Miami is a fast paced community with a rapid fire news cycle. Our blog keeps you current on the most important issues affecting the tax payers of Miami-Dade county. Read, share, comment, and as always let us know what topics you want us to tackle.
Recall effort vs Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is now on track
It’s been a while since we had a good recall, right?
Temporarily stalled by a “technicality,” an alleged attempt to boot Mayor Daniella Levine Cava from office was revived this week faster than you can say caravana anticomunista.
The increasingly noisy effort is led by none other than Alex Otaola, the YouTube firestarter who sees communists the way some people see potholes: everywhere, and all the county’s fault. He also lost a mayoral bid against Levine Cava last August, getting in third place with almost 12% of the vote, which seems like a lot. Until you count ’em and realize 250,000 people voted against him.
Is this just sour grapes?
Read related: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava crushes challengers in re-election
The planned recall, which hasn’t really technically begun, briefly hit a speed bump last week. Supervisor of Elections Alina García took to social media to announce that the county clerk couldn’t accept the recall petition as submitted because her office couldn’t provide the format.
“Residents recently attempted to file a petition to recall the Miami-Dade County mayor but the Clerk’s office cannot approve the form of the petition because the county code still requires the petition to be in a format determined by the former Elections Department — an office that no longer exists,” Garcia wrote, trying to be cheeky.
“While our office is now an independent constitutional office, the county code has not yet been updated to reflect this change, through no fault of our own,” she wrote. “Since taking office in January, we have been working with the county to resolve this issue so citizens have a clear and lawful way to petition their government.”
She said that her office had already provided the same form that the old Elections Department. Which, like, seems logical. The process didn’t change. Just the person in charge. But she said that she needed a “formal agreement with the county that authorizes our office to carry out these duties.”
She thanked Chairman Anthony Rodriguez for putting it on the Dec. 2 commission agenda. “We are hopeful that this will finally resolve the issue so voters can fully exercise their rights without interruption,” Garcia wrote.
Except it wasn’t on the agenda yet. Ladra looked. It was later added to the agenda in the form of a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Oliver Gilbert to “clarify” that the elections supervisor is, in fact, allowed to do the job she already thought she was doing.
And like that — poof — the problem evaporated. Unanimous vote. Crisis averted. The petition lives to fight another day.
Barby Rodriguez, the chief of staff for County Clerk Juan Fernandez-Barquin, — and daughter-in-law to Congressman Carlos Gimenez — said the office would get back to the petitioner “with a response shortly as to whether the petition is approved or not as to the form.” Once it is approved, Otaola — who formed a political action committee called Recall Cava in October — has to collect about 61,000 signatures.
Read related: Mayoral wannabe Alex Otaola wants to bring McCarthyism to Miami-Dade
The ballot question is simple: “Should Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava be recalled?” To the point, but unnecessarily brief. State law limits the number of words in a recall ballot question to 15 for the title and 75 for the text. This petition question has left 66 words on the table.
State law also does not require a reason for a municipal mayoral recall. Remember when former Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez in 2011? There was no reason stated then either.
That recall effort against Alvarez — and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Natasha Seijas — began in September 2010 after the county passed a budget that raised property taxes by as much as 14% and increased the salaries of county employees by a total of $132 million. A whopping 88% of the voters unseated them.
This recall feature the same budget complaints after Levine Cava closed a $400 million hold in the county coffers during budget season.
One almost wonders if the little detour was performative. After all, wouldn’t all the former elections department functions automatically become part of the SOE’s purview? Is there anything else we haven’t thought of? The only two speakers at Tuesday’s meeting were there to urge commissioners to approve the measure. And the effort got more ink in the past few days than it ever had before. Nobody outside Otaola’ echo chamber knew there was a recall effort.
And the petition filed Nov. 21 by attorney Ricci Carabeo of VPP Law Firm, on “behalf of his client” just happens to be in the right form. How did that happen if the elections supervisor couldn’t provide him with the form before Tuesday?
The change.org petition was started by Mercy Perez, who was also one of the speakers Tuesday, more than seven month ago. It’s got more than 4,600 signatures — totally symbolic because they have to sign on paper and some are not even Miami-Dade voters. But make no mistake: this show belongs to Otaola, who opened a political action committee in October named Recall Cava.
Otaola may have finished third in last year’s mayoral race, but he didn’t exactly fade into obscurity. Why would he? He’s got 475,000 YouTube subscribers — more than 19,000 people watching live on a random weeknight — and a very engaged base that treats “Hola Ota-Ola” like it’s the gospel according to San Alex.
And now those followers are being told it’s their civic duty to remove La Alcaldesa from office before the communist apocalypse arrives. Or before Eileen Higgins becomes mayor of Miami. Otaola, who helped push Bryan Calvo to mayoral victory in Hialeah, is backing former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez in the Miami runoff and had one of his famous caravans to support Gonzalez Saturday.
Or before Afghan refugees storm Coral Gables. Because Otaola took the tragic shooting in D.C. involving an Afghan man and somehow used it to attack Levine Cava for welcoming Afghan refugees to Miami-Dade three years ago.
Read related: Bryan Calvo breaks the Hialeah machine, wins mayor’s race outright
Local Democratic strategist Christian Ulvert, Levine Cava’s longtime campaign consultant, wasted no time reminding everyone that Otaola was “rejected by 88 percent of voters” in the 2024 election. According to Ulvert, this is all a “deeply flawed and miscalculated political stunt” by someone who is “not a serious leader.”
He also called Levine Cava “a popular leader” with “deep love and respect” from voters, which is probably why she won her re-election with a solid 58% of the vote in the first round. But its also exactly the kind of thing political advisors say right before the panic texts begin.
Ladra’s not saying Otaola is right. Let’s be clear: his politics are a spicy stew of fearmongering, Trump cult identity, and the kind of Cold-War-era communist hunting that would make McCarthy blush.
