People watching the City of Miami meeting last week were surprised when Commissioner Joe Carollo went with the majority and voted against the very contract he helped negotiate with Ultra Music Festival organizers, even after getting everything he demanded.
The three-day electronic music event was kicked out of Bayfront Park, its home the past 18 years, when commissioners voted Sept. 27 unanimously not to renew their contract for next year. They cited the noise and traffic bothering downtown residents as their prime concerns.
But in reality Carollo is just trying to trade in one noise and traffic nightmare for another: Formula One racing. He thinks that if he can appease the downtown residents on Ultra — there, I did that for you — then it will be easier to sell the Miami Grand Prix.
Read related: Joe Carollo files late campaign report, with $60K to mayor’s daughter-in-law
And he’s doing it for his new BFF, lobbyist CJ Gimenez, son of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. CJ represents Formula One racing interests.
But what people need to know is that its not apples for oranges.
Yes, the Formula 1 racing would likely not extend into the wee hours of the morning like Ultra does. But the noise is arguably worse and the traffic is still going to be a nightmare. And the agreement negotiated so far with the city manager provides far less rent to the city than Ultra, whose organizers had agreed to pay $2 million annually to the city for the three day use of the park, a demand Carollo had made.
Read related: Why is Joe Carollo on Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s camp’s payroll
But Carollo and the Gimenez clan have a very special relationship. It’s a relationship where Mayor Gimenez was paying him $6,000 a month through his political action committee — for what? nobody knows — and where Crazy Joe paid the mayor’s daughter-in-law Tania Cruz, an attorney, almost $60,000 for mailers and campaign work. Both CJ and Tania, photographed right at a 2017 campaign event, were very present during Carollo’s commission contest and Cruz helped represent him after Alfie Leon challenged his residency.
Yes, it was an anonymous vote to deny Ultra another year. But Carollo was the one who negotiated and brought the contract to the table. Was it sabotage? Did he bring a poison pill?
Why wouldn’t he make it easier for his pal CJ to get Formula One passed? Todo en familia.

Read Full Story

Authorities need to investigate the latest campaign finance report filed Monday by Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, and not because it’s several months late, for which the commissioner should be fined.
One expenditure on the campaign termination report — which closes out the account for the 2017 campaign — smells questionable and should raise eyebrows in law enforcement circles: A $59,820.47 payment for mailers to Tania Cruz on November 20.
Tania Cruz is not a campaign consultant who does mailers, even though she billed almost $100,000 total to Carollo’s campaign for just that. She is an attorney who also got $1,300 paid in the same Carollo report for legal fees, and, more importantly, the daughter-in-law of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. She is married to the mayor’s lobbyist son, CJ Gimenez, who has become nearly a fixture in Carollo’s office. She was emailed by Carollo’s attorney against the strong mayor referendum two minutes after he received confirmation the case was filed.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs strong mayor
She is also, however, the rumored girlfriend of Alex Diaz de la Portilla, (remember that Boston Police caught them smoking in a hotel room together?) who is said to be the real author behind some of Carollo’s more hateful mailers calling Tommy Regalado a communist and  Zoraida Barreiro a whore.
But those mailers would have been sent weeks earlier, like when Tania Cruz (photographed here talking to Carollo’s wife on the campaign trail) got $3,382 on October 13 or $5,640 on October 23 or $5,880.60 on October 25. At the very  least, they would have been covered by the $17,998 paid on November 6, which was when both Regalado and Barreiro were eliminated anyway.
That’s a total of $39,900 to Tania Cruz (aka Alex Diaz de la Portilla) for the first round.
But another $60K would have covered, more or less, 10 mailers, according to sources who are legitimate vendors and do this kind of thing for real. Ten mailers sent between November 6 and the runoff Nov. 20 against Alfie Leon? Seems unusual, at best, a complete fabrication at worst, that there were 10 negative mailers sent.
Read related: Gimenez family hit in Senate campaign… ADLP’s wag the dog?
“It seems calculated, like that was exactly what was left over at the end of the campaign,” said one legitimate campaign consultant who knows what he’s talking about.
“It’s a shell game. No way they sent 10 mailers at the end like that,” said another.
So what did that money really pay for? Or who did it really go to?
Mail is pretty easy to track down and prove. Even the United States Postal Service should have records. This should not be a difficult thing for the State Attorney’s Office to look into.
Or maybe it can be the 18th complaint against Joe Carollo at the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust?

