Did you hear the one about the mayor’s campaign consultant working a side gig for a casino giant? No, there’s no punchline. Because it’s no joke.

Up until just a few months ago, Jesse Manzano-Plaza – Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s political strategist, campaign spokesman and chief apologist — had been working for Resorts World and Genting, the Mayalasian New York partnership that wants to build a massive slot house in downtown Miami, for at least a year.

That’s right. That means he had both jobs at the same time.

Wouldn’t that be a classic example of a conflict of interests? The mayor is supposed to represent our best interests. So are his people, by extension. But one of his operatives represents the best interests of a casino giant that wants variances and land use changes so they can bring slots to Biscayne Bay. Or, well, he did until just the other day.

Original plans for the Genting massive casino on Biscayne Bay. Now they just want a big slot house.

In fact, we wouldn’t even have known about Jesse’s side job — and he would still be working for Genting today — if he hadn’t been forced to quit after his client sued the county (read: us taxpayers) to force the casino a few months ago. And how much you wanna bet his departure is just a leave of absence. There could be his job waiting for him after the election — if he wins.

And how many other clients does Manzano have that could take advantage of his connection to the mayor and the mayor’s leverage with commissioners? We just don’t know. He won’t say. He comes from the Carlos Curbelo school of secret lobbying clients because they used to work together.

Read related story: New purple spindoctor duo: Jesse Manzano & Ben Pollara

But he is also still a junior partner at LSN Partners with Marcelo Llorente and Alex Heckler. They lobbied for CH2M Hill, the engineering firm that won a $139-million contract and which put Ralph Garcia Toledo, the mayor’s BFF and former campaign driver, in a $200-an-hour job at the Water and Sewer Department — $672,000 billed to the county so far since December 2014 — for going to meetings and tracking the progress of certain projects.

Yes, I know. Time to break out the flowcharts. The conflicts of interests that stem from the mayor’s office are hard to track without flowcharts.

Manzano went on live Spanish-language radio in May after the Miami Herald exposed his lobbying job with Genting to defend himself. “Unfortunately, I have to make a living,” he said, trying to turn the tables by calling any attention to this obvious conflict a political attack. Because any criticism of him or Gimenez is a political attack, didn’t you know?

But Jesse admitted to having been a registered lobbyist for Genting from 2011 to 2015, when he last registered — which was nine days before getting his first paycheck from the mayor’s political committee. Since joining the mayor’s team, he said he’s only worked as a “communications consultant” for Genting. Yeah, that’s lobbying with a different name. He was communicating with Gimenez in an advocacy role and consulting Genting on how to get the mayor on their side.

Like with $60,000 in campaign donations from Genting and the Capo Group, which owns the Genting resort in Bimini. That’s a good start.

“I am not registered as a lobbyist for the company,” Manzano said in the interview with Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera. “I haven’t been since last year. Precisely to avoid whatever perception that could create.”

Read related story: Jesse Manzano and Carlos Gimenez, together again for 2016

Perception? Perception, bruh? The reality still is that someone close to the mayor and working to re-elect him to office is also and simultaneously working to seek concessions — whether as a lobbyist or as a consultant or as a publicist — for his client, a casino giant that needs access and favors from politicians.

How is this a conflict? Well, are we to believe that Jesse didn’t know about the lawsuit coming against the county?  Because that seems far-fetched. More likely is a scenario in which Genting sought Manzano’s advice on handling public opinion and what in the business is called “crisis management.” It is also likely that Manzano’s very insight into and access to Carlos Gimenez was pivotal to his role. Or is somebody going to tell us that Jesse, knowing Gimenez and having daily contact, didn’t give Genting the best possible work product he could? Or did he warn the mayor about the lawsuit?

But the problem really isn’t Manzano. The problem is Gimenez. Because this is a pattern with Carlos Gimenez. The people closest to him have ties to county vendors and developers with big plans to take advantage of us. It is so commonplace and expected now that people regularly refer to these inside deals as the mayor’s friends and family plan.

