The ink on Miami’s new lifetime term limits isn’t even dry — and already, some voters are asking a judge to make sure the city doesn’t pretend not to see it.
Three Miami residents — Victor Milanes, Alex Almirola and Oscar Elio Alejandro, who case in fourth— filed an emergency injunction Tuesday night to block Frank Carollo from appearing on the December runoff ballot in the District 3 commission race.
Their argument is simple: voters just passed Referendum 4, the lifetime term limit amendment, and they meant what they said.
“Miami voters spoke clearly when they passed Referendum 4,” their statement reads. “They want to end the revolving door of politicians cycling through office and set clear lifetime limits on elected office applied retroactively as stated on the ballot measure.”
Translation: enough with the Carollo reruns.
Read related: Bait and switch on lifetime term limits proposal for Miami mafia politicos
Frank Carollo, who served two full terms as District 3 commissioner before his brother Joe Carollo took over the seat in 2019, led an eight-candidate field in Tuesday’s election with almost 38% of the vote. He is expected to face Rolando Escalona, who got just over 17%, in a runoff next month.
But there’s one little problem — the voters just banned exactly this kind of comeback tour.
The lifetime term limit charter amendment, approved overwhelmingly by almost 80% of the voters, bars anyone who’s already served two full terms from ever holding the same city office again. Retroactively.
As in, starting now.
“Voters have chosen a fresh start –- a government that serves the public interest, and leaders who reflect our city’s future, not its past,” the three voters’ statement reads. “Enforcing this reform is the only way to ensure that the people’s will is clear, consistent, and fully upheld — and that the new chapter Miami voters demanded begins today.”
So while Frank Carollo, who was endorsed by the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, may have gotten the most votes — maybe it was all those birthday cakes he delivered to voters — the new rule voters passed on the very same ballot could make him ineligible to take office at all.
Read related: Miami Voters get it right on the fine print referendums: Yes, No, Yes, Yes
Cue the lawyers.
The Miami police union endorsed Frank Carollo in the D3 race.
The lawsuit asks the court to enforce the term limits immediately, calling it “essential to ensure that the voters’ mandate for reform is both respected and enforced.”
It was filed by former State Rep. JC Planas, who recently lost the supervisor of elections race, but just won a case for Escalona brought against him by Denise Galvez Turros, who knew she couldn’t beat him at the polls, and only got 7%. That’s less than Alejandro, Rob Piper and Brenda Betancourt.
Ouch. But maybe he is used to it after losing a commission race in 2017 to the late Manolo Reyes because she lived in District 4 then. She was drawn into D3.
Planas argues that allowing a candidate who’s already done two full terms to stay on the ballot would “directly undermine that mandate and risk nullifying the very reform voters just enacted.”
In other words, you can’t promise voters a new day in Miami politics and then let one of the old guys waltz back in the next morning.
This is why Commissioner Damian Pardo tied the lifetime term limits to moving the elections to next year, precisely to avoid this from happening.
On the same night voters approved lifetime term limits — a direct rebuke to the political class that’s run City Hall like a revolving door for decades — one of the first people trying to walk through that door again happened to be… a Carollo.
You can’t make this stuff up.
This is the second lawsuit in this race. Last week, a judge ruled against candidate Denise Galvez Turros, who came in fourth with just over 7%, when she tried to kick Escalona off the ballot based on allegations that he did not live in the district. A judge found that he provided enough evidence that, yeah, he did.
Read related: Judge: Rolando Escalona belongs on Miami ballot for D3 commissioner
It’s not clear how quickly a judge might rule on this emergency motion or whether the city clerk will hit pause on certifying the runoff ballot until the case is decided. But this is Miami — so expect the legal drama to get messy fast.
City lawyers, election officials, and maybe even the Carollo brothers themselves could get pulled into this fight over whether “lifetime” really means lifetime, or just until the next loophole comes along.
Voters said loud and clear Tuesday that they want new blood at City Hall — not the same last names on repeat.
If the court sides with them, it could be the first real test — and victory — for the “new Miami” that reformers keep talking about.
If not, well… let’s just say Ladra wouldn’t bet against seeing the same old faces haunting the dais again.

You can help produce more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and campaigns with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

Lawsuit to get Frank Carollo off the D3 runoff ballot by Political Cortadito
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The youngest mayor — and maybe the hungriest — pulls upset
Well, well, well. Turns out you can still beat the machine in Hialeah.
Bryan Calvo, the 27-year-old former councilman who once sued the city’s own leadership and knocked on thousands of doors himself, pulled off what nobody — and I mean nobody — expected Tuesday night. He didn’t just make it to a runoff. He won outright, becoming the youngest mayor in the history of the City of Progress.
With 53% of the votes, Calvo left the political establishment eating crow pastelitos.
Council President Jesús Tundidor came in a distant second with 21%, and the incumbent mayor, Jackie Garcia Roves, who became the first woman mayor in Hialeah after former Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo jumped ship to lobby in D.C. (from his living room in Hialeah, las malas lenguas say), limped to third with 19%, and the rest barely registered.

