Out of nowhere, and more than a year after getting it, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Joseph Perkins last week recused himself from the defamation lawsuit brought by Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago against Actualidad Radio for a 2023 broadcast about an ethics investigation into his signing of an intentionally misleading affidavit, dramatically signed at a public commission meeting, denying his brothers documented business ties with the largest property owner in Little Gables.
Perkins didn’t give a reason for his sudden self recusal on May 19 in what looks like a form letter. “The undersigned Circuit Court Judge hereby recuses himself/herself from further consideration of this case,” it says. “This case shall be reassigned to another section of the Circuit Civil Division in accordance with established procedures.”
No reason. No details. Not even any certainty about how Perkins identifies. This is nearly 18 months after Perkins first got the case, which was filed in December of 2023.
Read related: Vince Lago revenge tour includes witch hunt for critics, confidential sources
There have already been depositions taken and rulings made. There have been case management hearings, motions on discovery. There are 132 dockets on file with the Miami-Dade Clerk’s office (enter “Lago, Vince,” and check the “I am not a robot” box).
This is weird.
Perkins was elected to the 11th Circuit Court in 2020. He mostly self funded his campaign with at least $100,000 in “loans” and another $93,000 or more in “in-kind” contributions, according to his campaign report filed with the Florida Division of Elections. He’s up for re-election next year and filed on April 25, almost a month before he recused himself from this Lago case.
Many political observers wonder if someone threatened to run a candidate against Perkins. A Hispanic candidate. This is not so shocking to anybody who knows anything about the history of judicial races in Miami-Dade. Las malas lenguas say old school political consultant Armando Gutierrez would threaten to run a candidate against you if you didn’t hire him to run your campaign.
This is the same thing: A threat against justice. In this case, it wouldn’t be about using political influence to affect an election. It would be about using political influence to affect a particular civil case.
Read related: Judge dismisses Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago’s defamation lawsuit
Perkins wasn’t necessarily a friendly judge to Lago. He already dismissed the case last August, finding that Lago’s claims were “legally insufficient.” Duh. A public figure cannot bring a defamation case against a journalist or radio station for discussion a very real and pertinent investigation about a statement made at a public meeting, no matter what the mayor wants to call it. The ruling was a response to Actualidad’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit based on the anti-SLAPP provision, which “prohibits lawsuits brought against individuals for exercising their right of free speech in connection with a public issue,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Lago’s attorneys baselessly claim that Actualidad’s 4-minute broadcast in February of 2023 was orchestrated by Coral Gables Commissioner Ariel Fernandez and former morning show host Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera to damage his reputation. Tellingly, neither of the two are named in the lawsuit. Because it’s simply an attempt to silence his critics, which include the presidents of the firefighters unions, the publisher of the Miami Herald and Ladra herself, all of whom have been subpoenaed to tell his attorneys who told us about the investigation.
Good luck with that.
There is no case because Lago is a public figure who answers to a constituency and, more importantly, there was, indeed, an investigation, or inquiry, or review into whether or not he knowingly misled the public when he dramatically signed an affidavit at a public meeting swearing that none of his immediate family had any personal or financial interests in Little Gables, which was being considered for annexation, by intentionally leaving “siblings” out of the definition of family. His brother, attorney Carlos Lago, was registered as a lobbyist at the time for the owner of the largest property in Little Gables, which is the trailer park.
The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust did get a complaint and did conduct an investigation, which they call a “matter under initial review,” but is handled the same way, according to the testimony of investigator Karl Ross, whose deposition was taken in March. The investigation basically ended after they found that Lago may have thought that he used the current definition, because it was changed at some point.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may have conflict of interest in Little Gables
Whatever. If he used the definition of the time, then he took advantage of it because he never had to sign an affidavit in the first place. It was like he was protesting too much.
But when Perkins dismissed the case in August, he left room for Lago’s attorneys to amend the complaint, which they did. And so the lawsuit rages on. But the judge’s sudden exit may lead to some questions of concern. And maybe some opportunity for the Actualidad Radio attorneys.
