Two different mailers for Andrew Korge arrived in mailboxes Monday, a day before the absentee ballots are mailed in Miami-Dade: One was positive and one was negative.

Way negative.

Korge, challenging Sen. Dwight Bullard in the Democratic primary in District 40, basically says Bullard is untrustworthy and living off his campaign funds. The mailer also brings up Bullard’s multiple campaign violations and fines, including a $5,000 fine from May, which, the piece adds, the senator has not paid. It says he has a “nonstop disregard for campaign laws.”

“Bullard’s consulting firm was paid $19,000 from his own campaign,” the mailer states in a series of bullets marked with currency bills. “Bullard’s campaign made more than $14,000 improper petty cash withdrawals.”

The mailer also says that Bullard used his campaign to buy more than $1,500 in personal clothing and over $7,600 in food and drink at restaurant and bars, including Hooters and Wet Willies.

That’s something that people have known for a while and it’s something that is not singular to Bullard — or Democrats. Just take alook at State Rep. Frank Artiles‘ reports.

But as far as negative mailers go, this one — with carefully positioned photos of Bullard and flying 100 dollar bills all over — is pretty classic with its brown and black and yellow. In contrast, the positive Spanish-language bio piece is blue and green and orange and includes pictures of Korge with his family and with President Bill Clinton.

These two are the third and fourth, or maybe fourth and fifth mailer from Korge to the Democrat voter in Ladra’s household. We haven’t gotten one mailer from Bullard.

Bullard told Ladra we’d get one this week. He, too, was waiting for absentee ballots to drop. “I don’t have $700,000 of my dad’s money floating around. So we waited.”

The senator has told the Miami Herald — and then the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office — that Korge tried to bribe him off the ballot with $25,000 (more on that later) and that the trust fund kid speaks Clintonese when he says “I unequivocally did not offer $25,000 cash.”

He also said he expected that some people to go home today to find the negative hit piece in their mailbox and he was ready to answer questions honestly at the forum tonight.

“I’ll be the first to admit I’ve not been as on time as I should have been,” Bullard said about his violations, adding that he pays the fines from his personal account, not the campaign account.

“I have been negligent. If that’s all they can find on me, that speaks volumes,” Bullard said.

“I’ve always been one of those folks who accepts my misgivings and uses them to learn lessons,” he added. “I just don’t think that my opponent has the same thought process.”

The Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association will host seven candidate forums between Monday and Tuesday for voters who live in the western part of Miami-Dade.

Last week, the group hosted forums for the county commission race in District 11 and the congressional Democratic primary race in District 26.

Monday’s series focuses on three state races:

• In Senate District 39, The KFHA has gotten confirmation from Senator Dwight Bullard and his challenger, golden trust fund kid Andrew Korge, unless he is arrested before that for the allegations that he tried to bribe Bullard out of the race (more on that later).
• In House District 115, they will have Democrats Ross Hancock and Jeffrey Solomon, who are vying in the primary to go up against State Rep. Michael Bileca in November.
• In House District 118, they have gotten confirmation from everybody except former Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, who lost a really embarrassing race against Daniella Levine Cava in 2014. That includes former State Rep. and Congressman David Rivera. The other candidates are Carlos Pria, Anthony Rodriguez and Stephen Rojas Tallon. They are all after the seat vacated by State Rep. Frank Artiles, who will face the winner of the primary

Tuesday is for county races, but it appears that Commissioner Dennis Moss is not going to represent. At least he had not confirmed as of Sunday night, said KFHA President Michael Rosenberg. Moss’ challenger, Earl Beaver, is listed.

Read related story: Awkward! Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia face off with polite jabs

The way it works is that candidates give an introduction and then are there to answer a number of questions before the audience. It does not work like a debate, although the candidates can take turns answering the questions and it did turn out to be debate-like last week between congressional candidates Annette Taddeo and former U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia.

