politician, she says, but as “a mother, a neighbor, and a fighter who believes Miami can and must do better.”
Ladra doesn’t really believe that Crocker can turn her life story into a viable mayoral campaign. Voters will see her as just another earnest long shot in a crowded field. But she’s got heart, hustle, and a message about accountability that might just resonate with Miamians tired of the same old song. In a race this crowded, a little sincerity might be refreshing.
And memorable.
The post Alyssa Crocker: mother, advocate, fighter — and Miami mayoral candidate appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Where does Rolando really live? A new case of Miami’s political address dance?
District 3 commission candidate moved around a lot
It’s campaign season in Miami, when voters just have to trust the candidates really live in their district.
This time, we have Rolando Escalona, a restaurant manager and a real estate broker turned political hopeful running for Miami city commission in District 3, who is raising questions about his residency. Escalona says he’s been living in a modest apartment on SW 1st Street for more than a year, which is just in time for him to qualify for this election cycle. But public records suggest he may have a more comfortable setup somewhere else entirely — in a home that just so happens to be in District 4.
According to his candidate qualifying paperwork, Escalona swore under oath that he has been living at the apartment at 700 SW First Street apartment since June of 2024. In mortgage documents signed with his wife, he lists a completely different address — a duplex at 128 NW 26th Ave. His broker’s license is there. His business address is there.
Sine 2019, he has lived at five different addresses in the city.
Read related: Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on
It’s natural for one to think that Escalona is pulling a page straight out of the Miami political playbook — the one where you rent an address just long enough to run for office. It’s the kind of “clerical inconsistency” that voters in Miami know too well.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, got dragged through a court fight over whether he actually lived in District 3 or in his small mansion in Coconut Grove when he ran in 2017. He moved back to the house on Morris Lane after it was carved into D3 during redistricting. But it doesn’t matter anymore since he is termed out and running for mayor now. And Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who is also running for mayor, also faced questions about his residency — nobody believes he lived in a 2-bedroom apartment with his brother, his brother’s partner and their child — before his own spectacular fall from grace.
In Miami, it’s practically a political tradition: win the seat first, then figure out where you live.
But Escalona says he hasn’t danced the political address shuffle. He admits he lived in the duplex from January to June of 2024, and said he moved to stay and run in D3 after the property was carved out of during the redistricting process. He didn’t want to run in District 4. Much like the way Commissioner Miguel Gabela had to move to another property he owned after his home was carved out of District 1 months before the election in 2023.
The mortgage documents tell another story. Apparently, Escalona and his wife told the bank that they resided at the duplex when they went to refinance it earlier this year. That was May 19, when the candidate was supposed to be living in the First Street apartment. The mortgage states, under the section titled occupancy, that says “borrower must occupy, establish, and use the property as borrower’s principal residence within 60 days,” and that they also must stay there for a year afterwards. Mortgage rates are often lower for a principal residence than they are for an investment property.
Read related: New Miami map draws opponent out of Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s district
Escalona says he’s not committing mortgage fraud. He said his wife, who is pregnant with twins (and due around the runoff time), continued to live in the duplex with his mother until recently. That maintained occupancy.
“After watching the chaos and dysfunction at City Hall, I made a commitment to do something about it, which is why I both he property in question and it was in District 3,” Escalona told Ladra in a long-winded text. “With City Hall being caught doing new maps that favored incumbents and politicians, a new map was ordered to e drawn and later adopted by the city.
“Given this change beyond my control, and my commitment to bring change to City Hall, my family and I made the decision that I would move into the new district. My wife stayed behind with my mother to tend to her and our property, while I stayed focused on my promise to do something to end the dysfunction in City Hall. In the beginning of this year, I decided to refinance the property as my wife was still living there with my mother. This is perfectly acceptably as per Fannie Mae guidelines.
“My home is not rented and is not an income-producing property,” he said. “As the year progressed, y wife decided to join me in our apartment in Little Havana as we welcomed the news that she was pregnant.”
Rolando Escalona at Easter with his wife and mother.