But he isn’t irrelevant. Not even close.
This is a man who can snap his fingers and send dozens of flag-waving SUVs clogging up intersections. He can turn an unfounded rumor into a talking point. He can drive 20,000 people into a livestream on a Wednesday night. There are elected officials — plural — who take him seriously. Commissioner Senator Rene Garcia was quoted in the media hinting he might be supportive of the recall.
“I too, have had some issues in reference to some of the park funding that we see, and I have been asking for information, that we are yet to receive that,” Garcia told NBC6 Miami. “So if I am one Commissioner that is struggling, there may be others that are doing the same.”
Of course, everybody says he wants her office. There are at least three other current commissioners looking at it, too. You know who you are.
Otaola and his team must get signatures from 4% of the registered voters in Miami-Dade County, about 61,000 signatures. They have an unlimited amount of time to collect them, but once they are submitted and verified, a recall election must be held within 90 days.
The petition is almost certainly going to be cleared for takeoff by our Republican Supervisor of Elections, who some say was elected to stop all Democrats from moving forward in Miami-Dade.
Whether Otaola gets the signatures is another matter. Sixty-thousand-plus verified voter John Hancocks is no joke. Ladra doubts that half he has that many registered voters in his subscriber list.
But what’s undeniable is this: Alex Otaola has built a real political machine out of a YouTube show, and county hall is paying attention — even if they pretend they aren’t.
The recall may be a stunt. But the movement behind it? Not as easy to dismiss as some Democrats would like.
The post Recall effort vs Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is now on track appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Early voting starts Friday for runoffs in Hialeah, Miami and Miami Beach
Three days of early voting for the election runoffs in Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah start Friday and end Sunday. Election Day is Tuesday. After that, we will have a new mayor and new commissioner in Miami and new representatives in the other two cities.
But the races in Miami, where almost 13,700 voters have cast mail-in or absentee ballots as of Thursday, are the main attraction.
In the mayoral contest, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins — who just gave up three years on her seat to run for the top job in Miami — is facing former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who sued the city to get the elections back on in the first place after commissioners voted to move it to 2026 (and extend their terms by a year).
Read related: Eileen Higgins heads into partisan Miami mayoral runoff with momentum
Higgins is the front runner and is poised to become Miami’s first female mayor — following her BFF Daniella Levine Cava‘s historic election as Miami-Dade’s first female mayor. We may soon have two La Alcaldesas.
Turnout is below 8% as of Thursday. But let’s be clear: Without Gonzalez, nobody would be casting ballots in Miami right now.
Ladra thinks he could have won if he hadn’t gone hyper partisan. Gonzalez will be kicking off the early voting weekend Friday at a “Keep Miami red get-out-the-vote” rally at Little Havana’s venerable Versailles restaurant, sponsored by the Republican Party of Miami-Dade and featuring Sen. Rick Scott and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar.
Also on the ballot is the commission race in District 3, where Joe Carollo is termed out. His baby brother Frank Carollo, who held the seat for eight years before Joe, is running against political newcomer Rolando Escalona, the manager at the popular downtown Sexy Fish. This one is more of anyone’s guess. Frank Carollo — who famously does not get along with his brother — has the name rec. But Joe lost the mayor’s race even in his own district, indicating voters may not want four more years of a Carollo.
And Escalona, for a newbie, has a lot of political support, including the same Higgins machinery run by consultant Christian Ulvert. So, let’s not underestimate him.
Read related: Miami Beach commission runoff: Two women, one seat — and the city’s future
In Miami Beach, you have the uber partisan race between longtime City Hall staffer Monica Matteo-Salinas, who has worked for two city commissioners, and MAGA-backed lawyer Monique Pardo Pope, the daughter of a Hitler-loving cop-turned-serial killer executed in Florida by lethal injection in 2012 who she calls her “hero” on social media that has since been scrubbed. She is also backed by the Christian Family Coalition, which is kind of a double whammy.
Behind Matteo-Salinas you have Commissioner Alex Fernandez, one of Matteo-Salinas’ former bosses, and Commissioner Laura Dominguez — both of whom won re-election rather easily Nov. 4.
“Monica is exactly the kind of leader Miami Beach deserves — compassionate, capable, and committed to doing what’s right for our residents,” Fernandez said. “She understands the seriousness of government and the respect our residents deserve.
“Having worked directly with Monica, I’ve seen firsthand the years she spent helping people navigate City Hall with compassion and integrity — fighting for families, schools, safety, and the character of our city.”
Dominguez echoed Fernandez’s confidence in the single mom and PTA veteran’s ability to serve effectively.
“Monica Matteo-Salinas has earned the trust of our community through her years of service, her compassion, and her results-driven approach,” Dominguez said. “She knows Miami Beach and our potential. Monica is exactly the kind of voice we need on the City Commission: experienced, empathetic, and focused on the issues that matter most to our residents.”
Who does Pardo Pope have, besides Daddy cheering on from Hell? Commissioner David Suarez, whose brother-in-law was arrested in the wee hours of Election Day last month — driving an unregistered golf cart that reportedly belongs to Suarez — after being caught on video removing Dominguez campaign signs and replacing them with developer’s favorite Fred Karlton’s.
Oh, and the bigots at the GOP and CFC, which might as well merge into one at this point.
Still, very few people are interested. Only 3,435 people have voted via absentee or mail-in ballot so far, according to the supervisor of elections website. That’s just over 8%.
Read related: Bryan Calvo breaks the Hialeah machine, wins mayor’s race outright
In Hialeah, where there are two open council seat runoffs, we have less than 5% turnout, with only 3,741 absentee or mail-in ballots received so far.