• His lobbyist son works for Donald Trump at the same time as Gimenez wants to give the millionaire presidential candidate a public golf course.
• The company that employs his other son gets a $4 million no-bid contract to re-roof the Adrienne Arsht Center after a leak
• His daughter-in-law Barby lands a job (wink, wink, nod) with another subcontractor for “public outreach” on the same multi-million water and sewer project mandated by federal and state courts.
• His in-laws get multiple no-bid contracts for multi-million dollar construction projects at the airport and elsewhere
• His best friend and campaign finance chair gets a juicy $200-an-hour post for mostly “clerical work,” by his own admission, and has billed the county more than $672,000 in 18 months.
• And now we know his campaign consultant is paid by the casino giant that wants to bulldoze its way onto Biscayne Boulevard. Or was paid until the other day. And will be paid again.

Why do I feel like Ladra’s forgetting someone? This is one of the reasons why the public has lost faith in local government. Because of insider deals and conflicts of interests that erode our trust.

And if Carlos Gimenez is the king of the sweet insider deal, and he is, Jesse Manzano is the court jester. He’s the clever entertainer, or “licensed fool,” used by the king to distract the commonfolk (read: us voters) with magic, storytelling and sleight of hand. That’s what he does when he serves as the mayor’s mouthpiece, which is a lot lately.

Jesse is the one who represents the mayor in public forums (county spokesman Mike Hernandez can only work on campaign stuff in secret, not out in the open). Gimenez nunca da la cara. He is afraid to debate or even face Raquel Regalado, his only real and viable challenger, even on air at separate times. So he always sends Jesse or Mike (who has also consulted for private companies and now wants to be head of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, God save us), to respond and speak for him. This week, Manzano has gone on the radio and Spanish-language TV to attack Regalado and defend his boss. After all, Genting is not going to get anything out of Raquel! So Manzano is using a poorly researched and possibly libelous blog post that he planted the seeds of to malign the only real challenge to his ace in the hole for Genting and CH2M Hill and whatever other clients he may have that we don’t know about because they haven’t sued the county yet. He is really only doing his job.

The only question is, which job and for whom?

The private detective that uncovered absentee ballot fraud in the Miami-Dade August 2012 election has nabbed yet another person committing electoral fraud — this time selling “access” to elderly voters, which we have to interpret as access to absentee ballots.

Joe Carillo told Ladra Thursday he would give details Friday about his latest sting operation, in which he gets a woman to allegedly offer access to elderly public housing residents. She also reveals some of her clients and declines a new one because she is working for the opposition. The clients are all judicial candidates, according to a list that she, for whatever reason, voluntarily provided: Elena Tauler, Yolly Roberson, Wendell Graham, Luis Perez-Medina, Lizzet Martinez, Rosy Aponte and Marcia del Rey. And that is her order, not mine.

But there may be other candidates, Carrillo said.

It’s been four years since Carrillo brought wide exposure to a longtime secret election tool used by the savvyist and most ethically challenged campaign strategists: la boletera.

Deisy Cabrera, la boletera, with Sen. Rene Garcia and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez at the opening of the mayor’s Hialeah campaign office in 2012.

These ballot brokers collect absentee or mail-in ballots, mostly from elderly and public housing residents, for a fee. Carrillo, and later the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit, tracked one of them going in and out of Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s Hialeah campaign office in 2012. Deisy Penton de Cabrera was later stopped with dozens of absentee ballots on her, a clear violation of the law. She was arrested, but after the case was transferred to Broward because of a conflict of interest (Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle had hired the consultant who worked with Deisy), she was let go with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Read related story: Boletera’s notebooks may script AB fraud cover-up

Worse: There was never a follow up into the three notebooks of names, including judicial candidates, for whom Cabrera was paid to pick up ballots. And the detectives who were in charge of that investigation were disbanded and sent to different posts when the public corruption unit was dismantled in 2014. So, basically, there’s nobody watching the store today. (Well, except for Joe Carrillo.)

Nothing happened either to Sergio “El Tio” Robaina — and just guess whose uncle he is — even though he was arrested for delivering hundreds of absentee ballots to the district office of Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who didn’t get so much as a slap on the wrist. That whole thing — including the commissioner’s aide who was caught transporting the ballots in the trunk of her car from his office to the mail house — was just swept under the rug.

Dotty Vazquez didn’t get a slap on the wrist either. Oh, you never heard of her because she never got caught. So, instead, she got a job at the mayor’s office. She is now one of 12 mayor’s aides (and yes, that sounds excessive, but that’s another story).

