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.
Times: You thought you knew these candidates? In House District 38, it's Tent Killer challenging Little Danny
Times: You thought you knew these candidates? In House District 38, it’s Tent Killer challenging Little Danny
Sun-Sentinel: Slash and burn: Nothing positive in latest Ron DeSantis, Andrew Gillum ads
Sun-Sentinel: Slash and burn: Nothing positive in latest Ron DeSantis, Andrew Gillum ads
Daily News: FL agriculture commissioner candidate Caldwell speaks at Naples convention
Daily News: FL agriculture commissioner candidate Caldwell speaks at Naples convention
TCPalm: Florida governor race: Andrew Gillum leads Ron DeSantis in NBC/Marist poll
TCPalm: Florida governor race: Andrew Gillum leads Ron DeSantis in NBC/Marist poll
Sentinel: House District 48: Where Amy Mercado, George Chandler stand
Sentinel: House District 48: Where Amy Mercado, George Chandler stand
Politico: Gillum, Nelson hold slight leads in latest Florida poll
Politico: Gillum, Nelson hold slight leads in latest Florida poll
Attack on Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is Carlos Curbelo being a hypocrite
A new radio and TV ad in the highly contested race for congressional district 26 attacks Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by tying her husband to a Ukranian oligarch accused of bribery, embezzlement and even contract murders.
But the ad, which started airing last week, really only proves two things: One is that Carlos Curbelo and those who support him — like the Paul Ryan super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, that paid for the attack ads — are very worried about losing this seat in one of the most closely-watched and turnable contests in the nation.
The second is that Curbelo et al are hypocrites.
Read related: Primary elections bring few local surprises, leaving general on the hook
The ad bashes Debbie because her husband did legal work for Igor Kolomoisky, a billionaire banking magnate once called the Ukraine’s “secret weapon” because of a privately-funded army to fight off separatist forces.
“Mucarsel-Powell’s family got rich working off Kolomoisky’s businesses, and Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign has received thousands of contributions from Kolomoisky’s associates,” the narrator warns us in the 30-second spot. “Shady money from a shady foreign syndicate.”
But the ad doesn’t tell you how they know this. It’s because Mucarsel-Powell put it on her financial disclosure that her hubby got paid $700,000 in 2016 and 2017 from a Miami metals business whose parent company is partly owned by Kolomoisky. Her campaign has since said that any implication there was any actual connection or contact with Kolomoisky is an “enormous stretch” and Powell said in a statement that he never “worked for, represented, answered to, or received any payment from Mr. Kolomoisky at any time.”
But the point here is she disclosed it. Carlitos Curbelo could actually learn a lesson from that.
Read related: Carlos Curbelo hides lobbying client list under wife’s skirt
If you all will remember, Curbelo intentionally put his federal lobbying firm in his wife’s name before running for office precisely so he wouldn’t have to tell us who his clients were. He purposefully and very meticulously went through a process to hide his client list from us. Even after it was brought to his attention, he continued to hide his list of clients.
He had to admit to Jim DeFede that he represented Roberto Isaias, a convicted embezzler in Ecuador who is living as a fugitive in South Florida. And las malas lenguas say he also represented at some point Juan Carlos Tovar, the son of a Venezuelan government insider.
And that’s who we know about. What don’t we know?
Curbelo’s tendency to hide under his wife’s skirt and his reluctance to tell us who his “wife’s firm” represented was far more alarming and dangerous than Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s husband’s six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon separation to the Russian mafia.
In fact, her transparency is a breath of fresh air.
AP: Newly released records show lead-up to parking lot shooting
AP: Newly released records show lead-up to parking lot shooting
Sentinel: Senate District 12: Where Dennis Baxley, Gary McKechnie stand
Sentinel: Senate District 12: Where Dennis Baxley, Gary McKechnie stand
Sun: University of Florida gets poor marks for racial equity
Sun: University of Florida gets poor marks for racial equity