Gelien Perez, who worked for the city’s Human Resources Department, got 40.5% of the vote Nov. 4 and faces Jessica Castillo, who works in medical insurance sales and came in second with 36% in the Group 3 race. Perez was investigated by the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics & Public Trust, which concluded that there were signs she used her city position to benefit her private real estate business. Several of her real estate clients were also city employees under her supervision and, during that period, received substantial raises.
Now, that’s a great marketing plan.
In the Group 5 race, university student William “Willy” Marrero — the only candidate on Mayor Jacqueline García-Roves’ slate who didn’t lose Nov. 4 — got 25% of the vote in a five-way contest and faces land surveyor Javier Morejon who got just over 23%. This will likely be a close race. The difference in the first round was just 235 votes.
Morejon was chairman of the Hialeah Beautification Board and former vice chairman of the Miami-Dade County Historic Preservation Board. Marrero has served as an intern for Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia and as the administrative assistant to Hialeah Councilman Luis Rodriguez, who was re-elected Nov. 4. He also serves on the city’s centennial committee. The 21-year-old Florida International University student could become the youngest councilman elected ever, taking the record away from Mayor Elect Bryan Calvo, who was elected a commissioner at age 23.
“That’s okay,” Calvo told Political Cortadito. “Records are meant to be broken.”
Calvo also told Ladra that he has endorsed Perez, who was on the slate with mayoral candidate Jesús Tundidor, and Marrero, who was the interim mayor’s ally, in the two races. “I sat down with all four of them,” Calvo said. “I thought it was important to be conciliatory with the other camps. And out of the candidates there, I think these two are the best ones.”
For a full list of hours and locations for early voting, go the Supervisor of Elections website.
You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.
The post Early voting starts Friday for runoffs in Hialeah, Miami and Miami Beach appeared first on Political Cortadito.
How long should Florida’s guv be able to spend on a ‘State of Emergency’?
SB 700 takes aim at Alligator Alcatraz shenanigans
Florida lawmakers may finally be waking up and smelling the cortadito.
After years of the governor stretching “states of emergency” like chicle viejo to move money around with zero oversight, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith has filed SB 700— a bill that basically says “oye, enough of the permanent emergencies already.”
And make no mistake: this bill, filed Tuesday, has Alligator Alcatraz written all over it. In neon letters. Visible from the Turnpike.
Because what better reason to rein in emergency powers than the largest, most expensive, most secretive, most environmentally disastrous boondoggle Florida has cooked up in decades?
That’s right. Ladra is talking about the infamous, billionaire-sized swamp headache known as Alligator Alcatraz, the “temporary” migrant concentration camp that was built on an “emergency” order that just kept being extended… and extended… and extended… while the state signed enough no-bid contracts to make every lobbyist in Tallahassee salivate like a hungry pitbull.
Read related: Daniella Levine Cava finally takes a tougher stand vs Alligator Alcatraz
Under SB 700, a governor can’t just keep renewing an emergency forever — or for two years, or three, or however long it takes to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into politically connected contractors. One year. That’s all the guv gets. ¡Y basta!
The bill says:
Any state of emergency renewed by the governor expires after one year.
After that, the only way to keep it going is a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
And the Legislature has to put a firm end date — before the next regular session ends.
Oh, and if lawmakers pull the plug? The governor has to immediately issue an order ending it.
AND he can’t declare a “substantially similar” emergency right after to get around it. Bravo.
Let’s remember how we got here.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared an “immigration emergency” and, with that magic wand, bypassed standard procurement rules — you know, the boring democratic, open, transparent ones — and green-lit a massive detention camp in the Everglades on the Dade-Collier airstrip.
Within days — not weeks, not months, days — the state signed an avalanche of contracts:
Daniella Levine Cava launches a 250th USA anniversary ‘advisory committee’
…Because Miami-Dade needs another committee
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced last month that she’s forming yet another advisory committee — this one to help the county celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026. Because if there’s anything this county loves more than ribbon cuttings and slogans, it’s a shiny new task force stacked with political appointees.
They’re calling it the Miami-Dade 250: We Are America Celebration Advisory Committee, which is already a mouthful and sounds like something cooked up after a long branding session and an even longer cafecito break.
The mayor says Miami-Dade has “a unique story to tell — one defined by unity, resilience, innovation, and shared values.”Ladra will pause here so readers can stop rolling their eyes.
Sure, Miami-Dade has a story to tell. Several, actually. Whether this committee will tell the real one — the messy, complicated, sometimes scandal-sprinkled version — remains to be seen. But don’t hold your breath.
According to the press release, the committee will “guide and elevate” the county’s participation in the national Semiquincentennial. Say that five times real fast.
In practice, that probably means a long list of meetings, subcommittees, planning retreats, and PowerPoints before anyone decides whether we’re getting a parade, a mural, a hashtag, or all three.
Read related: Miami-Dade budget restores 100% funds to non-profits = self preservation
The new group’s homework assignment includes drafting a countywide plan, coordinating with state and federal partners, encouraging civic engagement (good luck), hunting for money, and making sure Miami-Dade’s efforts align with whatever the national commission is doing. In other words: bureaucracy meets birthday party.
And who gets a seat at this table? Nine appointees selected by:
The mayor
The county commission chair
The League of Cities
The Legislative Delegation
The School Board
GMCVB
HistoryMiami
AFL-CIO
And a youth representative, presumably to prove this isn’t just an adults-talking-to-themselves exercise.
“It’s an opportunity to celebrate our history, while showcasing our community’s incredible diversity and the values that unite us,” La Alcaldesa said in a Facebook video post. “To ensure Miami-Dade’s full participation in this milestone… the committee will bring together civic and community leaders from across Miami-Dade to help guide the preparations for this historic year.
“Its members will play a key role in developing a comprehensive, countywide plan for events and initiatives that honor our history and celebrate our patriotism. As the gateway to the Americas and one of the most dynamic communities in the nation, Miami-Dade County perfectly captures the spirit of unity, resilience and progress that define America.”