A known boletera — just ask any number of Hialeah former electeds — Dotty was paid at least $10,000 from Mayor Gimenez’s Common Sense Now PAC in 2012 for “consulting,” according to campaign finance reports. And we all know she’s not a consultant. That’s just one of the many code words used for boletera work. Here’s Dotty pictured (right) with Gimenez at the same 2012 Hialeah campaign opening that Cabrera attended. Since at least 2014, however, she has been a $36,000-a-year mayor’s aide. Ladra has to wonder how she uses her skill set there. Or how she spends her days. Especially this week, after absentee ballots were mailed out to voters. We know she spends Saturdays at honk and wave events with Transit Director Alice Bravo, but that’s another story. And let’s face it, both their jobs depend on Gimenez staying the boss.

The point is that the State Attorney’s Office doesn’t have to look too far to find boleteros. And, obviously, all they have to do is follow some of these people for a few days or stage a simple sting. But nooooo. It takes, again, a private citizen outraged with the blatant fraud going on to try to put a stop to it.

Read related story: AB fraud PI is a hero until proven otherwise

Carrillo said he and attorney Rick Yabor had received information about the woman selling “access” to voters at Robert King High, an elderly public housing building in Little Havana, about four weeks ago. They immediately contacted the state attorney’s office and were told that they would initiate an undercover operation only if they got a current candidate involved. Can you imagine that? Are they that short-staffed at public corruption or are they just lazy? Carrillo said he and Yabor met with several candidates and none would participate in the sting for fear of political retribution.

So they set up their own undercover operation and sent investigators to meet with the woman. “And the target offered to grant ‘special access’ to elderly voters for a fee,” Carrillo said in a press release advising of a press conference Friday. “The target advised investigators of candidates that she was ‘helping.’ The target further advised that she refused to help certain other candidates because she had been paid by their opponents.”

Carillo would not provide Ladra with any more details. He would not tell her whether or not Gimenez or Fernandez Rundle are implicated yet again. But at least two of the judicial candidates hired Al Lorenzo, the same consultant who was tainted in the 2012 AB fraud scandal. Carrillo said more details would come out Friday.

Apparently, he is giving the State Attorney’s Office time to move on their own investigation. Carrillo said he told prosecutors about his findings on Tuesday. Investigators worked with Diario las Americas to produce the evidence. Perhaps this press conference is intended to pressure prosecutors. It certainly should at the very least embarrass them that a couple of P.I.s can do a better job, again, than the public corruption unit at the biggest county in the state.

Because right now, the message sent to boleteras is that they don’t get punished in Miami-Dade. They get $36,000-a-year county jobs.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez continues to dodge debates with any of his challengers and is expected to be a no-show to the debate Wednesday hosted by a coalition of women’s groups — the first real public debate in such an important election.

A member and former vice president of the League of Women Voters of Miami Dade — which is hosting the debate with the YWCA of Miami-Dade, the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade —  tweeted last week that the mayor had not responded to their first request. In fact, he is the only candidate not to respond.

So his campaign was sent a letter.

“As the incumbent candidate, we invite you to participate and join your fellow candidates at this debate,” it starts. “We hope you accept the invitation so that you may share your platform and vision for Miami-Dade with our members and community. Through this debate, it is our collective intent to encourage informed and active participation in government.”

Herald county reporter Doug Hanks retweeted her tweet and said “four weeks to go and no debate to cover yet.”

To which the woman replied: “I hope you’ll be there Wed, despite no Gimenez. The people should know all the candidates’ platforms.”

But c’mon, people! Do you really expect Carlos Gimenez to go anywhere in public where he might be asked uncomfortable questions about his pal Ralph Garcia Toledo‘s $200-an-hour job at Water and Sewer? Of course not. Or about his son’s threatening phone calls to candidates who dared run for the same school board seat as his aunt? Nah.

Even before recent news stories got Gimenez hiding his head in the sand, he was not looking forward to debates. He may have told El Nuevo Herald’s Enrique Flor that he would debate all the candidates as he did in 2011, but his campaign has repeatedly declined requests. He was a no-show to the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association forum last week. And a longtime Spanish-language TV show producer told Ladra that the mayor’s campaign manager, Jesse Manzano, had specifically said they did not want to debate his strongest rival, Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado — the only one “within striking distance” according to polls — on a live show.

