Last week, Dan Gelber became the mayor of Miami Beach. This week, he is using his new political platform to back former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn‘s bid for state rep in District 113.
This is Gelber’s first endorsement since his victory Nov. 7, but with 82% of the vote, it probably won’t be his last. Ladra is certain that he’s already gotten calls from congressional candidates in District 27, which include Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and State Rep. David Richardson, whose seat Weithorn is running for.
Gelber will also co-host a campaign kick-off event for Weithorn Wednesday at Meat Market on Lincoln Road.
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“I have known Deede for years and she is uniquely qualified to represent our community in the State House,” said Gelber, who served in the legislature for a decade including as Democratic Leader of the House before he became a state senator.
“She has proven herself a wonderful steward of public dollars, which is something we need desperately in Tallahassee,” Gelber said. “And most importantly she is unafraid to stand up against the wrongheaded ideas that are often born in Tallahassee.”
The election is next November.
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Weithorn — who has been running for 113 since 2015 when Richardson was supposed to run for Gwen Margolis‘ senate seat but then didn’t because she didn’t retire — was equally effusive.
“Dan has a distinguished record of public service and I’m proud to call him my mayor,” she said. “It means a lot to me that he was willing to come out in support of my candidacy so soon after winning his own race.”
It certainly gives her kick-off some ooomph.
And Ladra is certain that Comeback Commissioner Michael Gongora will also endorse her — but he only won with 65% of the vote.

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Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has basically taken over the procurement process at Miami International Airport, just like that, in what amounts to a seizure of one of the county’s fattest cash cows. Who thinks that’s a good idea?
Certainly not Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio Gonzalez, who suddenly resigned Tuesday. While his is among a bunch of names that have been floated for the next city of Miami manager (more on that later), the resignation comes just two weeks after Gimenez told county commissioners that the mayor’s office was going to directly oversee vendor bids and other procurement issues at the airport from now on.
Wanna bet the two are related.
Gonzalez said he was leaving to spend more time with family. But, in the same breath, he said he would pursue other opportunities in January. Political observers, which include two lobbyists who work with airport vendors, believe he would not have left the county job until he had the city job in hand — but then Gimenez basically slapped him in the face.
Despite winning a bunch of airport industry awards for this and that, despite adding airlines so that MIA has the largest number in the U.S., despite overseeing its $6 million expansion and earning high marks from everyone, Gimenez basically threw Gonzalez under the bus when he told the director in a memo late last month that he was no longer going to be involved in any procurement matters.
“There will be no exceptions,” the mayor’s memo to Gonzalez said.
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Gimenez later told commissioners that he “realigned the concession area of MIA and the overall supervision of the business (non aviation) areas in MIA to report to me through a Special Assistant for MDAD Landside Business Operations.” He is also moving the procurement staff at MIA to the downtown building so “they can be directly supervised as part of the overall procurement function of the county,” according to his Oct. 30 memo to commissioners. And Leland Solomon, director of the departent of Regulatory and Economic Resources, is that special assistant.
“MDAD’s procurement organization has been operating independently at MIA for many years and I believe that these changes will result in a more streamlined, open and competitive with decision making reestablished in my office and with appropriate board approval,” Gimenez said in his memo, trying to make it more palatable because the commission has to approve anything anyway.
Really? More streamlined? Yes. More open and competitive? Doubtful.
The memo comes at the same time as Gimenez suggests Hurricane Irma breaks in the guaranteed minimum payments wanted by airport vendors who donated bigly to his re-election campaign. I mean, he has a lot of IOUs from his $8 million re-election pricetag and this is one way to pay that off. Which is why he also has a list of RFPs that need to go out “immediately” and other concession bids that need to be approved. It’s no coincidence that some of his campaign contributors are on that list, too.
Ladra is not the only one who thinks this stinks. Both Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo and Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said they were concerned about changing the current process so that the mayor’s office is more involved. Especially since things are going so well. MIA ranked 5th in the nation for customer satisfaction last year, up from 18th place in 2015.
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“The airport staff should handle procurement. I don’t think it should be the mayor’s office,” Barreiro said. “That should be under the airport professionals.”
He also said it was a “shame” that Gonzalez had resigned. “That raises concerns now about what we’re going to do to fill that vacancy.”
“I don’t know if it’s justified or not,” Bovo told Ladra about the change. “We do have vendors who on a continual basis are trying to get reduction of MAGs or extension of contracts and the director has been pretty steadfast against those things.”
Exactly! Concessionaires complain because “Emilio doesn’t play games,” as one insider said. That must be what Gimenez objects to: His friends and family aren’t getting the red carpet treatment.
But, as a strong mayor, he apparently has the right to just take over the airport procurement.
“This does not require commission action,” Bovo added. “He’s made the decision. He’s determined that this would work better under his perview.
“I would be very cautious about this kind of thing because that’s what we have directors for,” the chairman told Ladra. “This could be a slippery slope.”
Exactly! Because today it’s the airport and tomorrow it could be the seaport. Or maybe the water and sewer department. That’s a lucrative area.
What’s to stop Carlos Gimenez from taking over any other department and giving the county away one piece at a time?
Nothing. Except a recall.