Read Full Story

There’s no mention of them in the lawsuit filed Tuesday by Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo against the city and Mayor Francis Suarez in an attempt to stop the strong mayor vote, but the county mayor’s family is involved.
While the emergency complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief was filed in Miami-Dade 11th Circuit Court by Jesus Suarez, an attorney with Genovese Joblove and Battista, an email shot out that very night shows who had to be notified as soon as possible: Tania Cruz, the mayor’s daughter-in-law, and Carlos Gimenez, who could be the mayor’s lobbyist son or the mayor himself — but there’s really no difference as evidenced by last month’s elections interference.
The email was sent just before midnight, two minutes and three seconds after Suarez got notice of the filed documents. It had only one word in it: “FILED” All in caps. Like “DONE” or “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.” Like he is reporting to his real boss.
Genovese Joblove and Battista has long been affiliated with Gimenez and once employed his other daughter-in-law, Barby Rodriguez.
Cruz, who is married to the mayor’s lobbyist son, was the attorney of record for the Carollo campaign and represented him, alongside Ben Kuehne, during the challenge to his district residency brought on by Alfie Leon. Is she consulting now, too?
And CJ Gimenez, the lobbyist son that this is probably addressed to, has been with Carollo since the campaign and now beyond, helping him get an extension from Papi as head of the county elections department for the wording on the strong mayor ballot question and, now, helping Carollo challenge the measure in court.
The lawsuit — which also names Miami City Clerk Todd Hannon, Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor (by proxy) Christina White and the political action committee Miamians for an Independent and Accountable Mayor’s Initiative as defendants — argues that the “ambiguous and intentionally misleading” ballot language doesn’t clearly tell voters what the mayor’s compensation will be under the strong mayor change (watch this become the crux of an anti campaign) and other changes that take power away from the commission. It also argues that the petitions themselves are invalid because some of the circulators are not registered Miami-Dade voters, as required by county code.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez abuses power in election interference for lobbyist son
Interesting  points that seem to have merit. Ladra is not sure she likes the strong mayor idea, either. I mean, look how great it’s been for the county. And the Suarez version is even more powerful and convoluted (more on that later).
But I’m more interested right now in how deeply involved Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is in this fight. And why?
First he abuses his power to intervene in the elections process on behalf of his lobbyist son and Carollo, getting the commissioner a one week extension because Carollo thought he could kill the referendum measure with time. Gimenez didn’t get the extension for Suarez, who had previously sought an extension of a few days but was told he couldn’t have one and wanted to have the ballot language approved at a special city commission meeting Aug. 6. No, he did that for Carollo, who still couldn’t deliver even after Gimenez took over the elections department and deemed himself the elections supervisor.
And now the Gimenez family is behind, er, um, consulted on a lawsuit against the ballot measure.
What lengths will Gimenez go to on this issue? Isn’t it too bad he’s not as passionate about rail?
A Getty miage captures a much happier and friendlier Francis Suarez and Carlos Gimenez on Marlins opening day.
Is this just an opportunity to muddy Suarez on behalf of Carollo and his son’s career, or is there something more personal at stake? Las malas lenguas say Gimenez has long thought about running for Miami mayor after he is termed out at the county in 2020. Is this the tailgate party? But then, wouldn’t he want the strong mayor measure to pass.
Some political observers believe it’s going to pass anyway, given Miami’s sewn-up vote, and that this presents Gimenez with an opportunity to muddy Suarez while allowing for the strong mayor vote to pass and then using the younger mayor’s inexperience against him in 2021.
It could happen. God help us. At least it is one explanation behind the Gimenez clan involvement in this lawsuit. Have another?