It’s not just because he’s an even worse speaker in Spanish than he already is in English.

It’s because he knows he can’t deny documented facts about his lack of vision and his mismanagement with special taxing districts and the People’s Transportation Plan half penny sales tax fund, which he has been misdirecting to balance the general budget. It’s because he knows he can’t defend his miserable track record with public safety, where he puts the optics of body cameras before the reality of a 500 officer shortage. It’s because he can’t deflect from the broken promises he has made in terms of transit solutions and transparency.

And it’s because he really doesn’t want to talk about his friend Ralph. Especially since Gimenez — photographed here with Garcia Toledo and former county aviation director Jose Abreu at Greenstreets in Coconut Grove around the same time Ralph started billing the county — might be subpoenaed about this and whatever other deals he and his BFF may have cooked up.

In fact, the only debate that Ladra believes Gimenez has accepted is the one on WPLG’s This Week in South Florida on Aug. 14 — which will be almost two weeks after absentee ballots are mailed out on Tuesday.

Happy coincidence? I think not.

But maybe by then we will know more into a criminal investigation into Garcia Toledo’s fraud. Ladra has been told that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office is looking into that lucrative inside deal. Because that’s what it is, ladies and gentlemen. Fraud. The wonderfully detailed Miami Herald story about how this totally unqualified insider — the mayor’s BFF, driver and campaign finance chair — got a lucrative contract where he has billed $672,000 in 18 months for having meetings and filing papers kinda glossed over one thing: That bill is intentionally and fraudulently bloated.

It appears that Garcia Toledo’s hourly rate benefits from a multiplier used in many municipal contracts. They pay vendors more when they have overhead — like office space, staff, equipment. All things that Garcia Toledo, whose address is a P. O. Box, does not have.

Going by past performance by our SAO public corruption unit, this investigation will not be completed before the Aug. 30 election and will probably end at Ralph. But if anyone thinks that Gimenez didn’t know about the inflated invoicing, well then they are not paying attention.

Remember how convoluted this whole process was when a $1.6 billion contract — part of federally- and state-mandated compliance projects we have to undertake in Water and Sewer — was awarded to AECOM after first being awarded to a competing company, CH2M Hill. Don’t feel bad for either of them. They both have a piece of this multi-billion infrastructure overhaul.

But you can be certain that Garcia Toledo’s subcontract as a contract manager — especially when there are probably dozens of county employees who are incredibly more qualified than he is — was part of the required criteria on the hush hush. It was part of the deal made. “You get this chunk of the billion dollar pie but you have to hire my buddy to do, well, really nothing.”

And Ladra will also bet that Ralph is not the only one who was made part of the deal. Las malas lenguas say his is not the only subcontract being investigated because of ties to Mayor Gimenez (more on that later).

An unofficial report in 2014 from the director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust said that “the decision making process as a whole, on a project of great significance to Miami-Dade County, has raised substantial issues regarding the integrity of the process and the fairness of the outcome, which could have a negative impact upon the public trust in County government.”

Ya think?

And that, again, is why Gimenez won’t debate. He knows he can’t regain the public trust so why bother having to try?

Especially if there’s going to be uncomfortable questions about his buddy’s sweet deal.

In yet another sign of the growing desperation Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and those around him have to keep that county gravy train going, the incumbent had a private event last week for only invited insiders to announce a group of insignificant endorsements from the low-hanging fruit.

It’s notable not because it was hastily planned and timed right after Camp Gimenez found out that Raquel Regalado was getting from clergy members, the Pets’ Trust and practically every single union — despite a 4% raise many got due to rising property values.

It’s notable because in almost each one of his endorsements there is, um, let’s say specific motivation at play. Or strings attached.

We will call them transactional endorsements — because you get something in return. Ladra may have not figured everybody out, but the public should know about the very possible quid pro quo for some of these nods. They are transactions.

In the case of Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn and any Village council members, the endorsement comes just two days after their little government got a $7.5 million grant from the county to redevelop their “downtown.” Yeah, they actually call it that. This is one of the richest municipalities in our county, and they get 10 percent(!) of a half-penny sales tax slush fund of $75 million to encourage economic development countywide. You think there’s no fix in?

