How do you beat the most cubanasa member of U.S. Congress in a somewhat Cuban-American district when it seems libertad en cuba is going to be an issue the GOP seizes on? You run a Democrat cubanita against her — a former Republican who used to work for the beloved Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who would still hold the seat if she wanted to.

Nobody can call Janelle Perez a communist.

Read Full Story

We will have to wait until Friday to find out if political operative and campaign consultant Christian Ulvert became an elected this week after he got into a tie for the fourth and last council member slot in Miami Shores.
Voters in Tuesday’s election had seven candidates on the ballot. The top four vote getters won seats.
Crystal Wagar, former Chief of Staff to Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales, got the most number, with 1,440 votes, or 21%. As such, she will be the mayor for the first half of her four-year term.
Former Mayor Alice Burch came in second with 1,262 votes, or 19%, so she will be the next vice mayor. Councilman Jonathan Meltz was re-elected with 1,025 or 15% of the votes.
But the fourth and final seat ended in a tie between Ulvert and former Councilman Stephen Loffredo, each having gotten 893 votes, or just over 13%.
That may be sorted out on Friday when a canvassing board goes through the provisional votes, which are ballots cast by voters whose eligibility could not be verified at the polling location.
Read related: Political operative Christian Ulvert runs for council in Miami Shores
Ulvert’s poor showing may be due to a negative campaign that has been waged against him by none other than David “Disgustin” Custin, who used his political action committee, Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership, to pay for several mailers calling Ulvert a political hack and questioning his motives.
In one, Custin reminds voters that the political advisor to several high profile Democrats — including Sen. Annette Taddeo, Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and former Miami Beach Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Phil Levine — represented dog racing and worked for the slots gambling initiative. Then he suggests that Ulvert might want to bring a strong mayor form of government to Miami Shores, since he was so involved in the strong mayor initiative that failed in Miami.

Read Full Story

Longtime Democrat political operative Christian Ulvert — who helped put Sens. Jose Javier Rodriguez and Annette Taddeo, Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava and Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber into office — wants a seat of his own now. Ulvert is running for city council in Miami Shores and had his kick-off earlier this month.
How many chips you think he’s gonna cash in?
While the municipal election April 9 is non partisan, Ulvert has been a major player on the blue team in Florida for years. In addition to helping Levine Cava, Taddeo and Gelber gain their seats, he also worked on the gubernatorial campaigns for former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and, after he lost, former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who also lost.
In 2017, the American Association of Political Consultants named Ulvert one of the 40 under 40 when it came to the best campaign pros in the country. But when it came time to announce his own bid for public office, this campaign pro did it pretty quietly, on Facebook:
“I’m excited to share that I’ve decided to take on a new challenge and embark on a journey to serve my community. I have filed to run for Miami Shores Village Council because the opportunity to achieve some great things for our Village is extremely exciting. I also reflect on one of my favorite quotes by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has…” as a basis for my run- I’m ready and eager to be part of the positive change that comes through public service!
I will need your help though as no campaign is a journey done alone. We are getting our website ready and our volunteer operation underway- in the meantime though, if you are able to donate, no amount is too small, please click on the link. With your support, we will be able to do great things for Miami Shores!”
Ulvert told Ladra he was encouraged to run by friends and neighbors who (1) felt someone with his government experience and connections to Tallahassee would serve village interests well and (2) said there was no gay candidate and no gay council member to represent an increasing demographic. He and husband Carlos Andrade have lived in Miami Shores for two years.
“There’s just so many things going on in our little village. It’s a very diverse community and there are no gays running,” said Ulvert, adding that he has no work or clients in the Shores. Furthermore, it is an unpaid position with no committee meetings. Council members meet once a month on a Tuesday.
“Folks just wanted diversity. And a voice,” Ulvert said.
Four of the seven council seats are up in the election. They currently belong to Mayor Mac Adam Glinn and Council Members Alice Burch, Jonathan Meltz and Steven Zelkowitz.
Zelkowitz is moving so he is not seeking re-election and Glinn is moving also and ending his term early. Burch and Melch are running for re-election. Ulvert is not the only hopeful joining them on the ballot. Also running are Stephen Loffredo, Julio Martinez, Miryam Rojas and Crystal Wagar.
The four top vote getters will win seats and the candidate with the highest number of votes serves as mayor for the first two years of a four-year term.
Naturally, Ulvert is leading everybody by far when it comes to the campaign warchest, thanks in part to buddies like Gelber and Levine, who gave $500 and $1,000, respectively, and a bunch of lobbyist friends. In his first month raising funds, Ulvert reported $21,440 in contributions in February — that’s almost twice as much as the next candidate, which is Wagar — the former chief of staff to former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales — with $11,500.
Ulvert also has a political action committee called Engaged Florida that has about $35,000 on hand, $25K of which was raised last month.

