We’ve all just figured out what Plan B is for the family and friends of Miami-Dade Carlos Gimenez should he get fired by voters and lose his seat at County Hall in August: Get another seat on the school board.

The mayor’s sister-in-law filed documents earlier this month to run for the Miami-Dade School Board in the seat vacated by Raquel Regalado, who is running against Gimenez. How convenient. I mean, we wouldn’t want any of the Gimenez children to have nowhere to go for handouts. Where would his millionaire friends get their game-changing grants? And his contractor buddies would have to actually compete for work? Shudder the thought.

Sure, sure, I am helping Raquel with her campaign to become the first female mayor of Miami-Dade County. Because it’s about time. Because she has a proven track record at the fourth largest school district in the country. And because she is the best alternative we have to Carlos Gimenez, who lies to the people and gave a $4 million no-bid contract to his son and finds jobs and business for his buddies and million-dollar subsidies for his campaign contributors.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s son’s firm got $4 million PAC repair job

But guess what? I would have been against Mari Tere Rojas anyway.  Ladra would not have believed in the integrity of this surprise candidate nonetheless and would not be — surprise, surprise — impartial.

And guess what? None of that makes what you’re about to read any less true. But since nobody else points out the obvious, the job is left to Ladra.

It’s going to be hard to run a campaign against Rojas. I mean, she’s probably raised $100,000 already. Yes, that’s a lot for a first time candidate. And, no, it isn’t because she was been a teacher and principal at elementary schools for 30 years.

Lourdes Gimenez and CJ Gimenez say words at Mari Tere Rojas’ kick-off

Not a lot of first-time candidates have their kick-offs at the Biltmore Hotel, where Rojas had her first shindig last week (you can see all the usual suspects in her Facebook pics). Not a lot of first-time candidates have the mayor’s wife and son, a known lobbyist, introduce her. Not a lot of first-time candidates — even longtime educators — have the golden, grabby hands of Brian Goldmeier, the mayor’s professional fundraiser, shaking the trees for them.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez pals own land for/near new soccer stadium

Goldmeier’s probably already made calls to people who have maxed out on the mayor’s campaign. “Hey, here is another way you can help Carlos Gimenez.” Wink, wink. Nod.

So, who is going to want to go up against that?

His name is Richard Tapia. He is a Miami Dade College professor and former public school teacher. And I expect to be learning more about him in the next few months and sharing that with you all. Because, as we have established, Ladra is not impartial. And the fact that he is not connected to the corrupt Gimenez cottage industry is a good thing.

But, hey, now the mayor’s wife or one of his daughters-in-law can run for a city of Miami commission seat. 

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez will lead another dog and pony show today. Or should we call it a dog and cat show?

The opening of the new animal services shelter in Doral is 12 years late, since voters approved it in 2004, but comes less than two months before absentee ballots drop in a hotly contested mayoral race where he is sliding. That is not a coincidence.

It’s also not a solution.

Sure, it’s a little more than a bandaid. This new shelter will be a cleaner facility with newer equipment and space for 100 more dogs, which Ladra bets will fill up in the first week. The dogs will have air conditioning. Woo hoo. But it’s mostly a shiny, new distraction to appease the animal advocate community and another cutie pie puppy photo op for Gimenez et al.

He won’t mention the 15 dogs and 12 cats that were killed in two days last week so they wouldn’t take up room in the new shelter. The dogs had names like Simba and Bruno and Zeus, evidence of a better life once. They were too old or too sick or too ugly to be transported to the new shelter.

Or maybe the county didn’t want to mess up the new “killing room.” How much you wanna bet that’s not included in today’s VIP tour?

Will it take 12 years for the 2012 people’s vote to be respected? Sure, the Pets’ Trust Initiative ballot question was non-binding, a straw ballot. But if 65% of your constituency votes for something, don’t you think you ought to do it? Gimenez has continued to thumb his nose at the 483,491 people who voted for the dedicated funding to a massive spay and neuter program that would bring the county to a no-kill status. Even though that is more than the number of people who have voted for Gimenez. Ever. In all his elections.*

Is that it? Is it jealousy, bruh?

