It’s always the cover up that gets ’em.

We all know that Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez is a big, fat liar. It’s documented. He was caught when he testified in the tax evasion trial of former Mayor Julio Robaina admitting that he charged 36% interest on a personal loan, something he had repeatedly denied publicly and to the media for years. He was fined by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, which found that he violate the Citizens’ Bill of Rights “Truth in Government” provision when he lied in both Spanish and English about his loansharking activities.

But now we have evidence that the mayor has lied under oath, which is much more serious and could be a chargeable offense. We might have him on perjury, of all things!

Read related story: Hialeah mayor’s enforcement ‘snitch’ was paid city funds

Hernandez hemmed and hawed and blatantly lied in a sworn statement to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust when he said he didn’t know that his political enforcement — a man he called his “snitch” — was getting paid taxpayer dollars for odd jobs Rice did in the city.

An Ethics investigation that concluded in April found that Glenn Rice, the mayor’s longtime ally and political enforcer, had been paid a total of $18,000 in multiple checks out of city coffers in 2015 and 2016. But there was evidence to suggest it was for legitimate work, monitoring the city’s new privatized solid waste service and doing background checks on vendors and potential employees. Officials in other municipalities had talked to Rice and provided him with public records. He had been present at several meetings. And he had a photograph of curbside garbage that had not been picked up. Who cares if it was the mayor’s curbside?

But while there may have been no crime here, there was a cover up, which is a whole ‘nother crime.

Hernandez was under oath when, a little more than five minutes into the testimony at the law office of his attorney Tom Cobitz, he told the investigator he didn’t know Rice was getting paid by the city.

Read related story: Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez is fined for loanshark lies

“I think he volunteered something afterwards, once we had — what’s the word? — implemented the whole thing,” Hernandez is quoted in the close-out memo as saying. “I know he assisted our director of public works… and I think he could better answer the question. Armando Vidal can give you better information on that.”

Really? Does anybody believe he really thinks that Glenn volunteered?

So it was just a happy coincidence, then, that those payments were made through the law firm of the mayor’s best friend, former Miami Lakes Councilman Ceasar Mestre, who went to the police academy with Hernandez and later served as his partner on the Hialeah Police force? And it never came up in conversation for two whole years, even though Mestre told the investigator that he has lunch with his old partner at least two or three times a week?

No, actually, we don’t even have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

That’s because Hialeah Public Works Director Armando Vidal, a man with far more credibility, said that Hernandez himself requested he retain Rice, going so far as to suggest the Mestre go-between to hide it! “The mayor didn’t want to hire Glenn Rice directly,” Vidal is quoted as saying in the close-out report.

Of course he didn’t. That would look like he was hiring Rice as a reward for doing his dirty work.

“He said the mayor trusted Rice to provide an independent look at matters relating to city of Hialeah affairs… Mr. Vidal advised that several of the jobs originated with Mayor Hernandez and that Rice’s involvement was expressly requested,” the report states.

Read related story: Carlos Hernandez testifies in Robaina trial, admits crime

“Not only was Mayor Hernandez aware of Rice’s involvement in overseeing Progressive’s performance, Vidal further advised that it was the mayor himself who requested that Rice be retained in this capacity,” it says later in the conclusion. Mr. Vidal stated Rice was someone the mayor ‘trusted’ and that the mayor specifically asked for Rice to be used on several occasions, including the consulting firms Matrix and Aecom.

“Mr. Vidal stated that while Mayor Hernandez clearly valued Rice’s opinion, ‘the mayor didn’t want to hire Glenn Rice directly,’ and suggested to Vidal that Rice could be contracted through Councilman Mestre’s lawfirm. ‘The mayor discussed it with me. He authorized it,’” Vidal is quoted as saying.

Duh. Of course it was the mayor’s idea to go through Mestre. Of course he authorized it.

If anyone deserves to be charged with perjury it is Carlos Hernandez. If not just because he is a liar then maybe because he is a loanshark. Or how about for the many times he has abused his power and his office to go after his political enemies? Or maybe for the many times he has retaliated against city employees who don’t support him or are critical. Or maybe because of the absentee ballot fraud he has committed and tolerated among the most frail and vulnerable in his city.

Ladra would say he is definitely due. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has an opportunity to right a wrong here and finally deliver justice to the people of Hialeah for a myriad of sins.