The new judge who has been assigned the case is Circuit Court Judge Javier Enriquez, who once ran for State Rep. against Jose Javier Rodriguez, and lost, just like Alex Diaz de la Portilla did. He was appointed in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis and sits on the family court bench in the domestic violence division. One can’t help but wonder if he’s been politically influenced.
At the very least, it’s going to take him some time to get up to speed on the case. As stated, there have been a lot of filings already. But there are subpoenas being served all the time now and the next deposition is scheduled for July. So Enriquez better bone up.
The post Judge in Vince Lago’s ‘defamation’ lawsuit suddenly recuses himself appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

In his recently-accelerated revenge tour, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is going after his perceived enemies. Like this was Cuba or Venezuela and he can just trample on everyone’s rights.
His baseless defamation lawsuit against Actualidad Radio — for a February, 2023, broadcast about a complaint to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust — is just a witch hunt to find and harass as many of his critics as he can.
Lago says he wants to know just who complained about his lack of truthfulness to the ethics commission, which then launched an investigation into his possible violation of the truth in government provision because he signed an affidavit swearing nobody in his immediate family had financial interests in the Little Gables annexation into the City Beautiful, which was a lie because his brother was, at the time, listed as the lobbyist for the largest property owner in the unincorporated Miami-Dade enclave, which is the trailer park.
The mayor  just conveniently left the word “siblings” out of the affidavit. That’s not a coincidence. So the investigation sorta bloomed into that: Whether or not there was really a conflict of interest in his desperate push to annex Little Gables.
The complaint was technically a “matter under initial review,” but that’s an investigation, just using other words. This is the crux of Lago’s defamation lawsuit against Actualidad, filed in late 2023, ten months after the broadcast. Lago and his attorneys say it wasn’t technically an investigation and want to know who leaked the investigation, which wasn’t  an investigation, to the radio host, Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera, who then talked about it on his morning radio show.
Lago’s attorneys filed a motion to compel Ethics Commission Investigator Karl Ross to divulge the names of the “three concerned citizens” that made the complaint about the fake affidavit. They already very obviously have their suspicions. In the March deposition taken of Ross, Lago’s attorney asks him if he knows three people, and only these three people: Miami-Dade Firefighters Local 1403 President William “Billy” McAllister, Coral Gables firefighters union president David Perez, y esta que está aquí. But they spelled my name wrong. Phonetically, I guess.
Read related: Judge dismisses Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago’s defamation lawsuit
McAllister was subpoenaed and is scheduled to give his deposition July 2. Ladra, who has also been subpoenaed, can’t wait to read that one.
This is just a fishing expedition. Take note of the long list of perceived enemies on the subpoena to McClatchy. Lago’s attorneys want the publisher of the Miami Herald to produce any documents and communications involving ethics commission proceedings from January 2016 to December 2024 (that’s eight years!) that were copied to:

Democratic political consultant Christian Ulvert
Former or current staff members of the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s office
Former or current officials of AFSCME Local for City and County Employees
Former or current chairpersons of a political party
Former and/or current members of the Miami-Dade Commission, City of Miami Commission, and/or former and/or staff and/or personnel of those members
Former and/or current state prosecutors
Members and/or representatives of the Miami-Dade Fire Union
Members and/or representatives of the Coral Gables Fire Union
William “Billy” McAllister IV
David Perez
Former Miami Herald Writer Sarah Blaskey
Miami Herald super writer Jay Weaver

Furthermore, for the last three years, they want all documents and communications, including text messages and emails sent to or received by the Miami Herald that “discuss, refer to, insinuate, report, and/or allege that Vince Lago was engaged in a bad act, abuse of power, and/or ethical impropriety.” They are listed:

Read Full Story

As expected and predicted in this very space, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has brought back former City Manager Peter Iglesias — who was fired last year by the old commission majority — to the top administrative job in the City Beautiful.