Read related: Financial finesse? Miami-Dade budget shortfall disappears in final version
The mayor’s office will staff the operation and start corralling appointees in coming weeks. The first meeting is set for January 2026 — because nothing says “sense of urgency” like launching a committee six months before the anniversary year actually starts.
Look, Ladra isn’t knocking the idea of celebrating America’s 250th birthday. It’s a big deal. But Miami-Dade has more pressing issues — you know, like housing affordability, transit that never arrives, and the small matter of sea level rise licking our toes — than figuring out which county department gets to cut the “We Are America” cake.
Still, Levine Cava gets to send out a nice press release, everybody gets to feel patriotic, and maybe — maybe — we’ll get a celebration worthy of the milestone.
Or at least a commemorative logo. We’re really good at those.
Stronger Miami group hits 15,000 signatures for city charter amendment
City Hall politicos must be starting to sweat
The citizen-driven overhaul of Miami’s busted political structure — the one the commissioners hoped nobody would pay attention to — is picking up steam. Stronger Miami, the political action committee formed earlier this year to put three major charter reforms on the 2026 ballot, announced this week that they’ve already collected more than 15,000 petition signatures from registered Miami voters.
That’s more than halfway to the 20,500 they need by this summer. And, believe me, City Hall is officially on notice.
This momentum comes right after voters last month overwhelmingly passed Referendum 3, creating Miami’s first-ever Citizens’ Redistricting Committee — something the commissioners did not want because, well, they prefer drawing their own electoral safety nets.
Read related: Miami Voters get it right on the fine print referendums: Yes, No, Yes, Yes
“Miami voters made their voices undeniable this November,” said Mel Meinhardt of One Grove Alliance, who has basically become Miami’s accidental good-government mascot after the city’s illegal 2022 gerrymander carved Coconut Grove into political confetti. One Grove is one of several community organizations in the Stronger Miami coalition.
“Fifteen thousand signatures and counting shows a city ready to turn the page,” Meinhardt said.
En otras palabras: People are tired of the five-headed political hydra running the city like their own private fiefdom.
The proposed charter amendment would bring exactly the kind of changes electeds would never put on the ballot themselves:
Expand the City Commission from five to nine members. Smaller districts. More representation. Less concentration of power. Also fewer opportunities for the infamous Three-Vote Mafia to cut deals in the dark.
Move city elections to November of even-numbered years. Higher voter participation. Lower costs. Fewer sleepy, manipulated 20% turnout races where commissioners get elected by their neighbors and donors’ employees.
Create real, enforceable redistricting standards. No more Franken-districts drawn around donors’ properties and commissioners’ future ambitions. The newly formed independent committee would actually have rules this time.
Commissioners had a chance in September to put the election year change on the Nov. 4 ballot — but it wasn’t as important as they made it seem when they didn’t get an extra year out of it.
Read related: City of Miami election year change won’t make November ballot, after all
There’s still a question about the election calendar move to even years. Does that extend the terms of whoever is sitting those chairs when the switch happens? That’s what Commissioner Damian Pardo wanted to do — give himself and Joe Carollo and Mayor Francis Suarez an extra year in office — when he proposed and passed moving this year’s elections to 2026. Thank Ochún (and Emilio González) that a judge set them straight: This kind of change has to be approved by voters.
And it looks like they may get the chance. Stronger Miami has more than half the signatures and have until the spring to get the rest if they want to put it on the 2026 ballot.
Back in April, Ladra told you how Stronger Miami launched this petition drive after the federal court ruling that shot down the city’s illegal 2022 redistricting maps. The judge not only tossed the maps — he slapped the city with marching orders to create a fair process going forward.
That ruling created the seed. The petition is the fertilizer. And City Hall’s arrogance is the sunshine.
Josh Kaufman, statewide organizer at the ACLU of Florida and Stronger Miami’s field general, said the quiet part out loud: “Voters are demanding a City Hall that truly represents them. With 15,000 signatures already collected, it is clear the movement for a stronger and more democratic Miami is only growing.”
Miami hasn’t expanded representation since it was founded. Yet the city has exploded in population and complexity. We still have five commissioners for 460,000 people — about 90,000 residents per commissioner.
Most well-run cities have half that ratio.
Read related: Petition aims to add Miami commission districts, change election to even years
But why change a system that works… for the politicians?
As Anthony “Andy” Parrish — PAC chair, watchdog and professional Miami BS detector — told Ladra once: “The solution to the pollution is dilution.” And baby, Miami has industrial-grade political pollution.
Parrish even suggested requiring commissioners to work out of district offices instead of that future Taj Mahal at Melreese. Imagine commissioners having to face actual residents on a daily basis. ¡Qué horror!
Increasing the commission to nine seats aligns Miami with the governance structure of other large metropolitan areas like Atlanta and Minneapolis, ensuring the city’s leadership reflects its diverse population. It also “lowers campaign costs for newer candidates to emerge, diluted concentrated power and makes local government more representative, and it makes it easier for city of Miami residents to have access to their city commissioner,” according to the Stronger Miami website.
Let’s be clear: this success will not go unnoticed. Miami commissioners love concentrated power like developers love variances. They are not going to sit back while residents take away their cozy little 3-vote empire. If history is any guide, we can expect dark money PACs and scare tactics, a barrage of bad texts, disinformation campaigns, whispers about “outside groups” and maybe even a last-minute “alternative” proposal designed to confuse voters.
Because nothing terrifies a Miami commissioner more than actual democracy.
The takeaway here is that 15,000 signatures isn’t just momentum — it’s a warning shot. Miami voters are awake. They’re angry. And they’re organizing.
Stronger Miami still has a mountain to climb, but they’ve already accomplished the thing the commission thought impossible: making real reform look inevitable.