The rest of Escalona’s story fits the Miami mold: He came from Cuba as a young man 11 years ago and worked his way up through the hospitality business, from busboy at a ceviche place to general manager at the trendy Sexy Fish. In the meantime, he also earned a degree in political science and international relations, of course, from Florida International University, got a broker’s license, opened up his own corporation, EscalonaGroup, LLC, and bought a duplex in West Little Havana. Miami’s American Dream.
The broker’s license and the business use the address at 128 NW 26th Ave., which he and his wife, Astrid Carolina Gonzalez Nieto, bought for $800,000 in January 2024. They do not claim any homestead exemption there. But Gonzalez does claim both homestead exemptions and the Save our Homes exemption on a house she has owned at 9625 Nw 36th Avenue since 2021.
He is a sleeper candidate in the D3 race, where Joe Carollo is leaving, running against the commissioner’s baby brother, Frank Carollo, who had the seat from 2009 to 2017, and five of other wannabes, including Brenda Betancourt, the president of the Calle 8 Inter-American Chamber of Commerce, Denise Galvez Turros — a marketing professional who ran for office in 2017 and lost — and Rob Piper, who formed the political action committee that tired to recall Carollo in 2020. There are a couple of others, but they are not going to get much traction.
Read related: Leader of Recall Joe Carollo PAC joins Miami Commission race in District 3
Escalona has a lot of support from the same circles at mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez, the former city manager who sued to get the election back on this year. And he has raised almost $49,000 by the end of June, according to his campaign finance reports. That’s the second biggest bank after Frank Carollo. Of that, he loaned himself $5,000. Lobbyist Manny Prieguez, a former state rep who has backed both Gabela and Alex Díaz de la Portilla in District 1, bundled five checks for $1,000 each. And Escalona got $3,000 from Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who won a federal First Amendment lawsuit against Joe Carollo in 2023. There’s likely more to come there.
He also got two contributions from his wife. It doesn’t go over the $1,000 limit (except by $4.48, and that has to be a typo), but it was in two different checks four days apart with two different names — Astrid Gonzalez and Astrid Escalona — with two different addresses, according to the campaign finance reports.
Maybe Escalona’s wife doesn’t even know where they live.
The post Where does Rolando really live? A new case of Miami’s political address dance? appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Miami-Dade: Lennar wants to build 138 homes on 20 acres of rural South Dade
Looks like Lennar Homes, the country’s second biggest homebuilder and longtime Miami-Dade campaign donor, is back at the county commission asking for a little favor — the kind that turns farmland into profit.
On the agenda for Thursday’s meeting: Application No. CDMP20250003 — doesn’t that sound friendly? — which is really about turning 20.1 acres of land near SW 220th Street and 134th Avenue near The Redland from rural, estate-sized lots into a tighter, denser subdivision that could fit up to 13 homes per acre.
That’s right, the same piece of land now zoned for one or two houses per acre could soon hold up to 138 homes — if Lennar gets what it wants.
The legalese calls it a “small-scale amendment to the Comprehensive Development Master Plan.” In plain English: it’s a mini change to the county’s master blueprint for growth, one that doesn’t trigger the big, scary state-level review that larger projects have to go through. The county calls it “small.” But for neighbors who will suddenly be surrounded by hundreds of townhouses instead of mango trees and horses, it’s anything but.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission approves 700 homes on 90 acres of mostly farmland
Rodan Estates, as the development is called, consists of 3- and 4-bedroom detached “cluster homes” — which means they are grouped together and share open spaces. The application states that 25% of the property will be open green space.
This isn’t Lennar trying to push the Urban Development Boundary line — not yet, anyway. That ask comes later when they present their plans for “City Park” (more on that later). This one’s about squeezing more houses onto land they already own inside the line. But these little inside-the-line density jumps are what make it easier to justify moving the UDB later. One brick at a time, mi gente.
Lennar, represented by lobbyists Hugo Arza and Amanda Naldjieff of Holland & Knight, wants to redesignate the property from “Estate Density Residential, which allows from 1 to 2.5 homes per acre, to “Low-Density Residential with One Density Increase,” which brings that up to between 6 and 13 homes per acre — if the design looks “urban”. That’s bureaucrat-speak for cramming in as many units as possible, as long as they look nice on paper.