The other forums Tuesday are:

• School Board Member Lubby Navarro — a lobbyist who has never been elected because she was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to replace lobbyist Carlos Curbelo when he became a congressman — and her challenger Aster Mohammed, who unfortunately doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance on South Beach.
• Speaking of snowballs, Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Farid Khavari, who has lost this contest twice, getting 0.4 percent in 2011 and 0.85 percent in 2012. He must be encouraged by the doubling of his support! He insisted on a chance to address the audience since Raquel Regalado got the opportunity last week. Mayor Carlos Gimenez snubbed the group and has declined several debate requests (more on that later).
• In the race for Kendall’s Community Council 12, sub-area 124, three candidates want to fill out what is probably the busiest of the zoned zoning boards.  Angela Vazquez, who is currently the incumbent and chair of the council, is being challenged by Christopher Leon and Frank de la Paz.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Kendall Village Center ‘Civic Pavilion, 8625 SW 124 Ave., right in front of the movie theater.

Let’s face it, the big draw here is going to be the Bullard vs. Korge fight, which Ladra suggests the KFHA present as the last forum, to keep the audience there. And the undercover agents.

Unless Lynda Bell decides to make an appearance. She could steal the show.

Like a leapfrog, Andrew Korge jumped yet again this week from the Senate race in District 39 against Anitere Flores to District 40, where he has a primary battle against incumbent Sen. Dwight Bullard and former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan.

Korge has been shopping around for elected office since he first expressed interest in Gwen Margolis‘ seat. In fact, it’s odd that he didn’t go back to that seat himself when Margolis decided to retire. From there, he has jumped over to the congressional race against Annette Taddeo and then again to the Senate race with Flores.

Sure, District 40 has a slightly bigger Dem advantage and Flores was a crossover leading in the polls. But while Frank Artiles, the Republican he’d face in November, is an easier target than Flores, he’s got to get through August first.

And that’s if he doesn’t get buyer’s remorse between now and then.

And he might. And he should.

After news came out — first in the Sunshine State News then in the Miami Herald and tomorrow on every political tabloid show there is — that Korge tried to bribe Bullard off the ballot with a $25,000 payola, it’s going to be hard for voters to look at the trust fund kid with any kind of credulity again. His campaign is sorta over before it even began.

I mean, sure the Korges are used to throwing money at politicians and getting what they want. But this time what Kid Korge wanted was the pol’s job. And that’s kind of crossing the line. Nana nina.

Korge has denied the bribe but we all know what happened here. Because it happens all the time. He probably promised to put $25,000 in Bullard’s campaign if he moved it to another district.

With a bank of almost $400,000 — that’s just his campaign, not including any PACs — and the ability to raise half a million more if necessary, one has to wonder what other kind of political strategy Korge will employ now to get elected (read: watch the ABs).

Everybody is wondering if the news Thursday that Sen. Gwen Margolis was withdrawing her re-election bid and retiring will cause Andrew Korge to switch seats again to the first one he looked at way back before he was a congressional candidate even. Or if it is causing State Rep. David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) to take another look at the Senate run.

Korge, son of Democratic fundraiser and Miami International Airport concessionaire Chris Korge, is currently running against Flores for the Senate seat in District 39 after briefly going after Annette Taddeo in the congressional primary in District 26. But he may go back to his original plan, which was to run for Margolis’ seat before she surprised everyone by saying she would stay put for another term.

Margolis is retiring now, under pressure to apologize for her comment (shouldn’t she still?) in which she dismissively referred to her challengers as “three Haitians, some teacher and some lawyer.”

Read related story: Alex Penelas crowd hosts Andrew Korge’s Senate kick-off

Now, Ladra happens to think that statement is generally true. And it doesn’t have to be a bad thing to be one of three Haitians in a race. There is no other district in which this happens, so there is obviously a significant Haitian electorate in the district. But we know Margolis meant it as a slight. “That’s all they are,” was implied. She is not the most sensitive girl. And it seems she hasn’t learned much since La Gwen got her nickname from Ladra after a spat with Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla over redistricting. He pushed for her district to change due to changes in racial and language minority demographics. She did not want the change and said that Cubans should not be considered a minority.

“The Cubans came in 1960. Believe me, they can speak English,” Margolis said, back then. “They prefer not to, but they do speak English. They went to school in Miami-Dade. Their children go to school in Miami-Dade. They’re English-speaking people.”

Esa es La Gwen. It’s true, but still leaves you a little incredulous. Ah, life and politics was so much easier when there weren’t so many Cubans and Haitians around, right?