MDC Trustees rubber-stamp Donald Trump library land giveaway — again
This time there’s an audience, pero igual
Ladra would like to congratulate the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees for finally holding a real public meeting on the Donald Trump Library land giveaway — or, as it will go down in history, The Hialeah Shuffle.
Because make no mistake: Tuesday morning’s “do-over” vote — in which the bootlicking board reaffirmed their decision to giveaway 2.6 acres of prime real estate meant for the school’s growth to their cult leader like it was a promotional tote bag — was less about transparency and more about checking a Sunshine Law box while keeping the public at arm’s length. Far from the downtown campus this impacts, far from students, far from the faculty, and far from the local downtown residents with the most at stake.
Seriously. Why else would you move the meeting from MDC’s central Wolfson Campus — you know, across the street from the land in question — to an 8 a.m. meeting in Hialeah? Ladra sees you, Board. That’s called crowd control.
And yet, even in Hialeah, even fighting rush hour traffic, nearly 80 people showed up. Imagine how many would have packed the room downtown. Ladra imagines it, and the trustees probably did, too. Which is precisely why they drove everyone out to the Ciudad Que Progresa for this little performance of “public engagement.”
Read related: MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal
Let’s be clear: The re-vote was never in doubt. The trustees were going to vote yes again no matter who spoke or what they said. A couple of them had made that abundantly clear. Tuesday wasn’t a decision-making meeting; it was a legal maneuver to wipe away the stink of that September vote — the one they took without letting anybody know what land they were giving away, to whom, or for what purpose.
That’s the vote that triggered university professor and historian Dr. Marvin Dunn’s Sunshine Laws lawsuit. The one that says the college’s trustees broke Florida’s Sunshine Law when they quietly voted 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 this giveaway.
Dr. Marvin Dunn leads a protest at the Freedom Tower weeks ago.
And Dunn, who has become a one-man moral megaphone in this mess — and also organized “Stop the Steal” protests in front of the Freedom Tower — showed up Tuesday to remind them: “This sham meeting will not get rid of my lawsuit.”
Woof.
Despite this re-vote, Judge Mavel Ruiz hasn’t dismissed Dunn’s lawsuit, and she already blocked MDC from transferring the deed once. Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, said it wasn’t over yet: “We will conduct discovery, depositions, document request and the like to get the bottom of what happened here.”
Meanwhile, the college’s lawyer compared Dunn’s transparency lawsuit to “the lawfare the 45th and 47th president faces every day.”
Ladra eye-rolls in Spanglish.
Read related: Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t a public hearing. It wasn’t livestreamed like regular meetings. Some speakers were even told they needed “permission” to speak until Chairman and former State Rep. Michael Bileca walked it back at the last minute. Very Sunshine adjacent.
Most of the speakers were against the giveaway. Ladra wasn’t there, but Politico’s Kimberly Leonard live tweeted the whole thing (bless her heart) and kept a pretty solid count, and several local TV news channels also recorded and aired snippets.
Many noted that it might not be the best use for the land, which was purchased by the college un 2004 for projected student growth and used as a parking lot in the meantime. One man called the location — next to the Freedom Tower, a beacon for local immigrants — “an abomination.” Trump’s treatment and policy toward immigrants has been cruel and unusual.
“The irony of building this facility next to the Freedom Tower, Ellis Island of the south, is too rich to pass up,” said award-winning documentary filmmaker and local activist Billy Corben.
He also warned that it may not just be a library. There has been talks about building a hotel next to it as well.
“It’s a real estate deal guys, that’s all,” Corben told board members. “I presume some of you own property in the county, residential, commercial. Why don’t you donate it for free to the present? Of course not. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous for me to even say it or suggest it. It was absurd when you heard it out loud.
“If you wouldn’t do it with your property, don’t do it with the college’s property.”
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley broke it down to the bottom line: Giving public institutional land to a politically affiliated private foundation undermines MDC’s neutrality and distracts from educating students. There has been and will be backlash.
A recent poll shows 74% of Miami-Dade residents — including 59% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, and 69% of independents — are against this scheme.
But on Tuesday, there were also a number of speakers who were supportive of the move. That included a group of Miami Young Republicans who were on a field trip — Ladra hopes they carpooled — and our very own Republican Supervisor of Elections Alina García, who loves the idea of a Trump library, “regardless of whether you like the President or not,” she said, while definitely liking him.
“It’ll be a great tourist attraction, a place for our kids to go learn about the office of the presidency,” Garcia said.
Other supporters also noted that it would be a great tourist attraction and an “honor” to have the Trump Presidential Library in the city’s downtown. One man urged the board not to “cave to a woke and angry mob.” He really didn’t need to worry.
After the speakers had their say, almost three hours worth, the board had its script. Board Member Roberto Alonso, who also serves on the Miami-Dade School Board (and was first appointed there by Gov. Ron DeSantis), told WSVN Channel 7 that it was “a great opportunity to listen to the feedback and to take that into account on our vote.” Ladra calls BS.
For all the trustees’ claims that they wanted to “hear from the community,” they revealed next to zero new information about what MDC is getting in exchange for land appraised at $67 million and likely worth hundred of millions more.
No public negotiations. No benefit agreements. No cash. Not even renderings. Allegedly there is $3 million earmarked for “architecture and engineering,” pero nobody can see a single drawing? Dale.
Read related: Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving social screed serves hate instead of turkey
In fact, the last time MDC sought to develop this exact same property — in 2016 — they wanted $20 million plus student-focused cultural amenities. This time MDC gets…checks notes…zero dollars a promise that Trump’s billion-dollar legacy tower will somehow, someday be good for the college. Y ya está.
The only thing we got from Bileca was justification. They did it in Boston. They did it in Austin. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, sits on 9.5 acres donated by the University of Massachusetts — but in 1976, 13 years after JFK was assassinated. The University of Texas Austin donated 30 acres for the Lyndon B. Johnson Library (okay, before he died).