The developer has even offered a Declaration of Restrictions, which usually means some promises about landscaping, sidewalks, or traffic mitigation — the kind of sweeteners that make commissioners feel better about saying yes. But those “restrictions” rarely restrict much once the bulldozers roll in.
County staff already reviewed the plan, as required, and found no major reason to block it. The Planning Advisory Board and the local community council have also held their obligatory hearings — though not many residents even knew what was happening, since the notice came buried in government websites with links longer than the Everglades.
Read related: Kendall residents oppose early talks for development of waste transfer facility
The proposal is being billed as a “small-scale amendment,” which means it can be adopted by the County Commission with one final vote — no lengthy state oversight, no extra review, no second reading. If the commission approves it Thursday, the change becomes official unless someone files a legal challenge.
And you can bet Lennar’s lawyers made sure everything lines up neatly for that quick approval.
Critics say this is part of a bigger pattern: Lennar and other developers slowly carving up South Dade, where property is cheaper, one small-scale amendment at a time, until the Urban Development Boundary — the line that’s supposed to protect farmland and open space — becomes meaningless. Today it’s 21 acres here. Tomorrow it’s 200 acres there.
Before you know it, the mango groves are gone and the traffic is even worse than it already is on SW 137th Avenue.
Ladra’s not against new homes — everybody needs a roof. But every time Lennar comes to the county commission, it feels like déjà vu: another “small” change, another zoning bump, another profit-driven project labeled as “smart growth.” And the public hearings? They’re held during the day, when regular people are working.
So call it “small-scale” if you want, but Ladra’s seen this blueprint before. A few acres here, a few zoning tweaks there, and pretty soon the nurseries turn into cul-de-sacs and the Turnpike turns into a parking lot.
They call it smart growth, but it smells more like sprawl in a suit — and Lennar’s been walking this county commission around the block long enough to know exactly which way to tug the leash.
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The post Miami-Dade: Lennar wants to build 138 homes on 20 acres of rural South Dade appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Looks like that shiny new Trump Presidential Library and Hotel in downtown Miami may be shelved.
Historian, professor and activist Dr. Marvin Dunn filed a lawsuit this week to stop the transfer of prime downtown land next to the Freedom Tower — yes, that Freedom Tower, the one that symbolizes liberty and exile and means so much to so many Miamians — from Miami Dade College to the state.
The lawsuit says the college’s trustees broke Florida’s Sunshine Law when they quietly voted last month to deed over the property to the Florida Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which just so happens to be controlled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet — the same folks who, surprise surprise, turned around and voted to gift that same land to Trump’s library foundation.
In other words, no open discussion, no transparency, no real public notice — just a “potential real estate transaction” that somehow turned into a high-rise shrine to the Orange One.
“We’re seeking an injunction against the transfer of the land to the state on the ground that the decision to give the land to the state was made in violation of the Government in the Sunshine Act,” said Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, a former state legislator who knows his way around Tallahassee’s shadows.
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Brodsky points out that Miami Dade College is still listed as the owner on the property appraiser’s website — which means, technically, the deal isn’t done. That gives a judge a window to block the transfer before the deed changes hands for good.
Vince Lago hangs Israeli flag in City Hall window, posts photos on Instagram
Like a petulant brat who doesn’t like to be told “no,” Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago defied everyone and betrayed both his colleagues and his constituents this week when he displayed an Israeli flag in his window at City Hall, even though the commission had voted against raising the flag because of the outpouring of community opposition.
This should prove that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.
Read related: Coral Gables commission backs off Israeli flag at City Hall after backlash
Lago hung a U.S. flag morphed with the Israeli one in the historic window of his office on the second floor Tuesday. He was so proud of defying the community sentiment that he posted a photo of it on Instagram, along with a photo of three young men — Ladra suspects his podcast pals — with Israeli flags prancing around at the park across the street.
“On October 7th, 2023 the world witnessed an unspeakable, heinous act as 1,200 innocent men, women and children were killed and 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Lago wrote. “Today, we remember them and celebrate their lives as sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends. Lives forever altered in an instant, by hatred and a lack of tolerance.