For Florida City Mayor For Life Otis Wallace, it’s all about family. His sister, Sandy Walker, has been paid $16,950 so far by one of Gimenez’s PACs for “outreach” and “consulting” (read: to gather black voter absentee ballots).  Wallace cannot bite the hand that feeds his sister. Even if she is a former county lobbyist arrested in 2007 for fraud who pleaded guilty to bilking the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust by submitting false tax returns under a $200,000 loan agreement with the nonprofit anti-poverty agency. It’s his sister. Wallace is just being a good brother. By the way, Commissioner Barbara Jordan is their other sister. That’s why she endorsed Gimenez, too.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Dennis Moss is being a good husband. He is standing with Gimenez to support his wife, Margaret Hawkins Moss, who has a six-figure county job in Water and Sewer (where we already know the mayor likes to hook up his pals). Hawkins started as a single girl working on the first term commissioner’s staff in 1993. Three years fast forward and she was a senior procurement contract officer, monitoring compliance on million dollar aviation department contracts that her fiancee was awarding on the commission. Until 2014, when the new airport director took charge. Las malas lenguas say they either didn’t get along or she simply didn’t cut it, so she was moved to WASA as a — with a generous $8,000 raise to $108,000-a-year. In other words, Moss is just being a good husband. He can’t bite the hand that feeds his wife. And probably him, too. Not unless he wants to sleep on the sofa.

And speaking of where people sleep… Everybody knows that Miami-Dade School Board Member Larry Feldman lives in fear that someone will run against him because it is also common knowledge that he doesn’t live in the district. Feldman uses some rinky dink Pinecrest apartment behind the Mitsubishi dealership and Dairy Queen on U.S. 1. The Monterrey Gardens apartment on Southwest 68th Court is on his voter’s registration. But come on! Nobody believes that. Not when he and his wife, Avis, have a nice four-bedroom house with a pool in the 13900 block of 107th Terrace. Not when he claims his Homestead exemption there. So he’s either committing tax fraud or election fraud. And it is possible that Gimenez — whose sister-in-law is running for School Board and whose son tried to bully or buy others off the ballot — hinted that he would run someone against Feldman. I mean there is really no other reason for Feldman to go out of his way to betray a fellow school board member. Why wouldn’t he just stay out of it?

Cutler Bay Mayor Peggy Bell is basically a newby whose endorsement has questionable value anyway. But she owes her political career to her campaign manager, Jose Luis Castillo, who also ran campaigns for former county commissioner Lynda Bell and helped with Gimenez’s 2011 and 2012 campaigns. Castillo is also a lobbyist for the owners of a nine-acre property located on the corner of Southwest 184th Street and Old Cutler Road who, at the time, had an application to change the zoning from residential to mixed use. That means they could build a three-story strip mall on the historic and scenic two-lane road next to an ecological restoration coastal area. It’s quite possible that the application needs some kind of county approval. Or that they want some kind of county incentive money. He also lobbies the county for a number of other development clients.

See? Each of these people have his or her own reasons to stand with Gimenez — but you can bet it ain’t his leadership or his track record.

Because most of them have had beef with the mayor at one point or another. The most curious of the endorsements was State Rep. Kionne McGhee, who has recently led a bevy of these same South Dade leaders in taking the mayor to task for broken promises on the metro rail extension south.

“Unless you’re talking about light rail, don’t bother coming to South Dade talking about bigger buses,” McGhee said in March. “There’s not a single pastor, a single mayor, a single city council member who is asking for bus. They’re all asking for rail… people were promised a rail.”

What did it take for him to change his mind? Ladra suspects it’s the $31 million study that Gimenez now proposes to do on light rail options along five main corridors, as if a study is going to tell us anything new. But I can’t help but wonder if McGhee knows this is a five year study and that only $7.5 million is being allocated for this year. Hey, at least you can look for this photo to pop up in mailers or palm cards for black voters.

It’s too bad. Because this was an opportunity for McGhee to stand with the rest of this community that feels betrayed by Gimenez. I mean, how much does this Democrat really agree with the Republican mayor’s policies and decidions? Probably not much.