Trustee Marcell Felipe even told the public they should be grateful — because according to Trump advisor Steve Witkoff, “Miami was lucky” to get chosen. Other cities would “donate the land and pay to build the library,” he claimed.
So, by that logic, MDC should feel honored to give the land away for free. Even tu abuela would call that gaslighting.
The trustees — five in person, two by phone — voted unanimously again to hand the land to the state’s Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which already approved giving it straight to Trump’s library foundation. MDC officials promise they’ll negotiate conditions later, maybe even get a revenue share someday, if something profit-making appears.
But once you give away prime Biscayne Boulevard real estate, that leverage is gone faster than a taxpayer dollar in Tallahassee.
The only requirement the state placed on Trump’s foundation? Start construction within five years.
No student impact analysis. No community benefits agreement. No financial return to the college. No transparency.
But hey, why start doing any of that now?
At least they got their redo vote. In Hialeah. At 8 a.m. With the board members’ minds already made up.
You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.
The post MDC Trustees rubber-stamp Donald Trump library land giveaway — again appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Two more jump in: Bruno Barreiro, Gloria Romero Roses join HD 113 race
Just when we thought the list of people running for a seat that doesn’t even have an election date yet was long enough, aquí vienen former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and onetime congressional candidate Gloria Romero Roses — business leader, community builder, assisted living maven — are now the newest contestants in the Florida House District 113 Hunger Games, er, race to fill Vicki Lopez’s suddenly-vacant seat now that she was appointed to the Miami-Dade District 5 seat by the county commission.
And we have two primary sweepstakes.
Remember when Ladra told you last week that the race had already gotten muy interesante with three candidates running: Antonio Javier “Tony” Diaz and Frank Lago, who will now battle with Barreiro in a Republican primary, and Democrat Justin Mendoza Routt, president of both the Historic Bayside Civic Association and the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, who is backed by the same machinery that put the former D5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins in office and is running her Miami mayoral campaign.
Romero Roses has now forced a Dem primary — and she’s bringing a 40-year résumé, an MBA, and a press release so polished it practically winks at you. Growing up in South Florida after coming from Bogotá and being raised by her single mom — a nurse who worked double shifts, so we checked all three political bio bingo squares right out the gate — Gloria says Miami is “at a crossroads.” And honestly, con la renta como está, who can argue?
Read related: Three wannabes are vying for House seat 113 — but there’s no election yet
She says working families and seniors are getting priced out while Tallahassee politicians are busy fighting over drag queens and pronouns. And she’s not entirely wrong. She’s running because Miami “deserves leadership that solves problems, not creates them.”
That’s una indirecta if Ladra ever heard one.
Her platform is a painfully familiar list of staples: Affordable housing, childcare, elder care, insurance… basically the full Miami survival kit.
Romero Roses says she wants to expand access to capital for housing, speed up project delivery, and roll out “smart growth,” which is the development buzzword of the day. She also calls childcare “economic infrastructure,” which Ladra actually agrees with — considering it costs almost as much as college tuition.
Then there’s her deeply personal Alzheimer’s story: nine years of caring for her mom, which led her to operate an assisted living facility and advocate in Tallahassee and D.C. Miami-Dade has the highest Alzheimer’s rate in the country, she notes, and she says she wants to create something called an “Elder’s Trust.” Ladra is not entirely sure what that means yet, but it sounds like something abuelo would approve of.
Insurance? Of course. Everybody running for anything in Florida in 2026 is required to mention insurance reform at least twice in every speech. Gloria says she’s seen how skyrocketing premiums are hurting families and small businesses and promises “data-driven, practical reforms.” Where have we heard that before?
She wraps it all up with a line about leadership you can trust, stability, affordability and a pep-rally “¡Pa’lante!” — which is a great slogan unless someone else in the race already bought the domain name.
Florida House District 113 encompassesKey Biscayne, the Roads, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, and more. It’s an interesting mix of voter demographics.
In 2012, the Democrats pit Romero Roses against then Congressman King David “Nine Lives” Rivera. Ladra called her Annette Taddeo 2.0. Barreiro, meanwhile, had resigned his county commission seat in 2017 to run for congress and also lost. He also flirted with running against Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo. And last month, he submitted an application for the commission appointment, but was passed up.
Still, make no mistake: Barreiros’s jump into the GOP primary among two relatively unknowns is going to change the landscape. And Gloria’s entry shakes things up for Democrats who are hoping to flip the seat.
HD 113 was already a political game of musical chairs, with viable candidates jockeying for a district that still doesn’t have an election date. That officially makes it the hottest seat no one can sit in yet.
You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.
The post Two more jump in: Bruno Barreiro, Gloria Romero Roses join HD 113 race appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Miami Beach Commission hopeful hit with bar inquiry days before runoff
Miami Beach Commission runoff candidate Monique Pardo Pope — yes, the same Monique whose family history Ladra still can’t believe is real — is now the subject of an official Florida Bar inquiry after documentarian and professional Miami trouble-stirrer Billy Corben accused her of lying about his legal record. And, folks, the Bar doesn’t just open files for fun. Only one in four complaints even get this far.
But apparently Pardo Pope’s mouth — or her typing fingers — have gone far enough that the Bar wants to take a closer look.
According to the letter Corben got this week, the Bar is looking into his complaint that the candidate intentionally lied about him after he revealed those now-infamous family details: that she is the daughter of serial killer Manuel Pope, a former Sweetwater cop who idolized Adolf Hitler, murdered nine people in the ‘80s, tattooed the family dog with a swastika, and was executed by the state via lethal injection.
Corben also resurfaced her old social media posts calling her dad her “hero.” She has since deleted them — but the internet is forever.