“We will always stand on the side of justice and our allies (Israel), never forgetting the freedoms we have as Americans.”
He also felt a need to make sure that everybody knows the “first photo is of the Mayor’s office over looking the front of city hall.”
Was that for the benefit of the Isreali consulate and embassy in Miami? After all, they were invited to “collaborate” on the post.
It certainly looks like the park protest was coordinated with the mayor’s office. There was no permit needed, said Gables spokeswoman Martha Pantin. “Individuals do not require a permit to display items such as flags, provided they do not block ingress, egress, or interfere with traffic flow,” she wrote in an email responding to a question.
Guess that means that anyone can show up tomorrow with flags from Palestine, Iraq, China, Russia, Libya. In fact, employees are also free to display another country’s flag from the windows of their offices and city vehicles, Pantin said.
“We do not have specific personnel rules regarding the display of personal items like flags, as long as they are not offensive in nature. Any items deemed offensive would be addressed in accordance with our standard policies.”
Perhaps they’ll tweak the official definition of “offensive.”
Read related: City raising an Israeli flag causes fuss and fury at Coral Gables City Hall
Pantin said “after checking with dispatch and the manager’s office, no calls or complaints were received regarding this matter.”
That was in an email sent at 4:51 p.m. It is not Pantin’s fault that she hadn’t yet seen the email sent 20 minutes earlier by Katherine Shehadeh, a resident who spoke at both public meetings against raising the Israeli flag on public property at a time when the world was denouncing what many — even inside Israel — are calling a genocide of the Palestinian people.
“In advance of next week’s meeting, where I know there will be further discussion on this point, I want to be sure everyone is aware of this post on the mayor’s official Coral Gables account that he made jointly with the Israeli Consul General, a foreign official, tagging a number of Coral Gables media outlets and his political action committee,” Shehadeh wrote in her email to Lago and the commissioners. “I want everyone to consider the moral and ethical implications of using their public office this way, particularly on a matter that was already addressed democratically and respectfully within the commission’s chambers.”
And that’s is the issue here. If Lago had posted an Israeli flag on his personal social media and raised a flag at his house on San Amaro Drive, there would be no problem. Like when Palmetto Bay Councilman Steve Cody posted something about the assassination of Charlie Kirk being ironic because of his stance on the Second Amendment. People wanted to skin Cody alive and demanded his resignation — which he has politely declined — but he wasn’t speaking as a commissioner.
Not only was Lago’s post on his official city profile, he went ahead and did this after a great deal of public debate — overwhelmingly against his idea of solidarity only with Israel — and his colleagues on the commission agreed to have some non-political show of remembrance instead. This is in your face defiance. More proof that Mayor L’Ego, who did not return calls and texts from Ladra, is a sour loser and a bully who only wants to get his way.
Is he always going to do whatever he wants despite what the commission votes democratically? Isn’t that what a dictator is?
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, allies bully and browbeat Melissa Castro
“It’s troubling to see the mayor once again ignore both the comission’s decision and the clear message from residents who asked us to keep City Hall neutral,” Commission Melissa Castro told Political Cortadito. “This isn’t leadership. It’s self promotion.
“Time and again, he’s shown that it’s not about residents want, it’s about what he wants,” Castro added. “Coral Gables residents came to City Hall twice to express their desire for neutrality, and the commission listened. We made a collective decision to keep our government impartial and focused on unity, not politics.
“When the mayor defies that vote and uses City Hall to advance personal agendas, it undermines public trust. A mayor should lead by example, not by personal ambition.”
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Michael Hepburn writes ‘Love Letter’ to Miami, but will voters actually read it?
First in a series of profiles about the Miami mayoral candidates
Miami mayoral candidate Michael Hepburn says he’s “on the verge of making history” as Miami’s first black mayor. That’s a bold and confident statement — and one Ladra has heard before from more than one well-intentioned candidate whose campaign never made it past early voting.
Hepburn, a Miami native whose family roots in the city go back to 1896, is one of the other seven — not one of the six candidates considered frontrunners in a race that will certainly end in a runoff. But he is, arguably, the most exciting.