Garica Roves was first elected to the Council in 2019 as part of then-Mayor Carlos Hernandez’s slate, and reelected four years later unopposed. This was supposed to be Jackie’s seat to lose — and, well, she did just that. But she is not the only one.
Make no mistake: this wasn’t just a local election. This was an old-guard cage match — and the upstart beat them all.
Read related: Accusations vs two Hialeah mayoral candidates only benefit Jesus Tundidor
Garcia Roves had the backing of all the big boys — former mayors Bovo, Hernández, and Julio Robaina— not to mention Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia, who stabbed Tundidor, his onetime protegé, in the back. That’s basically the Hialeah version of a royal family endorsement. Tundidor, who many assumed would be the other half of a runoff, had the unions and Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado.
But Calvo? Calvo was out there in the heat, knocking on doors, shaking hands, talking water bills and garbage pickups with abuelas on their porches.  No machine. No dynasty. No major endorsements. Just hustle.
Oh, and some secret sauce courtesy of former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who served as a campaign advisor.
Oh, and some last minute help from populist podcaster and former Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Alex Otaola and his grupito of Proud Boy wannabes. Otaola did well in Hialeah last year and had one of his famous, traffic-stopping caravans outside Westland Mall last week.
It all paid off.
This is the same Bryan Calvo who made headlines two years ago for taking on then-Mayor Bovo — even suing him for blocking an investigation into the city’s emergency call center. The court threw the complaint out and the city council condemned him for it, 6–1.
Guess who gets the last laugh now?
Read related: Dueling tax cut proposals in Hialeah means campaign season is in full gear
Calvo didn’t return calls and a text to his phone from Ladra. Getting a big head already, perhaps. Or he was busy fielding dozens of calls and visits to his victory party from well wishers and wished-they’d-wished-wellers who are now in the precarious position of looking like they always supported him. Even Hialeah Housing Authority Director Julio Ponce, who was openly supporting Garcia-Roves, showed up to say congrats between his teeth. He’s just hoping to keep his job.
But earlier in the campaign, Calvo — who resigned his council seat last year to make a failed run for Miami-Dade tax collector — told Ladra that he wanted to bring “real change” to Hialeah. Looks like voters finally agreed.
In a city where mayors are usually minted in backrooms and blessed by padrinos, Calvo built his own path, block by block.
He ran on fiscal discipline — no more fake rebates that drain millions from city coffers while potholes and parks rot. He warned that Hialeah “doesn’t print money,” and that taxpayers would end up footing the bill. He promised to end the retirement plan that Bovo got passed right before left, provide property tax relief to seniors and find a way to lower increasing water bills.
Turns out the voters were listening. And they believed him,
Read related: Three former Hialeah mayors ‘host’ quiet fundraiser for Jackie Garcia-Roves
The result isn’t just an upset. It is a repudiation of Hialeah’s political elite — the mayors-turned-kingmakers who have kept their grip on the city since the Hernandez and Robaina era. It iss a rejection of the longtime Hialeah campaign spinmeisters like Ana Carbonell, who did Garcia-Roves, and David Custin, who worked with Team Tundidor, but mostly phoned it in between pickleball matches.
This time, the voters didn’t follow the slate cards. They didn’t salute the same old banners. They picked the guy who actually knocked on their doors and came to see them.
That’s what happens when people are fed up with the price of everything going up and the streets still flooding.
At 27, Calvo becomes the youngest mayor in Hialeah’s long, colorful history — and maybe the first in a long time who doesn’t owe his job to a padrino.
He’s got a lot to prove. But if Tuesday’s results said anything, it’s that voters want him to try.
Now ,we get to see if the kid who took on the machine can actually run it — or if the machine starts looking for ways to get even.