When the Miami New Times asked her about all that back in September, Pardo Pope fired back by claiming Corben had “lost a defamation case” because he “made a career of slinging mud.”
Except that never happened.
Read related: Miami Beach commission candidate is daughter of cop-turned-serial-killer
Corben — who, love him or hate him, has the Emmys and Murrows to back up his career — pointed out that the only defamation case he’s ever been involved in ended with his side winning a six-figure fee award under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute. That’s the opposite of losing.
So he sent her a cease-and-desist letter. Because of course he did.
And two months later, she still hasn’t retracted her statement. Which is how we end up with a Bar complaint landing on her doorstep six days before her runoff election. Feliz Navidad.
Corben’s complaint quotes the Florida Bar’s own rules, including the parts that say lawyers should not engage in “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation” and shouldn’t go around disparaging people with false claims.
Corben calls her words “unambiguously dishonest” and adds a law nerd burn — pointing out that a lawyer with more than a decade of practice should know better than to lie about the outcome of a case from her own judicial circuit.
Ouch.
Read related: Miami Beach commission runoff: Two women, one seat — and the city’s future
Now, Pardo Pope has until Dec. 10 — the day after Miami Beach voters choose whether to send her to the commission dais — to respond. Then Corben gets 10 days to rebut. Ladra suggests stocking up on popcorn.
Meanwhile, voters in Miami Beach’s Group 1 race to replace termed-out former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who lost a bid for mayor, have a choice between Pardo Pope, a Republican with deep pockets (a third of which are her own pockets), and Democrat Monica Matteo-Salinas, who actually finished ahead of her in the general with 23.2% of the vote to Pardo Pope’s 20.1%. Pardo Pope only squeaked into the runoff by less than a point over Brian Ehrlich.
In a week, voters will know if who they chose will be representing them while also juggling a Florida Bar investigation.
You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.
The post Miami Beach Commission hopeful hit with bar inquiry days before runoff appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Miami commission pushes climate fix by doubling development density
Resilience trust fund’ scheme still needs final vote
If you blinked at the last Miami City Commission meeting, you might have missed the moment the city basically admitted it has lost control of its own skyline. But don’t worry — it’s on video.
Commissioners advanced yet another density-doubling bonanza, this time wrapped in a shiny “climate resilience” bow, even as they all — except Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored it — sounded increasingly like they’re sick and tired of watching developers run the place like it’s an open bar where taxpayers are picking up the tab.
The supposed trade-off? Developers get to build twice as dense in certain neighborhoods if they kick in some cash for things like pump stations, seawalls, rain gardens and — I kid you not — native tree plantings. Because if Miami is going to drown, at least we’ll have a gumbo limbo to hold onto.
Nevermind that these are things that should be required regardless.
Read related: Miami: Damian Pardo has a developers’ dream in density-for-dollars deal
Commission Chair Christine King, whose District 5 is ground zero for displacement, gentrification and speculative towers, delivered the line of the day: “You can plop down a 55-story building anywhere you want.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Thanks to the county’s Rapid Transit Zone (RTZ) takeover and Tallahassee’s Live Local Act, the city is basically a landlord renting out its authority to the state. King is so fed up she floated suing the state, like the county is doing now, to claw back some local control.
Miami suing Tallahassee? Ahora sí que estamos en Disney World.
But the part that had Ladra choking on her cortadito was the core irony of this whole “resilience trust fund” scheme: You fix flooding by… wait for it… building more in flood zones?
Even the chair of the city’s own Climate Resilience Committee said the quiet part out loud: “I find it somewhat ironic that we’re incentivizing additional development capacity in an area that already is flooding significantly,” said Aaron DeMayo.
Edgewater, the Venetian Causeway, Watson Island — all areas that turn into Atlantis after a good summer storm — will now be ground zero for bonus density if developers simply pay a fee. Mira qué cute.
Pardo insists this is all very responsible planning and that “some developers really care about the character of the neighborhood.”
Ladra will give you all a moment to stop laughing.
King wasn’t buying it. “If this makes sense for his district, that’s fine, but I don’t want it in District 5,” she said. Translation: Build your resilience-for-rent towers in Edgewater — not on my side of town. That should tell us something.
Read related: Miami blinks on Watson Island deal — kicks can, saves face, still smells fishy
Then came the affordability farce. Planning Director David Snow — oh to be a fly on his wall — tried to pitch the ordinance just another one of the city’s many giveaway plans for developers who promise “public benefits.” There’s increased density for preservation, there’s increased density for affordable housing. “This is an opportunity to establish a new program for resiliency.”
Pardo stressed that the opportunity for increased density is already there, but that this “tool” would let the city get $35,000 “per door” to use exclusively in resiliency efforts.
Finally, when commissioners asked if any of this even mattered — since developers can ditch the whole program and just build taller under state and county rules — Pardo insisted they’d still choose the city’s more restrictive option because, well, they care.
In Miami? Where? Name one.
We’ll wait.
Meanwhile, the skyline keeps growing and the ground keeps sinking. And that’s the story here: Miami’s elected officials are starting to say out loud that they’ve been boxed out of their own zoning code. Yet at the same time — in the very same meeting — they’re still approving new incentives that grease the wheels for more height, more density and more displacement.
Because in Miami, even the pushback comes with a developer-friendly asterisk.
The “resilience trust fund” still needs a second commission vote later this month. But unless commissioners grow a backbone between now and then, get ready for more density, more flooding, and more City Hall double-talk about how it’s all going to save us in the end.
Ladra’s not holding her breath — except maybe when walking through Edgewater during high tide.
This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.
The post Miami commission pushes climate fix by doubling development density appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving social screed serves hate instead of turkey
And Miami’s immigrant families are on the menu
Leave it to Donald Trump to turn Thanksgiving — a holiday about gratitude, family and not strangling your tío during political discussions — into a xenophobic midnight rant attacking immigrants. While everyone else was eating leftovers, the ex-president was online serving up a reheated plate of hate for his fans on Truth Social.