Lago, who was re-elected last month, campaigned on bringing Iglesias back and presented a resolution to name Iglesias manager at Tuesday’s commission meeting. Everyone knew this was coming after his remarks about the longtime public servant and engineer at the swearing-in ceremony where it seemed he was going to cry when he told Iglesias to stand and be recognized.
It was also expected to be a 3-2 vote with the new majority, all of whom won the April elections, voting in favor at Tuesday’s long commission meeting. So far, newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara — who made a big deal about being independent and not a handpicked Lago lackey pocket vote — has voted lockstep with the mayor and the vice mayor. It’s an echo chamber with the three repeating each other’s remarks in mutual admiration.
Iglesias, who wasn’t there at City Hall but was on Zoom during the meeting, will start Friday and make $295,000 a year. He will work for 20 months, which is right after the next election, which the commission also moved Tuesday to November 2026 (more on that later).
Read related: Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias
Lago — who is having trouble turning the page, as he said he would when sworn in — showed how butt hurt he still is about the firing of Iglesias after he lost the majority and the hiring of former City Manager Amos Rojas on the spot at a commission meeting. Kinda like what happened Tuesday. “The manner in which this was done was shameful,” Lago said, adding that lifeguards get more vetting than the manager got and that the decision “deeply demoralized our staff.”

But he also revealed the real reason he didn’t like it. “As a mayor, I wasn’t even granted the courtesy of getting his resumé,” L’Ego said. So, again, it seems that it was because it wasn’t his idea. He even mocked Commissioner Melissa Castro‘s comments at the time about Rojas’ LinkedIn profile, which was all she had to go on. Like googling him was a bad idea.
“I am in complete disgust with the hypocrisy of this body right now,” Castro said, and one doesn’t know if she is referring to the promises to go to a national search or the complaints about appointing a city manager as a surprise at a live meeting. Or both.
Castro said Iglesias might be a good guy and have achieved some things in the city, but after the election in 2023 — which she and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez against Lago’s wishes and well-funded handpicked candidates — the manager kept her in the dark. “He was favoring certain individuals on this commission and one of them was not me,” Castro said. She also said Iglesias had once told her “employees are lazy and don’t want to work,” when she would suggest ideas to streamline services.
“Employees do not like Peter,” Castro said. “You know who likes Peter? Department directors.”
Read related: Coral Gables skips search, hires new city manager Amos Rojas on the spot
Fernandez was the one who last year spearheaded the firing of Iglesias, who he said did not respond to residents and was insubordinate to him for 10 months after the was elected. But he really started trying to fire him the month after he was elected. He said Iglesias “was actively keeping us in the dark. To what end? Nobody knows.”
Iglesias had his own agenda, Fernandez said. That included the mobility hub that Lago was pushing and developing a city parking lot. “Those were his priorities while City hall feel apart and the gondola building collapsed.” He also blamed him for the delays in reopening what used to be Burger Bob’s.

“We need to have someone who respects our staff, works with all the commissioners,” Fernandez added. “Peter Iglesias is not a unifying voice.”
Lago, Anderson and Lara — who have replaced Castro, Fernandez and former Commissioner Kirk Menendez as the majority — said that Iglesias would bring stability back to City Hall at a time when it would be crucial to have his experience and leadership skills at the helm. The budget process is about to begin and the renovations of City Hall are ongoing.
Read related: Vince Lago scores with Richard Lara’s Coral Gables commission runoff win
Lara further said that it was something he campaigned on, as well, although he advocated for a national search, and that he first decided to run for office after the “unceremonious firing.” He also lashed out at Castro and said Iglesias may have been fired because “one commissioner didn’t feel she was getting enough attention.” He called the firing “improper” and “illicit.
“Simply because something can be done, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do,” Lara said.
But Anderson wasn’t listening. Later, when she voted for the mayor’s move to rescind a pilot permit expediting program that Castro had worked on for months to give residents and business owners the option to speed up their permitting process for a premium, she said basically the opposite. “The rules do allow the new board to undo an old board’s motion,” the vice mayor said.
To quote Lara: Simply because something can be done, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do.