Instead, he and the others join Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, an admitted loan shark and proven liar, in supporting the mayor. Because those are the kind of people who stand with Gimenez: Liars and loansharks.

And sell-outs.

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife Tuesday night, when the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations had their first candidate’s forum and former friends Joe Garcia and Annette Taddeo faced off for what could be the first time in this election cycle — or ever.

They are so used to working together, not against each other, and you could tell both were uncomfortable with the new dynamic. Pained, even. Certainly extremely awkward.

The other candidate sessions were lackluster in comparison.

Blame Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who was a no-show and gave Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado (and, yes, Ladra’s horse) a captive audience of about two dozen people to present her platform and ideas to. She did a great job because she can fill a room by herself. The audience was full of bobbing heads in what Ladra now calls the “aha moment,” which is when people realize she is the real deal and can be the mayor we deserve to have.

Next to her, KFHA President Michael Rosenberg, who is also founder of the Pets’ Trust and has a rocky relationship with Gimenez, had placed an empty chair to represent the mayor — not just his personality but his MIA status. Rosenberg first noted that he had invited Gimenez no fewer than a dozen times. Ladra is not surprised he’d be afraid to try to defend his record of broken promises, sweetheart deals and no-bid contracts to his friends and family.

The opening acts were even more — yawn, stretch — uneventful. Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez and former Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, ran circles around their challengers, the unfortunately named Michael Castro and Felix Lorenzo, respectively. These certainly seem like slam dunk races, so it’s hard to even pay attention. Ladra got her ears pulled for talking in whispers during Martinez’s closing statements. Ay, he is such an unforgiving guy. And he’s trying too hard. Both incumbents — because Martinez once represented District 11 and is the defacto incumbent now that Commissioner Juan Zapata withdrew — should landslide in. Unfortunately. Because nothing makes for a bad elected like a big head that feels no pressure.

Read related story: Chased out: Juan Zapata leaves hostile work environment

But the Taddeo/Garcia face-off was weird enough to make up for the rest of it. And it offers just a taste of what we might see in future debates and/or mailers.

You wouldn’t think that a debate or forum featuring these two carbon copy candidates and former BFFs could be entertaining. They both support the same things. They both love Obamacare and the U.S. reaching out to Cuba. They are both concerned about sea level rise and immigration. They both took jabs at Republicans. Garcia said Everglades restoration was being purposefully mismanaged by Gov. Rick Scott. Taddeo mocked Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (who beat her 58 to 42% in 2008) and Carlos Curbelo (who they are fighting to face in November) for their efforts to keep studying sea level rise ad nauseaum.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Taddeo even said “Ditto” one time because it was getting repetitive.

But underneath all the outwardly polite agreement, seethed a palpable bitter resentment that surged with a little jab here and there. Him on her total lack of experience in public service. This is Taddeo’s fourth try to get elected. Her on the election fraud issues in his 2014 campaign. Garcia’s campaign consultant and his former congressional chief of staff, Jeffrey “No Relation” Garcia, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for absentee ballot fraud after he was found to have rigged a computer to request ballots without the voters’ permission.

Read related story: Joe Garcia releases first web ad in congressional contest

When asked if negative campaigning had a place, Taddeo was quick to make her position clear. And it’s a yes. But she said it was a “very tough thing” to “let people know about your opponent,” especially when it was someone you once supported.

Once upon a time, Joe and Annette were BFFs

“My level of disappointment to find out that the person I supported to get rid of David Rivera had done exactly what David Rivera had done was very high,” Taddeo said. “I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. It is not right.

“And I know the disappointment I feel is felt by the community because they tell me.”

Garcia did not take the bait.

“Clearly, they’re going to attack. You’ve known me for a better part of two decades,” Garcia told the room, because it basically took him that long — and four tries himself — to get elected. He said that he was going to campaign on his track record, fighting FPL, fighting for children — we guess between his ear wax snacks.

“I’ve worked here. I lived here. I grew up here. I know this community,” he said, which could be a dig at Taddeo’s carpetbagging for a seat, any seat.

Taddeo shot back. She told the audience that Garcia was backed by Big Sugar. “Let’s make sure to follow the money… I;m so tired of the influence of special interests,” she said. To which Ladra would say, yeah, but he had Big Sugar money when you supported him, too.