Insiders say Margolis had intended to retire after this last term because she was older than dirt, not because she was racist. She was expected to endorse Richardson (D-Miami Beach) but that she got cold feet after Korge, whose daddy can raise a lot of money, got into the race. Both withdrew out of respect to the longtime legislator — a former county commissioner who is also the first female elected Senate President.

So why were there a whole five other Democrats running against her —  the three Haitians and the teacher and the lawyer. Most notably among them is State Rep. Daphne Campbell, who may become the immediate front runner among the wannabes, if only for her name recognition, but not because she has more money. That distinction goes to Jason Pizzo, the attorney of the bunch (a former prosecutor turned land use attorney), who has loaned himself $200,000 for the campaign. The group is rounded out by former State Rep. and radio show host Philip Brutus, who has tried four other times to get back in office (State House, Senate, Congress and county commission), teacher Don Festge and the third Haitian, Anis Blemur, who owns and operates a North Miami accounting firm.

Read related story: Doubletake: David Richardson jumps back to House for 2016

But everybody is wondering if either Korge or Richardson will come back to that race now.

Korge is the obvious choice. He’s lost some key endorsements to Flores (more on that later) and she’s blowing him away with fundraising (more on that later), so it might make sense to move to an open seat race that is less Hispanic.

Richardson, the first openly-gay representative, might be too comfy in an incumbency where he’s popular. Yes, he wants the Senate and there’s opportunity here. But if he’s still seen as La Gwen’s handpicked successor, her Haitian opponents are going to run with that. Who wants a tainted legacy?

Sure, Richardson — who told Ladra in a text message he would have a response after he returned this week from business in D.C. — does have opposition to his re-election. But former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn is trailing way behind in fundraising, which leaves her less money to get her message across and her voters out.

Wait a Miami minute! Maybe DeeDe Weithorn will run for that now open Senate seat. Or maybe her husband, Mark Weithorn, who has run unsuccessfully for state House and for city commission. Ladra has also heard that it is a seat Sen. Dwight Bullard could win more easily if he really wants to stay in office, since he’s going to lose in the primary now to Ana Rivas Logan if he stays put.

Am I crazy or could even Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi ditch a sure loss in the town for this more high profile race.

Wait another Miami minute! What about Annette Taddeo? She’s never switched mid-stream so maybe that’s a winning strategy.

Stay tuned. And let the musical chair melody begin. Because we certainly haven’t heard the last of this.

Despite having Democratic opponents in a Hillary presidential year, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Florida are endorsing two Republican incumbents in this year’s election: Sens. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla and Anitere Flores.

They’ve also endorsed Sen. Rene Garcia, but that’s different. Garcia has no opponent. Miguel DLP and Flores, however, are running in hotly contested districts against challengers supported by the Florida Democratic Party in a rush to win seats this year.

And the three GOP senators are the only Republicans AFSCME endorses in a sea of Democrats.

AFSCME is Florida’s fastest growing union, which is part of a 1.6 million member union that advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services and prosperity and opportunity for all working families. And like most unions, it typically backs the blue ticket.

But they have broken from the trend for these three.

Why?

“Our wages, benefits, working conditions, health and safety, and even whether we have jobs at all, are in the hands of officials who influence our future,” said Willie Pouncy Jr., AFSCME Florida Region 3 PEOPLE Chair. “After reviewing where Senator Flores stands on the issues important to our state and to the members who live or work in her district, we believe she is the best choice in 2016 for our families, our communities and those we serve.”

And they are not alone. In the case of Flores, who helped kill a law that would have scrapped the county’s wage-theft protection program, she also has the endorsement of the Florida Professional Firefighters Association and every elected official in Homestead, all but one Democrats. Diaz de la Portilla regularly enjoys the support of police and firefighter unions.

“I have a proven track record of effectively fighting for working men and women in our community,” the eldest of the DLP brothers told Ladra.

Said Flores: “During my time in office, I have advocated for a stronger economy, raising incomes and more affordable healthcare benefits for hardworking families— matters important to all Floridians.”

So who is Andrew Korge, who is running against Flores, and State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, who is running against DLP going to get?

That was quick.

The race between Sen. Anitere Flores (R-Kendall) and Democrat challenger Andrew Korge, son of lobbyist and big national Dem fundraiser Chris Korge, is the first this year to go negative.

That means that, officially, the state campaigns have begun.