The post Mayor Vince Lago brings Peter Iglesias back as Coral Gables city manager appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Coral Gables City Manager Alberto Parjus, whose career spans 35 years at Miami-Dade County and three years as assistant city manager in the city of Miami, resigned Tuesday on the spot at a special city commission meeting where he was likely going to get fired.
Parjus was only on the job for three months, starting after former manager Amos Rojas resigned in February. Parjus had been the deputy city manager since 2022, when he left the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works as deputy director. Rojas was hired in February 2024, after former manager Peter Iglesias was unceremoniously fired by the old majority. Las malas lenguas say that Mayor Vince Lago, who was re-elected with 55% of the vote, wants to bring Iglesias back.
Lago and his supported candidates, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara, campaigned on the revolving door at the city manager’s office, saying that three city managers in just one year was a sign of dysfunction.
Read related: Coral Gables names Alberto Parjus as new city manager in divided 3-2 vote
Now we have four city managers in four city managers in 15 months, as Deputy City Manager Joe Gomez will be interim city manager until a permanent decision is made. Then it will be five city managers in less than five years.
The effective date of Parjus’ resignation is May 22, but he is on leave until then. Ladra was unable to get his “cooperation and severance agreement” from the city clerk Tuesday or early Wednesday morning, even though it was distributed to the commission at the meeting. But a City Hall source told Ladra it included 20 weeks of Parjus’ salary and all his accrued, untaken sick and vacation time, which would be payable 10 days after the agreement is signed. Parjus’ salary is more than $230,000 a year.
Commissioner Melissa Castro was absent from the meeting as she was undergoing surgery.
“Serving this community, the City Beautiful, has been among the greatest experiences of my professional life,” Parjus said from the dais. Yeah, and the most rewarding, financially.
He thanked his “talented, dedicated” staff and listing the milestones reached, not jut in three months at the top job, but in three years that he has been in the city manager’s office.
“During this time, I am proud of the progress we made together to improve the quality of life for our residents and make our government service efficient,” Parjus said. “We advanced operational transparency, implemented modern project benefit systems and introduced performance indicators and evidenced evaluation tools to support better decision-making.
“We enhanced financial and budget reports to make them  clear and more accessible, and launched a city asset review program to ensure the responsible stewardship of city-owned  property,” Parjus said, and Ladra can’t help but wonder if that happened after the neglect at City Hall was discovered.
“I am proud of the significant investment made in community assets and services. This includes improvements to the Coral Gables Golf and Country Club, the ongoing restoration at the  Venetian Pool, enhanced code enforcement efforts, the installation of temporary speed tables to increase safety, and several projects to elevate the city’s safety aesthetic and public spaces.”
Under his tenure, the city also changed the building and zoning permitting process “to include customer feedback,” Parjus said.
Read related: Coral Gables City Manager Amos Rojas resigns, leaves next month after one year
“This decision was not made lightly,” Parjus told the audience and the commission. “I am confident the city is well positioned for continued success thanks to its leadership and the commitment of its workforce. I leave with immense gratitude for the opportunity serve this remarkable city and the trust you placed in me.
“Thank you for allowing me to contribute to the legacy and future of Coral Gables.
Lago thanked him for his professionalism and “most importantly, being a gentleman,” he said. “You leave here with your head
The Coral Gales Echo Chamber: Rhonda Anderson, Vince Lago, Richard Lara
held high and you served this community and we’re grateful for your hard work and your integrity.”
Head held high means that he didn’t fight to stay because Lago was going to fire him or force him to resign. That’s defacto what happened. Parjus didn’t resign because he doesn’t like his job anymore. He resigned because Lago was going to fire him.
Or because he couldn’t work with the man.
Anderson said “I will echo the mayor’s comments,” which is what she does now. And immediately moved the item. Like she didn’t want anyone else to do it first. Commissioner Lara, who was sworn in April 25 and hasn’t had a chance to work with Parjus, said the manager’s reputation preceded him and that he also would “echo the mayor’s sentiments” about his head being held high.
Read related: Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias
So, this is what we’re going to get now: an echo chamber.
Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who wanted Parjus for city manager from the get-go, was the only one who didn’t seem secretly happy, or at least relieved, about the resignation.
“You have served this city with distinction. You have elevated our budget process…where we now can understand better what has been spent in the past in certain areas and what is being spent now,” Fernandez said, adding that the quarterly reports are easier to understand and that the weekly data reports on different activities in all city departments keep them up to date.
“The moment you were appointed city manager, I had former city managers of other municipalities and folks you worked with at the county call to say what a great choice you were to lead our city. I appreciate what you have done for us. And don’t be a stranger,” he said, seconding the item “reluctantly.”
There was no discussion, as there has been in the past, about hiring a headhunter and doing a national search.
Commissioner Melissa Castro was not in attendance, as she had previously scheduled surgery on Tuesday. Castro asked for the meeting date to be changed, but Lago refused.
“I made a formal request to postpone this meeting by just a few days, enough time to recover and attend in person,” Castro said in a statement read by City Clerk Billy Urquia. “That request was denied by the mayor, even though this meeting is not part of our originally scheduled calendar and there’s no real urgency that justified moving forward without full commission participation.
She said that her health came first. “But it is equally important that the residents who elected me have a voice at the table. By proceeding today, this body is depriving Coral Gables of a complete discussion and the balanced deliberation our constituents deserve.
“Every decision I make is guided by what is in the city’s best interest. Preventing an elected official from attending does the opposite. Mayor Lago, I hope this statement serves as a reminder that transparency, respect and inclusion are not optional. They are the foundation of good governance,” Castro said through the city clerk.
Lago was unrelentingly uninterested and rude, thinking only of himself, yet again, reminding everyone that the city had an additional budget workshop in August of last year that he could not attend because he was on vacation, out of town.
“It was the first time I missed a meeting in 12 years,” L’Ego said.
So, that’s just more retribution, then? Check. He is so transparent about that, at least.
Read related: Post-election Vince Lago revenge tour in Coral Gables = political retaliation
Fernandez explained that there are stark — stark — differences between Castro’s absence due to medical urgency and Lago taking a sweet vacation after the mayor himself had scheduled the extra budget meeting. “Staff had been asked to change their schedule, cancel their family trips in order to be there for that meeting,” Fernandez said, adding that there were no other dates available before the deadline to submit a ceiling for the tax rate to Miami-Dade County.
He also made a motion to recess the meeting “until Commissioner Castro is not under a knife in an operating room and can be here in person, voicing the residents’ concerns.”
Lago was unmoved and again whined about the August meeting. “The change was not granted to ensure I would not be at the meeting,” he said. But he attended via Zoom anyway.
“It was a difficult situation,” he said.
Welcome to the club.
Coral Gables City Manager Alberto Parjus Severance by Political Cortadito on Scribd

The post Coral Gables City Manager resigns before Mayor Vince Lago could fire him appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Mayor proposes paying commissioners $1 a year
If the voters in Coral Gables thought that the animosity on the commission and the toxic rhetoric from the mayor was going to end with last month’s election, they have another thing coming. Freshly re-elected with a solid 55% of the vote, Mayor Vince Lago, emboldened by his and his slate’s victories, is doubling down on the hate and disrespect, seemingly hellbent on revenge.
Such a sore winner.
It’s not just because he’s going to roll back the raises and car allowances that commissioners gave themselves in 2023. That was a campaign promise. If that’s what the voters want, and he’s following through.
But Lago wants to go further.
There are two items on the commission salary in Tuesday’s agenda. One of them will roll the salaries back to what it was  before the trio of Commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and former Commissioner Kirk Menendez, approved the raises in the 2023 budget. But just so that readers know what this means financially: The mayor’s salary will go from $69,000 a year back to $47,400. The vice mayor’s will go from $67,000 back to $41,475 and the commissioners’ pay will go from getting $65,000 annually to $38,500. That’s a total savings of $75,625 a year,
And you get what you pay for.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
But the other “proposed ordinance” would cut their salaries to $1 a year — starting with the very next paycheck.