Still, Obamacare seems to be the go-to for Democrats as much as it is for Republicans (the repeal anyway). Taddeo also took Garcia to task for voting against Obamacare eight times.

Garcia giggled and glimpsed down at his shoes a lot while he waited his turn with his arms crossed. Then he said he had voted against some of the convoluted registration requirements and actually made it easier to sign up. He said he voted for Obamacare more than 50 other times and hit her on her lack of experience. “I was on the floor. Unlike her, I have a record.”

Ouch. That is hitting her where it hurts. Taddeo wants nothing more than a vote record. Anywhere.

But as pained as it might have been for them to be in this position, it was even more so for many in the audience. Said Esther Garvett, a Democrat who has volunteered for both candidates in different races: “It’s breaking my heart.”

Not everybody was shocked by the news Friday that Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata had withdrawn his candidacy and was leaving county government. Zapata — who has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the lack of transparency and the “cost of doing business” at County Hall — has had enough.

“For the past four years, it has been my honor to serve as County Commissioner for District 11. I have fought for the residents of Miami-Dade County to ensure that their tax dollars are not wasted and that we have the most efficient government possible,” Zapata, who is estranged from Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, wrote to the elections department in his withdrawal letter.

“However, the time has now come for me to pursue other endeavors in my life,” he wrote, apologizing to Elections Supervisor Christina White for the inconvenience.

Zapata did not return calls and texts over the weekend. So we have no idea what these “other endeavors” might be? Incorporation? He’s been keen on the efforts of West Kendall residents to form their own city. Back to Tally? The former state rep has often said he preferred that elected position.

Read related story: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’

He’s expressed frustration with county government before. And often. Usually it’s peaks around September, when the commission considers the annual budget. Lately, with the museum giveaways and the taxing district fiasco, it’s been more of a permanent thing than a seasonal one. And it’s no secret that Gimenez wanted him gone. Everyone thinks the mayor put former Commissioner Joe Martinez up to run against Zap, one of his harshest critics. Although they fleetingly once buds, two have had problems for more than a year. Gimenez has publicly snubbed Zap at more than one event. And we are certain that his office leaked and spun that story about the Harvard course — the one he said he intended to pay himself, and eventually did. Because the mayor is a bully.

Now, no matter what happens, Zap’s term at County Hall will be marked not by his knowledge of budget operations and legitimate questions about contracts and taxing districts and county perks, not by his killing of $62 million in giveaways two years ago — but mostly by a false story planted by his enemy to smear him.

So Zapata gave up. “El Zorro” — who has come to our rescue time and time again — was basically worn out. Or chased out. The county commission is a hostile workplace for an honest and inquisitive community representative who gets dirt kicked up in his face every time he tries to make sense out of a hot mess or, here’s an idea, stop it.

But like with most things in life, this exit is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Read related story: ‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil in gifts to insiders

It sucks because — in addition to providing evidence that county government is not the place for a sane and thoughtful elected with no special interests — Zap was the lone voice of reason on that commission (especially now that Commissioner Xavier Suarez is all happy-go-lucky with the mayor he once blasted). Zap is the only one who asks all the right questions. He’s the only one unafraid to call the shell game what it is. He’s the only one willing to corner the mayor on his lies. And we’ll lose that in November. The only consolation we have is that, with any luck, Gimenez will be gone, too, and we won’t need Zapata so desperately.

But his exit also leaves me a little excited about the future. The future three months, that is. Because if there is someone sin pelos en la lengua on the commission, it is Zapata. And now, nobody is safe. It is open season on any commissioner who wants to use convoluted language to justify some inexcusable county expense or policy — or rubber stamp the next corporate or private bailout. 

Ladra, for one, cannot wait until Thursday’s meeting.

And it’s hard to be angry at Zap for bailing. He was working in a hostile work environment.

But I can be disappointed. Especially since he should have dropped out before qualification ended. Because this leaves Martinez to run against some guy named Felix Lorenzo, who ran to oppose the incorporation effort. Which means that Martinez, who has lost bids for the mayor’s seat and a congressional seat, will finally get his coveted elected position back.

And while Zap only replaced him for one term, Ladra hopes Martinez knows he has big shoes to fill. And that his ego is not so big that he can’t see those shoes.