Occupy Democrats, a national advocacy group that pushes blue candidates, released a video online this week that calls Flores “The Queen of Corruption” because of her ties to the unaccredited Doral College, where she worked as president from 2011 to 2015, earning $150,000 a year (according to her own financial disclosures), while she pushed legislation in Tallahassee that benefited the state’s charter school cottage industry.

They even put a little crown on her head.

The video, a minute and 12 seconds long with foreboding, horror film background music, quotes the senator saying things like “I’m Anitere Flores. I take tax dollars meant for education and pocket them,” and “I abuse my legislative power to enrich myself. Got a problem with that? Tough!”

None of it is spoken. It’s all text superimposed over or shuffled into a collection of the most unfortunate photos of Flores.

“I give your tax dollars to me and my friends,” one slide says. In the next, she’s holding a huge submarine sandwich where a microphone would be in one hand and a large order of McDonald’s fries in the other.

“This is a new low,” she told Ladra. “I think it’s sad.”

By “friends,” the video creators mean Academica, which runs Doral College and is Florida’s largest for-profit charter school operator, and owner Fernando Zulueta, who are connected to a few other 305 politicos and is a prolific campaign contributor. State Rep. Manny Diaz Jr. (R-Hialeah) is chief operating officer of Doral College and State Rep. Erik Fresen (R-Coral Gables) is Zulueta’s brother-in-law. Fresen, a land use lobbyist that specializes in charter schools, is in his last term, but — naturally — is eyeing the Florida Senate as his next step (more on that later).

Flores called the attacks baseless and said that she helped establish Doral College so that higher education would be accessible to more students, regardless of their economic status. She added that the school was pursuing accreditation through the state’s “rigorous process” with state regulators and that “every single school starts off unaccredited.”

The first graduating class at FIU didn’t know if the law school would be accredited in time. Florida Polytechnic University was created by the legislature in 2012, has a president and buildings paid for by the state, charges tuition — which Doral College does not — and it is yet to be accredited. “It can take a while,” Flores said, calling the claims in the video half truths designed to mislead.

The video — posted Monday and with 277,000 views by Thursday afternoon — is a little disingenuous when it says she was paid $450,000 at Doral College, because that is over her entire time there, not an annual amount.

But this is not the first time that the school’s political connections come into scrutiny. The political connections and the benefits Academica may reap have been investigated by several news hounds, including those at the Miami Herald and the Broward Bulldog. The Education Department’s Inspector General Office was moved to audit Academica and other “school management companies” nationwide.

So, it’s natural that this would be where Korge, or those supporting him, get their ammunition. What else are they going to do? He has zero experience, zero track record of his own to run on other than his father is also Hillary Clinton’s sugar daddy. As he was for Obama.

In fact, it’s a little strange (read: hypocritical) to hear this kind of attack on behalf of the silver-spooned son of a man who became a millionaire off the public trough in airport concessions. Andrew Korge grew up on the public teet.

When asked about the video, Korge — who wants Ladra to call him a businessman because he dabbled in real estate and is a shareholder on a start-up — disavowed any connection to it. He also told me he would run a campaign based on his fresh ideas. But in the next breath he railed against Flores in what might be a preview of the negative attack ads to come.

“Let there be no doubt that Anitere and I have very different ideas. She is out to destroy public education. She doesn’t care about the environment. She votes wherever the wind is blowing. I have my principles and core values.

“The key thing is that these for-profit universities and colleges are destroying a generation and she’s part of the problem,” Korge said. “And she should be held accountable.”

You usually don’t hear this kind of attack so early on — more than seven months away from the general election. We usually also don’t hear this kind of attack against a woman — a mother at that. Consultants curse the Hispanic mamita opponent because attacks on moms usually backfire.

But this seat, in a newly drawn district, is seen as one of the few that the Democrats hope they can turn this year. The predominantly Hispanic district leans blue, but a lot of those Democrats are in black pockets that might not be as eager to go out and vote for Hillary as they were for Obama.

So you can bet that there will be more negative attacks on Flores. Ladra is sure they didn’t toss this bomb out so early to not follow up on it. Maybe they’ll find particular angle to motivate black voters to vote against her.

‘Cause they sure ain’t motivated to vote for the rich kid.