That’s not political retaliation? Is that what voters want, too? This is more than just “elections have consequences.” It is why Lago doesn’t mention the $1 option in a self-aggrandizing piece he wrote for Community Newspapers.
And for whoever thinks that is not targeting Fernandez and Castro, a single mother that Lago has repeatedly disrespected in public, take a look at the second part of the ordinance: “Beginning October 1, 2026 the compensation would revert to the 2022-2023 fiscal year salary and expense allowances, including those increases tied to the annual increases in the CPI-W as provided in section 2-29 of the City Code.”
So, the mayor and the commissioners get their old salaries back with regular raises — 17 months from now — and for the six months or so that Castro and Fernandez will have left in office before their term is up. That sounds fair and non retaliatory at all.
Because it seems way too harsh, some have speculated that Lago is using that option as leverage to get the other items passed, which include the elimination of the car allowance, a requirement to get a four-fifths vote prior to spending any general reserve monies (unless there is a declared state of emergency), the addition of two new members to the charter review committee, to be appointed by the city manager and city attorney, and a rollback of commission expense accounts from $10,000 too $5,000 a year — for a whopping savings of $25,000.
But, wait. Lago goes further on this one, too.
The resolution also “amends the policy for allowable uses,” it says. Those uses include event tickets and donations to schools, which are understandable, but it also includes mass mailings and the printing of materials — like, say, the welcome packets that Castro gives to new homeowners with a lot of useful information.
Seems really petty. And certainly not in the best interest of the city. This is all revenge. The cost of opposing the great Lago.
There’s also an item to change the rules on public comments. That one may as well be called the Maria Cruz ordinance because it aims to limit public comments to only specific items on the agenda or the public comment period. Maria Cruz is a gadfly activist that speaks on many issues, sometimes too many issues. She used to be Lago’s buddy, but has become one of his most outspoken critics and led the failed recall against him last year. This is just a way to silence her. And others.
But remember, Lago is all about transparency.
Read related: Vince Lago scores with Richard Lara’s Coral Gables commission runoff win
As usual, Lago did not return calls and texts to his phone. But in that Community Newspaper piece, he writes his proposed changes will “bring clarity and decorum back to our public meetings.”
Lago also wants to put two questions on the ballot: One would ask citizens if they want to establish an Inspector General and the other would ask them if they want to convene a charter review committee every 10 years beginning in 2035 — which sounds like a way to get rid of the charter review committee for 10 years. Aren’t they supposed to convene after every U.S. Census?
But the mayor won’t risk the election date change on a referendum. He will try to do that by ordinance on Tuesday. Because he really doesn’t care whether the people of Coral Gables want it or not, and he’s not going to take the same chance as he did with the annexation of Little Gables, which voters overwhelmingly rejected. He’s not going to leave it up to them.
That item on the agenda Tuesday would change the date of the next general election from April 13, 2027 to November 03, 2026, and moving all subsequent elections to November. This would result in a four-month reduction for everyone. But for Castro and Fernandez, first. It would also expand the runoff period from two weeks to four and move the swearing-in date to five weeks after the election. Both the next election and the ballot questions would be on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot.
So, basically, by the end of Tuesday, Coral Gables may change the way it’s elected its commission for 100 years. Happy centennial!
Unless, that is, either Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara — who Lago thinks he has in his pocket — insist on this going to the voters. As said in Political Cortadito before, this will be Lara’s first test. Lago is not wasting any time testing his loyalty. Will herbier stamp everything? Or push back a little?
It’s possible that Lara is the only option. Anderson was heard telling someone who asked her to let bygones be bygones that “you reap what you sow.”
That means Richard Lara could very quickly become the most powerful person on the city commission as the swing vote. Both sides will rely on him for support.
There’s also a discussion item on the city manager, which was a central point of Lago’s re-election campaign — and his revenge tour.