You can help produce more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and campaigns with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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While everyone was busy watching which mayoral hopeful made it into the runoff — and whether Commissioner Joe Carollo would lose his temper before or after the polls closed — Miami voters quietly showed some serious smarts on the four city charter amendments that could reshape City Hall for years to come.
The results? Yes, No, Yes, Yes.
That’s right — voters said yes to more accountability, no to more shady real estate loopholes, yes to fairer maps, and yes to finally putting a stake through the heart of Miami’s political dinosaurs.
Not bad, Miami. Not bad at all.
Yes to the Charter Review Commission
Looks like voters agreed it’s time to stop winging it. After decades without a regular review of the city’s “constitution,” Miami will now have a Charter Review Commission every 10 years. More than 76% of the voters said “Yes, please.”
Read related: In Miami election, four referendums — and a funeral for common sense
Each commissioner, the mayor, and the city manager get to appoint one member — which means yes, it’ll still be political, but at least it’ll be scheduled politics. Think of it as a regularly programmed tune-up for a government that’s been running on duct tape.
Ladra’s verdict: Good move. Now, let’s hope the meetings are more civil than the commission meetings.
No to the land sale loophole
This was the one Ladra warned you about — the “trust us, we’ll get a fair price” land-sale loophole that would’ve let commissioners sell city property without competitive bids.
Voters weren’t buying it. Almost 76% of them said no thanks to letting City Hall play Monopoly with public land behind closed doors.
Sorry, City Manager Art Noriega. You’ll have to find another way to unload those “excess” properties. Maybe a yard sale?
Ladra’s verdict: Hallelujah. For once, Miamians didn’t fall for the “we just need flexibility” pitch that usually ends with a luxury condo where a park should’ve been.
Yes to redistricting reform (again, finally)
After getting dragged into federal court for racial gerrymandering, Miami voters said yes to creating a citizens’ redistricting committee — and yes to banning maps drawn to favor or disfavor incumbents. This got a 77%+ approval, because Miamians are still reeling from the gerrymandering they were subjected to when the commission drew districts so they could be re-elected.
Read related: The city of Miami wants to sell your public land with no public vote
Will this magically end political map games in Miami? Please. But it’s a start. And it’s a sign that residents are tired of commissioners carving up neighborhoods like turkey legs at a fundraiser.
Ladra’s verdict: Progress, but only if the “citizens” are not big campaign donors or political primos.
Yes to lifetime term limits
And finally, the big one: Lifetime term limits are now a thing in the City of Miami.
Two terms for mayor. Two for commissioner. That’s it. No more political boomerangs taking a sabbatical and coming back like it’s 1999.
This question got the largest approval, with almost 80% of the vote. That’s practically four out of every five voters who think that, yeah, enough is enough. They want to see new faces and hear some fresh ideas.
It’s bad news for the career politicians who want to treat City Hall like a timeshare — and Miami-Dade Commissioner Keon Hardemon is gonna have to make other plans — but good news for everyone else.
Of course, the Carollo Clause still lets Crazy Joe sneak through because of that technicality about “filling a vacancy,” but hey — baby steps.
Read related: Bait and switch on lifetime term limits proposal for Miami mafia politicos
Ladra’s verdict: About damn time. Maybe now some of these guys will actually have to get real jobs.
The bottom line: Miami voters did us proud
Miami voters proved something Tuesday night: they can read the fine print.
By going “Yes, No, Yes, Yes,” they didn’t just change a few lines in the charter — they sent a message to the usual suspects at City Hall: We’re watching. Y las cosas are gonna change around here.
And that, queridos, is more than we could say for most elections.