Running on a working-class platform he calls a “love letter” to his hometown. The non-profit executive, self-proclaimed sports and entertainment entrepreneur and civic advocate says he’s connected with 25,000 Miami households and stands as “the first Black Miamian to ever execute a bonafide viable campaign” for the city’s top job.
That “viable” part is where Ladra cocks her head a little.
Because while Hepburn’s passion is undeniable — his press releases and his website read more like a halftime pep talk than a political announcement — the climb to City Hall is a steep one, lined with big names, big money, and big egos. Hepburn, by his own admission, is “not a millionaire” and “not a recycled elected official.”
Which is exactly what Ladra likes about him — but also what makes this a long shot.
Read related: Primetime politics: Local 10 News puts Miami mayoral hopefuls in the hot seat
Hepburn has one notable endorsement — from entrepreneur Maxwell “Max” Martinez, who dropped out of the race before qualifying. Martinez, who placed second in the 2021 mayoral race against Francis Suarez, said he met Hepburn during that race, when Hepburn was running for city commission. He’s not only impressed with his work ethic, he also thinks that Hepburn can help drive policy and he likes that he’s a fresh face.
“The other names on the ballot have all been in office — you’re currently living in the results of their work,” Martinez, a fellow Democrat, said of Hepburn in a story in Florida Politics last month. “Mike fights the right way, and he’s never bowed to developer money or special interests.”
His campaign finance reports reflect that. Of the $36,000 and change he has reported raising, almost $34K comes from himself. The rest are in small donations, no bigger than $100. There are a lot of $44 contributions, to signify that he would be the city’s 44th mayor.
Hepburn, who won a Miami Herald Silver Night at Miami Central High, ran for commission in 2021 in District 5 and came in third, behind former appointed incumbent Commissioner Jeffrey Watson and Commission Chairwoman Christine King, who won that race with 65% of the vote and is up for re-election on the November ballot. This year, you can see many of King’s yard signs with Hepburn’s.
That’s by design.
“Because of District 5 is why I have a path to the runoff,” Hepburn told Political Cortadito. He didn’t want to compete with King for votes. He wants to share them with her.
“If I can cultivate my base and also galvanize those other communities in the city, then I have just as good a chance as anybody else,” Hepburn said, adding that the black vote is underestimated. There were 18,000 Miami black voters in the 2024 presidential election.
“They’re not engaged locally but they’ve never had anyone to vote for,” Hepburn told Ladra. “We’ve always been relegated to our district. I’m the first person who looks like me to run for mayor.”
Hepburn also ran for state rep twice and congress once — so this is his fifth try for public office — and has volunteered with the Miami Parks & Recreation Advisory Board’s Community Emergency Response Team, as a charter member of AmeriCorps and a co-founder of the Allapattah Neighborhood Association.
He is the executive director and principal of Reimagine Miami Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit he founded in 2021 that supposedly helps cover college expenses for public high school graduates — and has reportedly already doled out more than $160,000 to students. Funding sources could not be identified. Ladra could not find the non-profits 990s online, but small charities with gross receipts of under $50,000 are not required to file them.
Among the long shot would-be also-rans, Hepburn is a star. He’s already got some name-rec and he’s hitting the right populist notes: promising to lower the cost of living for working people, stand up to special interests, fire the city manager, and restructure the mayor’s office into five focused functions with 44 policy actions — a level of detail most Miami candidates haven’t even imagined.
He also vows to “take back the power of the dais” and “stand up against corruption,” which in this city is practically a campaign requirement. If you don’t say you’ll fight corruption in Miami, are you even running?
Read related: One-liners and other memorable moments from Miami mayoral debate
Hepburn’s plan touches on all the civic buzzwords: affordable housing, climate resilience, neighborhood safety, and uplifting children and seniors. But to break through the noise, he’ll need more than a heartfelt letter — he’ll need cash, coalition, and credibility beyond community boards. He couldn’t even get the 5% needed to be on the stage at the Downtown Neighbors Association’s mayoral debate last month, and called for the community to boycott the event.
He also suspended his campaign for a bit in June to try to recall Commissioner Damian Pardo for sponsoring the ordinance that moved the city elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, which effectively cancelled this year’s mayoral race, where he had already been campaigning for months. Years? Another candidate, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, filed the lawsuit that forced the city to rescind the ordinance (it was found to violate the city and county charter) and put the race back on.