Read related: Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias
Several people have tried to convince Lago not to fire City Manager Alberto Parjus and hire former city manager Peter Iglesias back. “But he was my mentor,” Lago reportedly whined to the city clerk in the parking lot at the flag raising ceremony for the centennial, where a business leader took Lago aside for a word of advice: Stop it. Okay, two words.
Several city employees and supporters — including his campaign manager Jesse Manzano and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, before he left for his post as U.S. Ambassador to Panama — reportedly asked him to keep his cool and, specifically, not to fire Parjus. They said he’s not feeling it and would rather “blow everything up.”
“He’s off the rails,” is what one Gables insider said.
In other words, he’s going nuclear. Scorched Earth mode.
L’Ego isn’t letting up on the public meltdowns and personal attacks on Commissioner Castro, either. The incident at El Carnaval de Barranquilla last weekend — where Lago called her names in front of her 8-year-old son and refused to stand on stage with her and the organizers — was not an isolated event. On Thursday, at the ribbon cutting for Plenitude Spa on Aragon Avenue, Lago made a repeat performance — refusing to stand with and walking away from a group photo with Castro — and even told someone, in captured cellphone video, that he was not going to stop behaving like a toddler and disrespecting her.
“This is the way it’s going to be from now on, until the next election,” he is heard saying to someone. Ladra thinks it is Belkys Perez, the city’s Economic Development Director. “This is the way it’s going to be.”
Somehow, Ladra doesn’t think this is what the voters wanted when they returned him to office.
The next election is in 2027 and the mayor just threatened to humiliate and embarrass an opposing commissioner for two years.
Oh, wait. Shave four months off that.
Earlier, when he was standing at one end of the group photo and Castro at the other, Lago broke out of the line, like a true diva. “I can’t. I can’t. I won’t,” he said, and you could almost see him bring the back of his hand to his forehead. Oh, the agony!
“Listen, Belkys, Belkys, I will not take any pictures unless they’re…” and the cellphone video sound trails off because Lago is not the focus of the event. Even though he thinks he ought to be. The mayor is heard again when he raises his voice to direct the show. “So, let’s take a picture the three of us and then take a picture with the commissioner after. Let’s respect that. Let’s do that.”
People look uncomfortable.
He also refused to cut the ribbon with Castro. “There has to be a standard here,” Lago is heard saying. “You can either have the actual mayor or you can have the commissioner.
But you’re not going to have both.”
¡Que pena! What a show!
Just outside the door, as Castro is taking her pictures, is when he is caught in the background, talking to Perez, probably. “Nope. You do enough damage to my family, to my wife and my kids, I gotta draw the line,” Lago said.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago lashes out at Commissioner Melissa Castro
Castro doesn’t know what he’s talking about. She has seen Mrs. Lago maybe twice ever — the woman is not as visible as Mrs. Francis Suarez — and never uttered a word to her or his daughters, she said.
“Mayor Lago has made it clear both through his actions and his words that he intends to wear me down,” Castro told Political Cortadito. “He even said he was going to have me at ‘pico y pala.’ That phrase is used to describe someone being broken down bit by bit. This is not just disrespected, it’s targeted, intentional and deeply inappropriate behavior from someone in pubic office.
“When the mayor says he’s going to have me ‘a pico y pala,’ he’s admitting what so many of us already see: This is about power, not service,” Castro said. “It’s about breaking a woman down, not building a city up. But I was elected by the people and I will not let anyone chip away at my voice.
“He intends to wear me down, humiliate me repeatedly or break my spirit little by little,” Castro said. “These public power plays only hurt the very people we’re here to support — our residents and local businesses.
“It’s upsetting to be treated this way in front of our community, especially as a woman, a mother and an elected official.”
Ironically, when Lago went to say a few words at last week’s ribbon cutting — he went on and on about how much he respects women. “I always like to see women entrepreneurs,” he said to the women who own and operate the spa. “And as the father of two young girls I’m pushing them to be exactly like you.
“We need strong women who do the right thing, take risks and start a business,” he said.
Ladra half expected him to be struck by lightning.