That’s the only reason Ladra can think of that makes any sense as to why he continues to ignore the people’s will, the people’s freaking mandate. That vote was to fund a $20-million plan that would focus on massive spay and neuter programs in retrofitted low-cost neighborhood clinics with an extra $15 a year or so in taxes. The question was exactly as such:

Would you be in favor of the County Commission increasing the countywide general fund millage by 0.1079 mills and applying the additional ad valorem tax revenues generated thereby to fund improved animal services, including:

• Decreasing the killing of adoptable dogs and cats (historically approximately 20,000 annually);

• Reducing stray cat populations (currently approximately 400,000 cats); and

• Funding free and low-cost spay/neuter programs, low-cost veterinary care programs, and responsible pet ownership educational programs?

Carlos Gimenez says we didn’t know what we were voting for. Ladra would argue that the 126,525 people who voted for Gimenez in 2012 didn’t know what they were voting for. That’s much more reasonable.

A dog is visibly nervous, perhaps he senses the other dead animals in the room, as he awaits his fate at the Miami-Dade animal shelter “killing room”

Meanwhile, he has increased the funding and is spending almost as much as the Pets’ Trust plan would have spent, but without making a dent in the stray population. The first year, he increased the funding from $10 million to $14 million for animal services. The next year it went up to $16 million and last year it went up again to $17 million. That is close to the $20 million that was needed in the Pets’ Trust plan, which was written over months and with the participation of our Animal Services Department director and several animal rescue groups and organizations. But instead of going to low-cost spay and neuter services that would lower and control our stray population, Carlos Gimenez hired more veterinarians and technicians at the shelter. The bulk of that money is going to staff salaries and benefits, not to spay and neuter services, which is the only way to make a dent in the stray population control.

About $300,000 went to a consortium of local veterinarians — who fought the Pets’ Trust plan tooth and nail — to do spay and neutering. About 5,000 operations were performed over two years and the money is gone. The Pets’ Trust plan says we need between 100,000 and 125,000 surgeries a year to cut down on the stray population.

And the best thing about it is that the budgeting would have decreased over time. Instead of going up and up like it is now, the budget would be decreasing because fewer surgeries would be needed and fewer animals would be killed.

The numbers the county is reporting from Animal Services now on the 90 percent save rate are a fraud. We have lower kill rates only because they take in fewer dogs and cats. They ship some of what they do take in to other states where we don’t know what happens. They turn people away at the gates. They tell callers to go to Broward. They don’t count owner surrenders if they can convince the owner to euthanize. They refuse to take in strays and abandoned dogs called in by residents.

One drive around the Redland with the activists who go out every evening to feed the strays dumped and abandoned there will prove to anyone that Animal Services is not doing its job (more on that later). A group from Orlando came in one day a few months ago and rescued 54 dogs. In one day. They took them back to Orlando in a caravan of 14 vehicles. You know that if you go out in one day and find 54 stray and abandoned dogs in a 12-hour period that Miami-Dade Animal Services isn’t doing its job.

Carlos Gimenez isn’t doing his job either. He is not representing the people who voted him into office. He just likes to cut ribbons a couple of months before his re-election.

The Pets’ Trust people — now organized as the Animal Power Party political action committee — will have a protest at 10:30 a.m. today in front of the new shelter ribbon cutting, 3599 NW 79 Ave. They ask that protesters wear red in solidarity. The protest has become more about democracy and respecting the people’s vote than even animal welfare.

*Gimenez got 10,844 votes to become District 7 commissioner in 2004, was elected sans opposition in 2008, then got 55,180 votes in the post recall free-for-all of 2011 and 102,445 in the runoff against Julio Robaina, and finally 126,525 votes in 2012 against former Commission Chairman Joe Martinez for a grand total of 293,994 votes. In 2012, a total of 483,491 people voted for the Pets’ Trust.

Disclaimer: Ladra’s alter ego, Elaine de Valle, is working with #TeamRaquel to get Raquel Regalado elected mayor instead of this clown we have now. This blog post, however, is not part of her work product. This is what Ladra does and has done since 2010. This blog has been Carlos Gimenez biggest critic since he was involved in voter fraud in the 2012 election. We will continue to highlight these stories as long as the mainstream media does not. And the fact that Ladra is helping Raquel Regalado does not make any of the aforementioned false. It is all still true.

Ladra loves police body cameras. I mean, what’s not to like?

We have the technology to capture the cops interacting with victims and culprits and it gives us a glimpse into both how hard their job is and how some of them may abuse their role. It serves as a deterrent to both the officer, who might now count to ten, and the mouthy drunk that might not want to be on the late night news getting into it with a cop. There’s no reason not to use them if you can. Body cams are a good thing — when used properly and the video is stored in such a way that it is accessible to whoever wants it.