That said, there’s something refreshing about Hepburn’s tone. He sounds like someone who actually rides the bus, who has waited at a hot corner for the 7, the 11 or the 27A, and who still believes that City Hall can be fixed from the inside.
Maybe it’s naïve. Or maybe it’s the kind of earnestness this city needs after years of headlines about FBI probes, absentee mayors, and million-dollar condos no one lives in.
Either way, Hepburn is right about one thing: it’s personal.
And if history is made in November — and that’s a big if — it won’t be because of money or dynasty names. It’ll be because enough working-class Miamians decided to believe in one of their own.
The post Michael Hepburn writes ‘Love Letter’ to Miami, but will voters actually read it? appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Miami-Dade School Board to revisit flawed, ‘connected’ BusPatrol program
Political palanca is pushing the gas pedal
It looks like the BusPatrol program is still parked in neutral — and the Miami-Dade School Board could decide Wednesday whether to tow it away or try to fix it. And three members are very connected to BusPatrol lobbyists pushing for the program to be reinstated.
Six months ago, after rampant complaints, Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz pulled the plug on the “school bus safety” camera program, which had been in operation since June of last year and issued more than 144,000 citations. Ticketed drivers said there were mistakes and no real process to contest the fine. At least 8,600 citations have been contested.
The BusPatrol plan was supposed to be a turn-key solution that cost the district nothing. Cameras would catch motorists who passed stopped school buses, read license plates, and tickets would go out automatically, and the company would share the revenue with the district. But it turns out that “turn-key” really meant turn a blind eye.
Now, the district is still trying to figure out what went wrong — and how to get out of the ditch.
According to an audit report requested by School Board Member Roberto Alonso and released last month, the program was never properly vetted, didn’t include any clear chain of communication between the district, the sheriff, and the courts, and ignored public problems BusPatrol had already experienced in other states like New York and Pennsylvania.
But that didn’t stop then-Chief Operating Officer Luis Diaz from pushing it through last year. Nor did it go through the usual competitive bid process, because it was revenue-generating — meaning 70% of every $225 ticket went straight to BusPatrol, and the other 30% went to the district. No violation of policy, the auditors say. Just a terrible idea that looks good because it has netted the school board more than $9 million so far.
The program hit the road in June of last year — and blew the engine before 12 months. An investigative story by The Miami Herald and Tributary found that hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent motorists were getting $225 tickets even when they were driving on the opposite side of a raised median, which is perfectly legal. But the cameras apparently didn’t know that. And BusPatrol didn’t care. Because there was no clear way to contest them, many ticketed drivers just paid the fine. Even on bogus tickets.
Read related: Miami-Dade Sheriff to county leaders: Budget cuts handcuff public safety
In May, Sheriff Rosie said basta and hit the brakes. She announced on X that she was immediately suspending all citations. And Alonso requested the audit that basically confirmed what everyone suspected: Miami-Dade Public Schools never really vetted BusPatrol before signing on the dotted line. According to the district’s own internal auditor, the BusPatrol contract slipped through a loophole in the district’s procurement rules. Because it was “revenue-generating” and under $50,000 on paper, the deal didn’t have to go through a competitive bid process.
That meant no formal vetting, no references from other school districts, no testimonials. Staff told auditors that they relied on word of mouth and a Google search.
“We found a lack of evidence that BusPatrol and the overall program were sufficiently vetted prior to entering a contract,” the audit says. In plain English: They didn’t do their homework.
Turns out, the so-called turn-key program in one neat package — cameras, ticket processing, coordination with law enforcement, even court services — wasn’t what it was promised to be. The audit said the district “was not prepared for the scope of coordination needed” among the different agencies.
BusPatrol, of course, insists everything was done by the book. In a statement, the company pointed out that the audit confirmed the procurement process followed the rules — technically. But the auditors also “legal” doesn’t mean “smart.”