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It could be the underdog story of the decade.
Better ‘an Ken Russell‘s win over Teresa “The Missus” Sarnoff. Better ‘an Kristen Rosen Gonzalez beating Philip Levine‘s puppet. Even better ‘an State Rep. Robert “Who?” Asencio slaying King David “Nine Lives” Rivera last year.
If Alfie Leon, a young, regular everyman beginning his political career, can beat former Miami Mayor and all-around two-faced, paranoid creep Joe Carollo in the Miami election runoff next Tuesday, it would be an extreme upset. Or would it?
Carollo, who was always the favorite, beat the five other contenders with 30% of the vote last week. That is ten points over Leon’s No. 2 position, which was 17 votes over Zoraida Barreiro‘s No. 3 position.
He was expected, however, to do better. Polls consistently had Carollo in the mid 30s to the low 40s. And that may be one of his problems: the low 40s could be his ceiling.
Carollo love is deep. But it ain’t wide. His hate, on the other hand, is as big as the sky.
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And in these last two weeks to the runoff, the anti Carollo forces have been building.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez — who lost his seat in 1997 to Carollo after an absentee ballot fraud investigation overturned the election (more on that later) — had a fundraiser over the weekend for Leon, calling it the ABC Committee, for Anybody But Carollo. About 50 to 60 people attended, according to one guest who spoke to the Miami Herald. That’s 50 or 60 people with checks because they don’t want to see Carollo elected again. That’s 50 or 60 people who vote or know someone who votes.
“Everybody and their mothers are working against Carollo,” one longtime county consultant/lobbyist told Ladra Tuesday.
“We’re a little ticked off now that people are coming out of the woodwork to go against him,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, husband of candidate Zoraida Barreiro, who came in a close third, missing the runoff by 17 votes. This help from outside sources would have been nice a month ago, he said.
And fear not, those of you who might think that the Barreiros would strike a deal, especially since the commissioner is running for congress next year. “We’re not supporting him,” Commissioner Barreiro told Ladra. “We will probably stay out of it.”
Key word: Probably.
Tommy Regalado, the former mayor’s son, who came in an embarassing fourth place, has not said who he would support. But c’mon, nadie espera that he would support Carollo after he put him in a mailer in diapers! The only thing they may have against Alfie Leon, meanwhile, is maybe the Suarez support.
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Two other candidates have said they will support Carollo. Alex Dominguez and Jose Suarez don’t like the fact that Commissioner X is helping Leon, who used to be a policy advisor to former Commissioner Frank Carollo — how awkward is that? — and that Coral Gables Commissioner Vince Lago had a fundraiser for him at the posh Biltmore in tony Coral Gables (where Leon got more checks from more people who can’t imagine Crazy Joe in office). They say the outside support points to Leon being more of an insider than he says.
“I would much rather have Joe on the dais than Alfie Leon. I think people will think twice before they try any shady garbage,” Dominguez told Ladra in a text message Tuesday. “The truth is Joe at least has a backbone and Alfie would be more of the same. You know what you get with Joe.”
Um, not really. Just ask former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre. In 1983, Ferre called a press conference where he expected Carollo, a commissioner at the time, to endorse his re-election effort. Instead, Carollo used the mic to criticize the then mayor and say he was not supporting him.
The truth is Dominguez and Suarez and maybe the other whatever his-name-is, single-digit candidate are angry at newly-elected Mayor Francis Suarez for saying he was staying on the fence when everyone suspects he was secretly sending support Leon’s way. The perfect payback would be to deliver Carollo to Baby X at City Hall. They are the bottom two vote getters, however, who represent only 477 votes between them, and since lots of those are family and friends and neighbors who won’t be as motivated to vote in this runoff two days before Thanksgiving, nobody knows how much they can impact the race.
And the truth is Crazy Joe is nothing if not unpredictable. It’s not just the knife in Ferre’s back. It’s not just the thing with the box of tea bags he threw at his wife’s head. It’s not just the grandstanding press conferences and “investigations” for his personal vendettas. It’s the collection of hysterical antics, smear tactics and uncorroborated accusations and so on and so on. He’s disruptive. He has a huge ego. His election to the city commission promises four years of protagonistic turmoil that Ladra is certain the new mayor doesn’t want to have to deal with. Baby X has said he is staying out of the runofff, too. But how much do you want to bet he has una velita prendida somewhere for Leon? Wouldn’t you?
Likewise, some Carollo supporters are really just Suarez haters. They want to see the conflict. Ladra, too, would be entertained. There is really no bad news for a political blogger here. Leon wins and the wrong guy doesn’t get elected. Yay! Carollo wins and Political Cortadito has four more years of fodder. Yay!
Read related story: Why is Joe Carollo on Mayor Carlos Gimenez camp’s payroll?
Other supporters say that at least you know Carollo “is uncorruptable.” The former cop has a watchdog reputation, waging politically convenient wars he never won against maquinitas and absentee ballot fraud. But that’s the old Joe. Ladra liked the old Joe.
The new Joe Carollo was paid $6,000 a month last year by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez for what? Nobody knows. But we know Gimenez’s campaign was involved in absentee ballot fraud in 2012. So Carollo only cares about absentee ballot shenanigans when they help his opponents? The new Joe helped former Doral Mayor Luigi Boria get elected and then took a city manager’s job at $144,000 a year. Then later, when he was fired, Carollo said the mayor violated campaign laws to get elected and committed other corrupt acts. So he doesn’t really care about corruption until he’s being canned?
Gimenez, his tarrudo son and family are now scratching Carollo’s back. Isn’t that a lot more insider than Commissioner X and freaking Vince Lago?
Carollo must know that he is up against more than just little Alfie Leon. Because he’s already begun the attacks, calling a press conference on Tuesday to question Leon’s residency because he was registered to vote at his father’s Kendall house when he said he was living in the city of Miami. This could be an issue — or it may be nothing at all (more on that later), but Carollo already yelled “investigation!” and got the headlines and ink he wanted. He’s really good at that.
And while he has raised about half a million for the first round to Leon’s $84,000, Carollo says that the underdog is backed by special interests.
Yeah, that may be true. It’s called the ABC group and their special interest is keeping Carollo out of office.

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