And this wasn’t just his usual grumbling about the “border crisis.” This is widely seen as one of the harshest anti-immigrant statements from the Trump presidency to date — combining immigration freezes, denaturalization threats, and proposals to revoke benefits for non-citizens. This was a full-blown manifesto, a laundry list of every ugly idea Stephen Miller has ever scribbled in a notebook, wrapped in a pilgrim graphic and posted on a national holiday.
¡Que viva la tradición!
Trump used his Thanksgiving post to demand a “permanent pause” on immigration from what he called “poor” or “Third World” countries, which is MAGA code for almost every nation that doesn’t look like the inside of a Swiss bank. Never mind that most of Florida — and especially Miami — is built, run, cleaned, fed and literally kept alive by immigrants from those very same places.
Ladra isn’t sure what’s more offensive: the racism or the cluelessness.
Read related: Miami icons step up where politicians won’t to denounce ICE raids, tactics
But wait, it gets better. Or worse.
Trump also said we should “remove anyone who isn’t a net asset” to the country. A net asset? What is this, Goldman Sachs? Your grandmother who cleaned hotel rooms for 20 years? Not an asset. Your cousin working two jobs and still sending money back home? Not an asset. Your neighbor who escaped dictatorship and just wants to work in peace? Not an asset.
According to Trump, they’re disposable. He wants reverse migration — which is just a fancy way of saying mass deportation, but without better PR.
He also promised to take away benefits from immigrants, and then went even further by saying he’d denaturalize people who “threaten domestic tranquility.” Domestic tranquility? The man whose name ends many Thanksgivings with a family screaming match now wants to be the arbiter of tranquility?
Please.
Also, who chooses who those “threats” are? Does that mean protesters? Marjorie Taylor Green? All of Portand?
Meanwhile, Trump blamed immigrants for literally everything: crime, failing schools, hospitals being crowded, traffic, inflation, moral decline, “social dysfunction,” the cable outage, your bad haircut, everything. If your flan didn’t set this year, he’ll blame a Honduran toddler.
This wasn’t a message to the country. It was red meat thrown to the most extreme corners of his base, the ones who fantasize about purging neighborhoods like they’re cleaning out a garage.
And it’s especially dangerous here in South Florida, a place full of people who came from politically unstable, economically distressed countries — you know, the kind Trump wants to ban entirely. Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, Hondurans, Dominicans, Peruvians. The list is long — and the hypocrisy even longer. Half the people cheering him on would fail the very asset test he wants to impose.
But MAGA amnesia is a hell of a drug. And we have heard nothing from his South Florida addicts, Congress members Carlos Gimenez, Maria Elvira Salazar — who is too busy selling books to meet with her constituency — and Mario Diaz-Balart, as well as the more local DJTheads, Miami-Dade Commissioner Rob Gonzalez and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Maybe they’re still mad about his meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Read related: Miami politicos silent on Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani friendly meet-up
What’s most disgusting is that Trump used a tragic shooting near the White House — a National Guard member killed — to justify his immigrant purge. He’s trying to deflect from the fact that he put Sarah Beckstrom in harm’s way in the first place. And for no good reason other than his own propaganda. His own staff told him this was a bad idea, to sic the National Guard on people. And he also wants to deflect from the fact that he wanted to blame the Biden administration, even though the Afghan national who is charged with the shooting had his asylum approved this year by the Trump administration.
And he can never let a crisis go to waste, especially when you can pin it on a whole population. Never mind nuance, evidence, or the fact that immigrants commit crimes at far lower rates than U.S.-born citizens. Facts don’t get likes on Truth Social.
Trump also pledged to “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” — including those he claimed were approved via autopen signatures (gotta get that in) — and promised to remove anyone “who is not a net asset to the United States,” end federal benefits for non-citizens, and deport foreign nationals deemed “a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
Again, Ladra supposes he gets to decide what’s compatible with Western Civilization. The guy who thinks windmills cause cancer?
This is the problem with Trump’s Thanksgiving immigration threat wrapped in cranberry sauce: It doesn’t mean anything.It’s a totally subjective standard, which is exactly why he loves it. “Non-compatible with Western Civilization” can mean whatever he wants it to mean in the moment.
And knowing the Trump White House? That could mean people who:
Read books and newspapers
Speak more than one language
Think injecting bleach is a bad idea
Don’t clap on command
Can pronounce acetaminophen
Want to see the Epstein files released
Because let’s be honest: if we actually let Trump decide who’s “compatible with Western Civilization,” the bar is going to be lower than Melania’s expression on any given day.
Trump also targeted specific demographics and public figures. He used an ableist slur to attack the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, in connection with immigration and crime, and he attacked a Somali-American congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, along with broader refugee and migrant communities.
He concluded his post by wishing “Happy Thanksgiving to all — except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for.”
Look in the mirror, dude.
This is the same old Trump playbook: demonize the vulnerable, divide the country, and distract from the flaming dumpster fire that follows him everywhere he goes. Epstein who?
Read related: MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal
Ladra hopes Miami knows better. Our streets, restaurants, construction sites, hospitals, offices — our entire culture — are built by the very people he’s targeting. The ones he calls “burdens” are the ones actually holding the city up.
So while Trump was rage-posting at 1 a.m. about “failed nations,” the rest of us were giving thanks for our families, our freedom, and yes, our immigrant communities— the ones that cook the turkey, clean the kitchen, fix the AC, care for our elders, and teach our kids.
Maybe Trump should try some of that gratitude next year. But we won’t hold our breath. Because when a man spends Thanksgiving attacking immigrants with false and hateful rhetoric, you know his real problem isn’t the border.
It’s his own humanity.
The post Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving social screed serves hate instead of turkey appeared first on Political Cortadito.