The fact that it would be with a perjury charge is just gravy.


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Miami Lakes voters were in a giving mood this week, saying yes to and overwhelmingly passing every single one of the 10 charter amendments meanpizziproposed to them — most of which take powers away from the mayor, making it a mostly ceremonial position.

They also made Mayor Michael Pizzi‘s re-election pretty much a pipe dream.

The most important of the amendments forces a runoff for the mayor’s or any council seat should nobody get 50 percent plus one vote in the first round. Pizzi faces at least three serious challengers in November. Two of them are Council Members Manny Cid and Ceasar Mestre and the other is founding Mayor Wayne Slaton, who Pizzi handily beat mano-a-mano in 2012. It is unlikely that the embattled incumbent, who was arrested on bribery charges since his last time on the ballot, would get 50% in that field.

Read related story: Miami Lakes: Manny Cid becomes #3 to file for mayor

He’d be forced into a runoff, most likely against Mestre or Cid, which means he could easily lose his seat. Ladra says lakesmayoralrace - Copythere’s a good chance he doesn’t even run.

Pizzi did not return a call or email seeking his comment. But the other amendments that passed — with between 59 and 76 percent of the vote — are also aimed at his unique powers or duties.

That was the intent of the charter amendment committee. Chairman David “Doc” Bennett, the mayor’s longtime nemesis who has to be proud of himself, said it was bringing the town back in line with its original incorporation mission. The mayor is just one more vote in the Lakes, like each of the council members, Bennett said. There is no strong mayor form of government.

“It’s mostly a ceremonial position,” he told Ladra. The amendments were meant to clarify some areas where the ceremony apparently became too official.

Read related story: Miami Lakes charter changes aim at mayoral power

One amendment takes the appointment of the town manager and town attorney from the mayor’s purview and puts it in the council’s. Another gives the council the right to name the town lobbyist (used to be the mayor’s job). Any Miami Lakescouncil member who can get three to agree can now call a special meeting, which was something only the mayor could do before. One amendment actually states that the town has a council-manager form of government.

They are so over the mayor in Miami Lakes that they had to put it in writing.

It might have something to do with the series of events set off after the August 2013 arrest of Pizzi on federal bribery charges. He was snared in the same sting that nabbed Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño for expediting what they knew were bogus grants in return for thousands in kickbacks. Maroño was sentenced to three years in prison. But Pizzi — or, rather, his quite expensive legal dream team of 17 attorneys — won an acquittal. This despite the testimony that he took a $3,000 bribe from a lobbyist inside an office closet.

After the trial, Pizzi had to sue to get back in office. The city fought his return, but eventually gave up after losing several legal fronts. Then he sued to recoup the legal costs of his criminal case and his civil lawsuit against the town. The whole affair is said to have cost the town about $1 million in legal fees. And Ladra doesn’t know if that includes his attorneys’ costs or not.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi wins Round 1 vs Miami Lakes for legal costs

But Pizzi’s winning streak ended Tuesday when voters rejected his call to vote no to all the amendments.

Pizzi did not return a call for comment. But Bennett said he was “weakened.”

“His base didn’t come out to vote for him. Or he couldn’t convince them,” he said.

True dat. Pizzi, or at least a PAC that we all suspect is Pizzi, had sent out a mailer urging voters to reject all the charter amendments.

But he was outdone by none other than former Florida Gov. and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, whose familygraham helped found Miami Lakes. Yes, freaking Bob Graham weighed in on the tiny town’s amendments by sending his own mailer urging his neighbors to vote yes to all the amendments.

And he honed in on the runoff question.

“The majority vote amendment is by far the most important one to vote YES on because it stands for making sure that your vote COUNTS,” the Senator wrote on the mailer. The door hanger had a photo of him older than this one here. “Our mayor and town council should be comprised of individuals that the majority (over 50 percent) of the voters have chosen to represent our beautiful town of Miami Lakes.”

And that’s how freaking Bob Graham took out Muscles Pizzi.


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Close to 19,000 voters in Miami Lakes will get a ballot in the mail Miami Lakesin the next couple of days that could change the way the city governs for years to come.

Ten charter amendments — not one, not two, but 10 — are on the ballot that are due back by May 17.

It almost went to 12, but two other proposed amendments — one to go back to district seats rather than at large and a controversial measure to rotate the position of mayor among council members — were voted down by the town’s charter committee, realizing, we assume, that the people of the town should be the ones to elect the mayor.