Superintendent Jose Dotres sent a memo to the schools police chief ordering him to work with the sheriff’s office to “fix the citation review process.” But the scope of the problem — and the lack of due process — was so bad that a class action lawsuit was filed in March against BusPatrol, alleging that Miami-Dade drivers were denied their right to contest the fines. According to a story aired by NBC6, an attorney for the motorists said the program “prioritized revenue generation over rights.”
Ya think? According to the audit, BusPatrol got around $22 million for 10 months of work.
In part, the complaint filed in court says BusPatrol “not only deprived citizens of Miami-Dade of their property without lawful justification, but also enriched the defendants at the expense of the public under questionable legal and ethical circumstances.”
So, just another day in 305 politics?
Read related: In Miami-Dade, first day of school jitters come with ICE deportation fears
BusPatrol wouldn’t explain much. In a statement, the company said the lawsuit was a “frivolous and baseless attempt to undermine a critical student safety issue in Miami.” For details about the saga, company executive Steve Randazzo told reporters only: “You’re going to have to ask the sheriff’s office.”
She’s not your biggest fan, dude.
But don’t worry, BusPatrol has friends in high places. And we don’t mean just State Rep. Vicky López — a potential replacement for Eileen Higgins on the county commission — who ushered the law that allows for Bus Patrol to install cameras in Miami-Dade school buses, and just happens to have her son and her brother-in-law on their payroll.
Since the suspension, as the Herald reported last week, the company has hired two politically connected lobbyists: David “Disgustin’” Custin and Tania Cruz Gimenez. Custin ran school board member Danny Espino’s 2024 campaign — for which Espino paid him more than $56,000 — and also worked for Mary Blanco, who paid him about $106,000. His gravy train in Tallahassee — former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and former State House Speaker Jose Oliva — is over, so he’s making his bed at the school board. Hey, he’s gotta sleep somewhere.
Cruz Gimenez, who helped elect Cordero-Stutz — and is now helping Miami District 3 candidate Denise Galvez — is married to Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, who is the son of the congressman but, more importantly for this story, the nephew of School Board Chairwoman Mary Tere Rojas.
Now Espino, Blanco and Rojas are key players in the fate of the BusPatrol program. Shouldn’t they all recuse themselves?
Instead, Espino has become the program’s biggest cheerleaders. At a committee meeting last week, the attorney proposed hiring the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings to handle the ticket challenges virtually. He said the system already works in Hillsborough County and could “provide the sheriff comfort” that there’s due process for drivers. He is sponsoring the revisions proposed to the board Wednesday.
Superintendent Jose Dotres tried to pump the brakes, warning the board not to promise the district would cover the administrative costs of those hearings. “We just have to be very cautious in saying that we are going to bear the cost,” he said.
The board votes on Espino’s proposal Wednesday. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. at the school board meeting downtown, 1450 NE Second Avenue.
Ladra bets there’ll be a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing — but not much accountability. Because in Miami-Dade, bad deals like this one always seem to have friends behind the wheel.
If you like reading independent, watchdog government coverage of the Miami-Dade Public School Board, please consider making a contribution to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!
The post Miami-Dade School Board to revisit flawed, ‘connected’ BusPatrol program appeared first on Political Cortadito.
ABs are out for November 4 elections — and so is the flood of campaign mail
Here we go. The political season just got real.
Miami-Dade’s Elections Department has mailed out the first batch of vote-by-mail or absentee ballots for the upcoming Nov. 4 municipal elections in Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Homestead and Surfside — which means the mailboxes in those zip codes are about to get a workout.
About 39,000 ballots rolled out of the county’s elections warehouse in Doral Monday morning, and were loaded onto a U.S. Postal Service truck under the watchful eye of the media and Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina García, who made sure everyone saw the process. Cameras rolling, ballots stacked, democracy in motion.
Read related: The end of absentee ballots? Who’s crying in Miami-Dade County?
The bulk of those (21,258) were sent to Miami voters, who are looking at a historic mayoral election to replace the termed out Francis Suarez — with no fewer than 13 candidates — and two commission races, including the District 3 race to replace the termed out Joe Carollo, who is running for mayor. Another 8.041 went to city of Hialeah voters, which seems low.