Read Full Story

There seems to be another funky, mysterious political action committee working in Miami Beach for the state elections — but this one is against Michael Grieco, not for him.
Grieco, the popular populist former city commissioner, was forced to resign and drop out of the mayor’s race last year after he got into trouble with another PAC. He is running for state House now and is arguably the front runner. Because South Florida, yeah, but also because the other two Democrats in the primary are no angels themselves.
Former fellow commissioner Deede Weithorn — who lied about having a master’s degree in engineering from MIT — has cozied up to the private prison industry, taking thousands from the evil GEO Group and claiming “personal relationships” made her do it. Meanwhile attorney Kubs Lalchandani represents sketchy plastic surgery factories that have killed and maimed people (ouch) and hasn’t voted in 15 elections (double ouch).
Nobody likes Deede and nobody knows or trusts Kubs so this is Grieco’s race to lose.
Everybody likes Mike. And, despite the PAC thing, they trust him. Go figure. Grieco already has all the major endorsements: The Miami-Dade Firefighters IAFF Local 1403, the Dade County Police Benevolent Association, AFSCME of South Florida — the trifecta of union nods — and also, most recently, the Florida Medical Association (FMA), a physicians’ PAC that raised more than $2.3 million during the 2016 election cycle.
You don’t need a poll to know Grieco’s got the edge here in a three-man race. And the stakes are high for the Aug. 28 primary because whoever wins that will almost certainly win the seat in November because of the demographics.
And that’s why the PAC attacks have started from a new campaign committee called Now Gen. The campaign is predictable: They tell you not to trust Grieco because of the PAC thing. Because that’s all they got. So let’s review what happened, shall we?
Grieco said friends and supporters had formed a PAC that got a $25,000 donation from overseas documented in a different person’s name. That’s called a third party contribution and is highly illegal, although the State Attorney’s Office has sure turned the other cheek multiple times, even once when Ladra brought her proof that the Miami Voice PAC had done exactly the same thing.
Anyway, when Grieco denied any connection and said something like “look into my soul,” — hey, he’s a former prosecutor so the dramatic flair is still there — a reporter with the Miami Herald took it as a personal challenge to prove him otherwise. It got the attention of Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle, who already had a beef with the former prosecutor, and handwriting experts and the accounts of said friends — who were providing testimony in a hostile environment, afraid for their own reputations, likely — and we have a case? Eh. Maybe.
But maybe not. Because there are so many ways that what he said and did could be misunderstood — or, worse, misinterpreted. Ladra simply is going to do what the rest of the engaged voters in that district are choosing to do and give Grieco the benefit of the doubt. It is hard to imagine he ever intended to do anything so tawdry for a mere $25K when he didn’t need it to win that race.
Read related: Miami Beach: Levine and Wolfson on defense for shady PAC
And how come you don’t see the SAO or any PAC for that matter go after gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine, whose own PAC — the appropriately named Relentless for Progress (aka Request for Proposals) was shut down after it was disclosed (first by this very blog) that Levine and his No. 1 Henchman, former Commissioner Jonah Wolfson solicited $1.5 million in campaign contributions from vendors and contractors at the city. Oh, Ladra knows why! Because Levine and Lalchandani share the same campaign consultant: Christian Ulvert.
So Grieco’s shady PAC was bad but Levine’s shady PAC is forgiven and forgotten and Ulvert can have his own PAC attack Grieco for Kubs, who poses like this for his twitter photo? Sounds like a triple standard.
And, while Miami Beach folks hate outside influence in their hometown politics, the argument against Grieco is falling on deaf ears because he has a core base of supporters who have never left him.
One reason is that Grieco never left them. Sure, he withdrew from the mayoral campaign, but he did not withdraw from their lives or from public service. He has continued to serve his constituency as a Facebook commissioner if not an elected one, warning of flooded streets or traffic jams and keeping citizens informed about important issues and controversial commission items.
Another reason is that Grieco led the charge against Levine’s idea to invite the Communist and totalitarian government of Cuba to open a consulate in Miami Beach. Y’all remember that, right? Levine and Ulvert both took disgusting tourist jaunts to Havana and were so enthralled with the people they were allowed audience with, and the regime thugs they met with, that they thought it would be a good idea to have a Cuban consulate office right here in our face. Although the idea was shot down with a 4-3 vote by the commission to not allow a consulate until there were free elections and a respect for human rights, Grieco was the one who got that ball rolling. Then Levine accused Grieco of being a political opportunist because Grieco was not Cuban (even though he was speaking for his constituents).
“If that was true, I’d need to be gay to support my LGBT brothers and sisters. It would also be saying that only Jews can stand up for our Jewish community, or I would have to be female to fight for our women,” Grieco told the Miami Herald. “I find this logic offensive.”
There’s that dramatic flair. That’s at least as good a quote as the soul one.
In a way, these PAC attacks are still coming from Levine, via his consultant Ulvert, who is chair of the Now Gen PAC. Makes one wonder if Lalchandi — who has a $1.2 million house in Boulder, Colorado, so no wonder nobody knows who he is — is really a plantidate. How hard did Ulvert have to bend his ear?
This time, Grieco doesn’t seem to have his own PAC to worry about.
Of course, he doesn’t really need one either.

Read Full Story