Heck, I wish we could put them on everybody. Firefighters. Meter readers. Procurement officers. Electeds. In fact, can someone please sponsor an ordinance where a lobbyist has to put one on as she or he enters County Hall? Commissioner Levine Cava?

But at $1 million a year one has to wonder if this is a police priority our budget can afford. Especially right now, when we have shootings almost every other day and another child killed about every week on our streets.

Body cameras won’t stop the shootings. They make for good headlines, however. Miami-Dade is now the largest department nationwide to use body cameras. It makes us look good. But only on the surface.

Read related story: Body cams are swell — but put one on the mayor, too

Miami-Dade Commissioners, at the direction of Mayor Carlos Gimenez, voted last week to spend more than $1 million a year on body cameras for our police officers for an approved total of $5.4 million over the next five years. This is mostly for storage and maintenance since the cameras themselves aren’t that expensive. At $300 a pop (which is high, because the county ought to be getting a bulk rate), the 1,500 cameras would cost $450,000. So that’s $4.5 million or so for storage and maintenance? Doesn’t that seem high?

What did commissioners do about the crime that is creeping into our neighborhoods and the shootings that have become commonplace? How much went to increased patrols or a special task force to focus on this youth gun crime? Absolutely nada.

Oh, sure, there is talk about mentoring programs and that’s as good as body cameras — it won’t stop the bleeding going on now. Especially since the Florida legislature just passed a law that requires the department to have a policy before it implements the program.

Read related story: Politicos want to shield body cam footage from us

Only one thing will put a stop to the violence that is not just limited to Liberty City and Miami Gardens. There was a shooting the other day at The Falls, fam. The freaking Falls!

We need more police on the street. We need more experienced police to stay in the department. We need specialized units like the gang unit and the robbery intervention detail to be restored so that they can stop these things from happening.

And we need a mayor who will recognize that he made a mistake in 2014 when he dismantled all the specialized units, a mayor who will acknowledge that, yes, there has been a spike in violent crime and a mayor who will take responsibility for it and make real changes that do make a difference in addressing the needs we have right now.

As expected and reported in Political Cortadito previously, we are still nowhere near a deal for FIU to expand onto the grounds currently occupied by the Dade County Youth Fair and Expo.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez finally admitted Wednesday that talks have led nowhere and that The Fair doesn’t have to budge because it has an upper hand, using a poker analogy with the Miami Herald editorial board: The Fair is holding a royal flush; the county has a card short of a low straight.

Lost in the ensuing laughter, the follow up questions that were never asked is why is the mayor playing poker with The Fair to begin with? Has there been bluffing involved? What are the stakes? And shouldn’t the county already have folded? Is this really the best use of our mayor’s time and energies? What would breaking the lease, as he also suggested he might do, say to other entities looking to do business with the county?

Read related story: FIU’s bully battle vs Youth Fair keeps costing us plenty

Because at the same time as Gimenez admitted a deadlock, he also admitted two other things that should be sorta outrageous. The first is that he is going to continue to waste our county time and resources to work on a solution that he says can’t be had that would work for both FIU and The Fair, which would need to get an equal or better location able to accommodate 24,000 cars.

“I am actively trying to find a location, an alternative, uh, you know, half way, acres, you can co-mlocate, all that,” Gimenez said in an often rambling half hour interview broadcast on Periscope that ran the gamut from CRAs and the Frost Museum bailout to regulations for Uber and the Liberty Square redevelopment.

The second thing is that he is willing and ready, mind you, to break the lease and evict the Fair even though they have “an incredibly sweet deal” of a rock solid contract that is legally binding through 2085 and they are, well, holding all the cards. He just doesn’t want to have to pay the financial consequences.

Isn’t that like saying you’re willing to steal something as long as you aren’t caught and charged?

Read related story: Mayor to meet with FIU and Youth Fair over standoff

Gimenez has said FIU would have to provide a legal guarantee that they would pay any costs associated with a lawsuit.

“What I’m saying is that if you want us to do that, then somebody is going to have to pay if there is a relocation cost, someone is going to have to pay if there is a judgement against Miami Dade,” Gimenez said, flanked by his entourage of county staffers — Budget Director Jennifer Moon, Communications Director and spin doctor Michael Hernandez and Chief of Staff Alex Ferro, as well as whoever was Periscoping.

The university president has already said that they can’t do that.

They have $50 million committed — which would come out of state funds, by the way (read: our tax dollars) — to move the Fair and for the construction of

There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”

Read More.