“Building the public’s trust through secure, fair, accurate, and accessible elections is my pledge,” García said in a statement, adding that vote-by-mail remains one of three ways Miami-Dade voters can cast their ballots — along with early voting and Election Day itself.
On Monday, before the TV cameras, Garcia said that the absentee voting process was safe, even though President Donald Trump says otherwise, because election workers check the signature every step of the way. “Voting by mail in Florida is very secure,” she said.
Maybe it is now, after several local and state laws have changed. And as a former campaign operative for the likes of former Congressman David Rivera and former Sen. Frank Artiles — who paid a sham candidate $50,000 to fix a Florida Senate race in 2020 — Garcia should know better than anyone.
Miami-Dade has a long storied past of absentee ballot fraud and other misgivings. The boleteros who handle these ABs have long been part of the local voting scene. They didn’t just create just an industry. They created a culture.
Read related: Frank Artiles arrested for sham state senate election — but was he alone?
One of the oldest known and possibly most notorious chapters was the 1997 Miami mayoral election. There was evidence of fraud — people casting ABs from Westchester, Broward and beyond the grave — that eventually overturned the election and won The Miami Herald a Pulitzer for investigative journalism (Ladra’s second).
It was pretty quiet on the absentee front until 2011, when several people were caught harvesting absentee ballots during the special post-recall mayoral election and 2012, when a Hialeah ballot ring was investigated by the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit later decimated by former Mayor Carlos Gimenez after (read: because) he was implicated in it.
Among the characters arrested for some kind of absentee ballot shenanigans: Sergio “El Tio” Robaina, a relative of former Mayor Julio Robaina, Miami-Dade District 13 aide Anamary Pedrosa — who was working in then county Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo‘s Hialeah office when she was caught stuffing ballots into the trunk of her car — and Deisy Cabrera, who got a “pan con bistec” delivered to her in a paper bag by Commissioner Rene Garcia after she was released.
In response, Miami-Dade passed a law that nobody could carry more than two ballots at a time.
In 2013, two men were arrested after they allegedly visited a Homestead home and filled out four people’s absentee ballots against their desires. They also allegedly possessed more than two ballots at a time.
As the use of vote-by-mail or absentee ballots increased, the Florida legislature also responded, with new ID requirements and ballot drop box limits in 2020 and a new law that requires the renewal of absentee or vote-by-mail ballot requests after every major election cycle. Previously, an absentee ballot request would last at least two cycles.
Many of the campaigns for the candidates in these five cities with elections next month have been focused on getting absentee ballot requests submitted. And this is the moment they’ve all been waiting — and fundraising — for.
Stacks of ABs are loaded on a truck and headed for the post office.
Now that those ballots are out, campaign mailers will start hitting doorsteps fast. Expect the flood of glossy flyers, “urgent messages,” and last-minute text “reminders” to vote. Some will arrive so often you’ll start to think your mail carrier’s on the campaign payroll. Then it will be the phone calls from the campaigns to make sure you mailed your ballot back.
This is when campaigns shift from yard signs and social media to the real battleground — the kitchen table. Because once people start filling in those bubbles, it’s game on. Because now that those ballots are out — every candidate, consultant, and campaign manager in the 305 is hitting “send” on a hundred different voter contact plans.
Enjoy the brief calm before your mailbox fills with “friends of,” and “for the future of,” and “we can’t afford four more years of…”
You know the drill.
Let the games begin.
A reminder for voters
If you want to vote by mail and haven’t requested your ballot yet, there’s still time — but pay attention to the fine print.
Under Florida’s new rules, any vote-by-mail requests made before the 2024 general election expired on Jan. 1, 2025. That means you have to renew your request if you haven’t already.
Ballots cannot be forwarded by the Post Office, so if you’ve moved or will be away, you’ll need to submit a Statewide Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request Form with your signature.
And remember: your completed ballot must be received (not just postmarked) by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4, or it doesn’t count. So don’t wait till the last minute — mail it early so the elections office can contact you if there’s a problem with your signature.
More info, and a link to request an absentee ballot, is at www.votemiamidade.gov.
The post ABs are out for November 4 elections — and so is the flood of campaign mail appeared first on Political Cortadito.