The post Post-election Vince Lago revenge tour in Coral Gables = political retaliation appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

The seven items that newly re-elected Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago asked the city clerk to put on the agenda for next week’s special meeting of the city commission include “addressing current city manager and protocols for hiring charter officers.”
Many have speculated that this means Lago will bring back former City Manager Peter Iglesias, who was unceremoniously fired in February of last year at Lago’s loud objections by a new majority on the commission that may have been reversed with this month’s elections. Iglesias has been spotted at high profile events lately — like the swearing-in ceremony, where Lago thanked him, and the centennial gala Tuesday night, where he was hobnobbing with the mayor through the crowd.
Las malas lenguas say that Lago campaigned on bringing Iglesias back. It’s ironic because there was a whisper campaign against attorney and Gables activist Tom Wells, who lost against Lara, that said he had made a deal to name former Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost the mayoral race to Lago in the first round April 8, the city manager.
It’s ridiculous. Or maybe it was projection.
At the swearing-in Friday, which was at the Coral Gables Police and Fire headquarters while City Hall undergoes renovations, the mayor — who beat Menendez and resident Michael Abbott — thanked his friends and supporters and then told Iglesias to “please stand to be recognized,” which he did and got applauded by the Lago-friendly, standing-room only crowd.
Then he proceeded to really lay it on thick.
“You embody everything that is right in government. You are the human spirit. You and I have disagreed, prior to you even being in the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said, referring to Iglesias prior job at the city of Miami and Vinnie’s private sector job in construction. “But you were always right because you did things humbly and you did things for the right reason.
“I am honored to be by your side.”
Be by your side? Not have been, but be?
By then, Lago had already told City Clerk Billy Urquia to schedule the special meeting.
Read related: Coral Gables manager fired, MIA Director Ralph Cutie could replace him
“Per my conversation with the City Attorney yesterday, April 23rd, I would like to call for a special commission meeting on May 6th to take up the following items,” Lago wrote to the city clerk on Thursday, two days attorney Richard Lara won the runoff. He numbered the items:

Commission meeting procedures/legislative protocols for sponsorship
Address Commission salaries
City election date
inspector general
Addressing current city manager and protocols for hiring charter officers
Addressing current Charter review
City reserves

Urquia told Ladra that the agenda will be posted on the city’s website on Thursday.
Three of those things on Lago’s list are similar to items that he tried but failed miserably to get on a referendum last year via petition — rescinding the salary increases approved in 2023, moving the municipal election from April to November and needing a super majority to dip into the reserves for operational or capital expenses.
But the first item, “commission meeting procedures/legislative protocols for sponsorship,” sounds like L’Ego is trying to further control the commissioners he doesn’t like by controlling when and how they can put items on the agenda. What else could it be?
Anderson, Lago and Lara — the new commission majority — at the centennial celebration this week.
Everyone, even Lago, thinks that Lara is going to be the mayor’s needed third vote to move his agenda along. They both campaigned on the same things. But one of those things was having a process for the selection of the city manager. If Lago fires City Manager Albert Parjus, or demotes him and rehires Iglesias, isn’t he doing the same thing he accused rival commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and Menendez of doing?
Read related: Coral Gables skips search, hires new city manager Amos Rojas on the spot
How many times did he repeat the message that the city “has seen three city managers in two years”? He’s going to make it four?
Neither Lara nor Lago returned calls from Ladra, but several people close to Lago told Political Cortadito that they had advised him not to rock the boat by hiring Iglesias and to tone down the rhetoric.
This will be Lara’s first true test. The first-time elected said during the campaign that the Gables should have a process for the hiring of a city manager. Let’s see if he sticks to that.
“We have the most qualified city manager that we’re going to find,” Fernandez told Political Cortadito Wednesday, citing Parjus’ experience at the county and in the Gables, where he was hired by Iglesias as his No. 2. “We’re heading into the budget season. We are looking at possibly cutting the millage rate and eliminating or lowering the garbage fee.
“This is not the time to change city managers.”
Somewhere, Kathy Swanson Rivenbark is laughing and raising her martini.
The post Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story