You can help produce more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and campaigns with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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Candidate Denise Galvez Turros loses residency challenge
Just in time before the election that ends Tuesday, a court said “nope” last week to the last-ditch attempt to boot Rolando Escalona off the ballot for Miami’s Commission District 3 race — so he can still win this. Or, more likely, get into the runoff with former Commissioner Frank Carollo.
Another candidate, public relations Denise Galvez Turros filed the residency challenge, arguably to force herself onto the runoff ballot, and came up empty. Now, voters get to decide.
After a five-hour hearing Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez ruled that Escalona really lives where he says he lives. Escalona, a restaurant manager and real estate broker running for Miami’s District 3 commission seat, proved he’s a bona fide resident of the district — and not faking an address just to qualify for the ballot.
Read related: Denise Galvez Turros wants judge to kick Rolando Escalona off Miami ballot
Turros, who was once the “Latinas for Trump” co-founder, claimed that Escalona really lived in a duplex in District 4, just outside the boundaries. She had mortgage documents and corporate records, but she couldn’t convince the judge. The judge said Escalona’s lease, voter card, driver’s license, and even Amazon orders sent to the D3 apartment were enough proof that he’s been living there.
Because nothing says “home, sweet home” in Miami like Prime delivery.
Butcho Sanchez believed Escalona, who said he did live in the duplex — until the city commission redrew the districts and cut his duplex out of D3. Then, he moved into the apartment in June of last year — three months before the one-year qualification requirement. Ladra calls it pulling a Gabela — named after District 1 Commissioner Miguel Gabela who had to do the same thing to qualify for his race after his home was drawn out of the district, most likely intentionally.
Read related: Where does Rolando really live? A new case of Miami’s political address dance?
Galvez Turros, who just last week accused Escalona of trying to “deceive the voters,” is now the one eating humble pie after the courtroom flop that stinks of Calvin Klein’s Desperation. She obviously didn’t think she could beat him fair and square. Or maybe she was upset about the text messages that went out informing voters of her DUI in 2010 and credit card theft in 1994. That’s probably why she lost her last bid for office in 2017. There’s also that journalism degree that doesn’t really exist.
But at least those allegations are true.
Escalona, naturally, called the decision “a decisive victory for truth, integrity and the voters of District 3.” He also took the opportunity to swing back at what he called “a politically motivated and orchestrated effort by the same insiders to silence voters and distort the democratic process.
“I have said from the beginning that I am a proud resident of District 3, and today’s decision confirms that fact,” he said in a statement after the ruling. “I have always been honest about where I live and why I’m running.
“While others wasted time and taxpayer dollars on this baseless political stunt, I’ve stayed focused on what really matters — making our neighborhoods safer supporting small businesses, expanding access to affordable housing and improving public transportation so residents can move through our city with dignity and opportunity,” Escalona said.
“This case was meant to distract us from those priorities, but it failed. This election is about values, fairness and the kind of leadership Miami deserves. I’m running to serve the people, not the political establishment, and I’m more determined than ever to deliver for the families, workers and small business owners of District 3.”
Read related: In Miami election, four referendums — and a funeral for common sense
The lawsuit might have been tossed, but the fight for Commissioner Joe Carollo’s old seat is still one of the city’s wildest races. Eight candidates are in the mix — including Carollo’s brother Frank, who had the seat from 2009 to 2017, and five of other wannabes: real estate agent Brenda Betancourt, the president of the Calle 8 Inter-American Chamber of Commerce; Marine veteran Rob Piper, who formed the political action committee that tired to recall Carollo in 2020; U.S. Navy veteran Oscar Alejandro; Code Enforcement Abatement Board member Yvonne Bayona, and City Hall insider Fayez Tanous, who has worked the last four years as an aide to Mayor Francis Suarez. 
All circling the same district like pigeons over a croqueta on Calle Ocho.
Now, the voters of District 3 can decide for themselves on Tuesday who really belongs in that seat — and who’s just trying to move in.

You can support more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and campaigns with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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So much for unity.
After weeks of kumbaya talk, meticulous planning, and carefully-worded press releases, Coral Gables finally held its long-delayed “Interfaith Ceremony for Unity and Peace” Monday night. The city had spent nearly two months trying to find a way to honor the victims of October 7 without turning it into a geopolitical food fight.
And for a while, it looked like they’d actually pulled it off. Then, Mayor Vince Lago had to ruin it.
Read related: Coral Gables commission backs off Israeli flag at City Hall after backlash
About 75 residents gathered in the courtyard of City Hall to hear religious leaders and community members share sincere messages about peace, tolerance, and empathy. There were candles, songs, and even a reading of Palestinian poet and author Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “Think of Others.”
It was supposed to be a neutral, healing moment — the hard-won compromise after Lago’s original idea to raise the Israeli flag over City Hall split the community right down Miracle Mile.
But of course, Lago couldn’t resist the spotlight.
Despite the commission’s agreement that no political statements would be made by elected officials, the mayor took the mic anyway — and promptly broke the peace circle. “I stand shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel,” Lago declared, as if the rest of the program hadn’t been carefully designed to avoid exactly that kind of speech.
He also thanked members of the Israeli consulate for attending, because of course he had an audience.
Cue the collective sighs and awkward shuffling.
Among those wincing was Jalal Shehadeh, a Coral Gables resident of Palestinian heritage who had helped organize the ceremony precisely to ensure all victims were recognized — not just those on one side. This was a day to remember all the victims of the war not just those killed on Oct. 7. That is precisely why the date was removed from the banner.
Shehadeh had been invited to read the poem, not to make a speech. But after Lago’s comments, he said what everyone else was thinking. “I also wanted to thank the city for allowing us to honor all victims, including the 65,000 that have been killed by the State of Israel since the war began,” he said, visibly shaken by the mayor’s impromptu little speech.
Mic drop.
Shehadeh later told the Coral Gables Gazette that he and his wife had worked closely with commissioners to ensure the event would truly be inclusive — “a ceremony for everyone’s grief.” They were stunned that the mayor spoke at all, much less turned it into another moment of political grandstanding.
Read related: City raising an Israeli flag causes fuss and fury at Coral Gables City Hall
But if you’ve watched Coral Gables politics for more than five minutes, you know this was inevitable. L’Ego doesn’t do “neutral.” He does photo-op diplomacy — the kind that looks great in campaign mailers and plays well with certain donors.
What was supposed to be a community’s shared moment of reflection became, once again, the Vince Lago Show.
And that’s a shame — because for about 45 minutes, Coral Gables actually had a rare moment of harmony. Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others standing together under the banyan trees, talking about peace.
Then, the mayor opened his mouth.

You can support more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and campaigns with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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