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Juan Zapata’s 2020 mayoral bid starts with Univision TV interview
Juan Zapata is still the only official candidate for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 — and he is making the most of holding all the dance cards: His campaign got a big head start last week with an interview on Univision’s local Channel 23.
The former commissioner was interviewed by Erika Carrillo, the same reporter who was new to Univision when she scooped everyone on the story someone at the county fed her about Zapata — who was the mayor’s biggest critic and budget ball buster — taking Harvard classes paid by taxpayers.
Of course, it wasn’t that cut and dry. Zapata took the same course some other commissioners, including Jean Monestime, had taken. When he extended the course, the county was automatically charged. He always intended to pay for it himself, however, and reimbursed the county immediately.
Read related: Juan Zapata is first to throw hat into 2020 mayoral free-for-all
But the damage was done to one of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s biggest critics and main challenger on the dais. And Zapata ended up dropping out of his 2015 re-election campaign, disgusted with it all and frustrated with his attempts to reform our county government.
“That frustration still lives in me and that is why I have a desire to change it,” Zapata told Carillo. “I saw the monster from inside. And I saw people who governed caring only about themselves, about their own interests.”
He may find himself fighting some of those same “people” again, as the growing list of possible mayoral wannabes include three of his former colleagues: Commissioners Esteban Bovo, Daniella Levine-Cava — which the station mistakenly identified as Cuban-American — and Xavier Suarez. Rounding out the list of names that have been floated are former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and former Congressman Carlos Curbelo.
Read related: 2020 contender Xavier Suarez has dream slate for commission
And we’re almost two years out. No wonder Zapata is campaigning already.
He told Carrillo that he would be able to raise the money he needs to wage a positive campaign that is “looking to the future.” But, judging from the almost 3-minute interview, he is going to bring up the mistakes of the past.
Zapata always voted against the half cent tax deviation and said that his mission as mayor would be to reform county government, particularly the transit department.
“To me, it always seemed a lack of respect to ask the taxpayers for the money, collect the money and use it for another purpose, not the one you collect it for,” Zapata said. “That has to stop.”
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
But, while he always criticized the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, he is against the Bryan Avila bill moving in the House to eliminate the agency. “To give those funds to Tallahassee would be an error. In Tallahassee, every chance they get to take our money and spend it elsewhere, they will take it.”
And he promised not to give his favorite lobbyists and campaign people juicy jobs and contracts.
“Nobody will be given favoritism,” Zapata said. “The government will have one job, to produce results for the citizens of this county.”
About the Harvard episode, which will likely come up in the campaign because that’s all opponents will have on Zap, the former commissioner is obviously owning the misstep and that’s refreshing in politics.
“I learned from that experience,” Zapata said, adding that the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission found nothing wrong and that, before he left the commission, he passed an ordinance clarifying the limits of those funds.
“I think the citizens know that I had every intention [to pay],” he said.
Watch the entire interview here.
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In Coral Gables, campaign cash goes out as quickly as it comes in
With the qualifying deadline upon us and the Coral Gables Election only 46 days away, candidates continue to raise funds for their campaigns — and spend it, at an alarming rate in some cases.
Sometimes what’s more important isn’t how much a candidate has raised but how quickly it gets spent and how much is left in hand at the most crucial times, like when absentee ballots drop.
Of course, there are still about five weeks to shake those trees, but here is the tally so far, according to the latest reports filed for the first two weeks in February.
Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli got another $8,200 in those 14 days for a total of $89,000. But Valdes-Fauli has spent $51,685, including $7,014 in those two weeks, leaving him with less than $38,000 now that he’s really got a fight on his hands.
Former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is filing Friday morning and hasn’t raised any campaign funds yet. But she’s good at raising money. Not only did raise more than $250,000 in 2017, when she lost her first round against Valdes-Fauli by a scant 187 votes, but she’s raised money for other candidates in state and national races.
Read related: Rematch! Jeannett Slesnick will jump into mayor’s race
Commissioner Mike Mena, who is unchallenged with less than 12 hours ’til qualifying deadline, has raised $112,850 and spent only $17,990. But if he doesn’t get an opponent, he’ll have to return most of that money — after running a few “thank you” ads and mailers, of course.
In the crowded race for the open seat, left by a retiring Commissioner Frank Quesada, the handpicked successor Jorge L. Fors, Jr. has been burning through his money, too, with a whopping $33,263 out just in the 14-day reporting period: including $9,950 for mailers, $7,500 for a phone bank, $3,825 in advertising, $1,200 for absentee ballot generating handouts, $6,000 on social media and more than $4,000 on canvassing.
Fors has spent a total of $56,864. He raised $2,575 more in the last two weeks reported for a total of $84,350, leaving him with less than $28K in hand.
Former City Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, meanwhile, raised almost twice as much in the same time, with $5,650 making for a $37,270 total. He has proven to be much more fiscally conservative, spending only $7,280 so far. So Cabrera still has $30K in hand, more than Fors, who has raised more than twice as much. Hmmm.
Onetime Interim City Manager for five minutes Carmen Olazabal hasn’t even raised that much in total. Despite getting help from former Mayor Jim Cason and his wife Carmen, Olazabal has raised a total of $27,671. including $4,800 raised just in the first two weeks this month. She spent almost as much, however, with $4,116 out for a total of $15,620. That means she has just over $12,000 left in hand.
Read related: Coral Gables activist blasts email against candidate Carmen Olazabal
And jumping into that race from the mayoral contest after former Slesnick jumped in, Uber driver and downtown property owner Jackson “Rip” Holmes is paying expenses as they come out of pocket without a single contribution from anyone, loaning himself a total of $1,280, most of it paid to consultant Pedro Diaz.
Taken all together, there’s about $350,000 invested in this election so far. With more than six weeks to go, that’s likely to surpass the half million mark.
The next campaign finance reports, through the end of the month, are due the first week in March.