Still, a good number of the amendments on the ballot — mailed out Wednesday by the Miami-Dade Elections Department — seemingly aim to diminish the mayor’s power.

One would put the appointment of the town manager and town attorney in the council’s lap, rather than the mayor’s. Right now, the council simply accepts or rejects the recommendation from the mayor, but cannot put forth a name of their own. Another takes away the mayor’s right to name the town lobbyist with all matters before the county. It would be up to the town manager or council to do so. Still another would give the power to call a special meeting to any four council members. Currently, the mayor alone can call a special meeting. And boy has he.

Do these measures stem from anti-Pizzi sentiment? Sure seems that way, right?

Some think the questions are the result of an embarrassing few years, starting with the August 2013 arrest of Pizzi on federal bribery charges. He was snared in the same sting that nabbed Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño for expediting what they knew were bogus grants in return for thousands in kickbacks. Maroño was sentencedpizzismug - Copy to three years in prison. But Pizzi got acquitted, despite the testimony that he took a $3,000 bribe from a lobbyist inside an office closet.

After the trial, Pizzi had to sue to get back in office. The city fought his return, arguing that former Mayor Wayne Slaton had been legitimately elected by the voters after the arrest. But Ladra guesses that this held little water since Pizzi beat Slaton in 2014 with a whopping 68 percent of the vote. The whole affair may end up costing the city hundreds of thousands in legal fees.

Read related story: Wayne Slaton gives up; Michael Pizzi is Miami Lakes mayor

Oh, did Ladra mention that one charter change on the ballot would make the vice mayor the mayor in the event of the mayor leaving his seat and call for a special election if the vice mayor’s term is longer than that of the departing mayor?

Veteran town activist and former candidate David “Doc” Bennett, a longtime Pizzi critic, said the changes were in line with the founding vision for Miami Lakes.

“He’s one vote. He’s just another council member. He’s not a strong mayor,” Bennett said, adding that the mayor’s title was more of a ceremonial one. “He has tried desperately to turn it into a strong mayor form of government, but you still need four votes. Without four votes, nothing happens.

“All we’re doing is expanding the role of the council, not limiting the role or the power of the mayor,” he said. “Aside from ceremonial duties, he has no more power than the council members.”

Although there is actually a question on the ballot changing the form of government from mayor-council-manager to council-manager.

One question on the ballot that is not about the mayor’s power would change the way council members and the mayor are elected by requiring runoffs when the winner has less than 50 percent of the vote. Well, that one’s sort of a no-brainer.

“Someone could have a paper candidate and it could give the win to whoever gets 30-something percent,” Bennett said. “Now you neutralize that tactic.”

That hasn’t really been a problem in the Lakes. The last few election cycles have seen all head-to-head contests, with winners getting more than 50% of the vote anyway. In the last 10 years, only Councilman Ceasar Mestre won with less than 40%. That was in a four-way race in 2008.

But it certainly could affect the election this year, where there lakesmayoralrace - Copyis a plethora of candidates running for both the mayor’s seat and the council seats.

The mayoral contest has at least three and presumably four (if Pizzi throws his hat in as expected).  Already, Councilmen Mestre and Manny Cid have filed paperwork to run, as has former Mayor Wayne Slaton.

Read related story: Miami Lakes: Manny Cid becomes No. 3 to run for mayor

But two of the council seats are bursting at the seams with three challengers to Councilman Tony Lama (Robin Brown-Beaman, Jose Nodal Jr., and Xiomara Pazos) and no fewer than six so far running for the open seat vacated by Cid (Cynthia Beyer, Esther Colon, Nayib Hassan, Wendy Milanes, Rosalina Nunez and Alejandro Sanchez).

Interesting that nobody has yet to file in the first seat, where incumbent Councilman Nelson Rodriguez is enjoying a free ride so far. Might that change before qualifying this summer?

Councilman Cid said he has long been in favor of runoff elections and he predicted a good turnout — or return on the mail-in ballots. But he wasn’t sure many of the other amendments would make it.

“Historically, Miami Lakers are very intelligent voters who look at each question. Last time, a large number of charter amendment items were voted down.”

Of course, he is running for that targeted mayor’s seat.

Ballots must be returned to the Miami-Dade Elections Department by May 17 and the town has provided an online guide to the ballot questions.


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