Just when you thought the D1 race in the city of Miami couldn’t get seedier. Or more dangerous.

Former Miami Police Officer turned private eye Frank Pichel, now a candidate in the city’s district 1 race, was arrested Sunday afternoon after he pulled a gun on another campaign team in Allapattah.

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It was bound to happen. Voters in Miami’s District 1 got a mailer last week reminding them that suspended Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla had been arrested on public corruption charges, including money laundering and bribery, in a case mostly about campaign contributions.

It writes itself.

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The campaign finance reports filed last week by Coral Gables Vince Lago are pretty boring. He hasn’t raised any money either in his 2025 campaign account or in his political action committee in months, according to the most recent campaign finance records.

Not that he needs to. He has more than $656,000 in the PAC bank for an election in April of 2025.

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The “incumbent” in the Miami District 1 race was suspended by the governor after he was arrested on public corruption charges that include money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is accused of abusing his power and selling his vote to give away a public park in exchange for more than $245,000 in contributions to his political action committees.

The charges were not a huge surprise. This is a guy who has had three ghost employees in his office and was recently taken to civil court accused of shaking down a marina operator for a stake in the business.

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But nobody cared that ADLP lived out of the district

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We already missed one candidate forum in the Nov. 7 Miami elections. Who knew? But there are at least three more scheduled for voters to get to know the people running for office in Districts 1, 2 and 4.

One Grove, the group of Coconut Grove residents and stakeholders who organized during the city’s flawed redistricting process, will have a candidate forum Tuesday beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove. Former New Times Editor Chuck Strouse, now assistant director at the Lee Caplin School of Journalism at Florida International University, will moderate a panel that includes The Miami Herald’s Nancy Ancrum, former Miami Herald reporter Don Finefrock representing the Coconut Grove Spotlight and someone from the League of Women Voters.

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