Read Full Story

Let’s say that the mayor of a big city calls one of his employees on a Sunday morning at home. This employee, who years ago he promoted to chief of her department, is in charge of municipal elections and, lo and behold, she changes her mind about a previously hard and fast deadline on an upcoming ballot. The mayor admits to a local paper that he intervened in this matter for his son, a lobbyist who works on behalf of someone with an interest in the ballot.
Sounds like Nicaragua, don’t it? Almost anywhere else, this would draw some drumbeats and possibly an investigation into what is obviously, at the very least, an abuse of power.
But this happened in Miami-Dade, where Mayor Carlos Gimenez admitted to the Miami Herald only a few weeks ago that he used his elected office to get his lobbyist son a week-long extension on the Miami referendum for a strong mayor — and everyone just shrugs their shoulders and moves along like there’s nothing to see here.
How is this not being investigated? Have we become so numb to these abuses of power that such an extension of the friends and family plan is no big deal?
For those of you who are just hearing about this like Ladra was a few days ago: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who wants to be a strong mayor (more on that later), was having a hard time getting the ballot language good enough for the commission to agree on it. The deadline for the language to be at the Miami-Dade Elections Department was Tuesday, Aug. 7. Suarez called White and asked for a few more days. She told him it could not be done.
A few days later, on a Sunday, Aug. 5, White gets a phone call from Gimenez who asks her the same thing. Now, the answer is different. Now the answer is, sure, why not? Heck, she could wait even a week more. But nobody tells Suarez, who called a special meeting for Monday, Aug. 6, during which the city manager calls White and, voila, gets a week extension, seemingly on the spot. That Emilio Gonzalez has magical convincing powers, right?
Wrong. Everyone finds out the later that day or the next day is that the week-long extension had already been granted — a day earlier and to another mayor, Gimenez. Mayor Giveaway told the Herald point blank that when he told his son about the extension, the suddenly hot lobbyist CJ Gimenez, Commissioner Joe Carollo, who CJ grew close to during the Miami commission seat campaign last year (photo, left), was sitting next to him. It sounds like Mayor Gimenez knew he was talking to both of them. Maybe on speaker. CJ always puts dad on speaker.
“I told them it wasn’t a hard date,” Gimenez is quoted as saying in the Herald. “That if requested, the supervisor of elections would probably be amenable to moving it back a week.”
Read related: We get Joe Carollo in Miami — and all the drama, interest that comes with
Can’t you just hear the Don Corleone accent? I told them that if requested, the supervisor of elections would probably be amenable to moving it back a week.
So, basically, Gimenez got the extension and Carollo played dumb at the meeting about it for some reason. Maybe Crazy Joe knows that Crooked Carlos shouldn’t have done that.
Reached Wednesday, White said she couldn’t recall if Gimenez had called her that Sunday in the morning or the evening and said it wasn’t that uncommon. “He’s my boss,” she said. “We do talk as needed.”
When Ladra asked her how often her boss calls her on weekends, White couldn’t even give a ballpark figure.
“Is it once a month?” No answer to that. “Twice a month?”
“When I’m in election season, as needed, if something comes up, there’s never been an issue in calling him or vice versa,” she said. Well, except for when he was running for office, she said. “We really did not communicate very often then. He really respected the fact that he was the candidate,” White volunteered. But what did they talk about those few times? How do we know what “very often” means?
This is especially important because Gimenez actually told the Herald he himself was the supervisor of elections.
“I’m the supervisor of elections. I delegate that power to Christina White,” Gimenez is quoted as saying.
Did he, for instance, call White the weekend in the summer of 2016 that he needed to submit another check to qualify after his first check was invalidated because it was dated 2015. Remember that second check that was submitted at 10:20 p.m., way after the elections office is supposedly closed for the day, and the questions surrounding whether or not he may have abused his power to get the office open? Or was he simply the elections supervisor then, too?
Read related: Carlos Gimenez submits late night campaign check (10:20 p.m.)
Did Gimenez call White to tell her to forget about the check that a candidate for school board had cancelled after his son convinced the man to drop out of the race against his sister-in-law? Remember that Richard Tapia never officially withdrew from the race after having lunch or whatever with CJ (photo left) who encouraged him to drop out so his aunt, School Board Member Maria Teresa Rojas, would have an easier ride in? Was Mayor Gimenez the elections supervisor then, too? Or does the county just forgive anybody and everybody who cancels their checks?
There have been several opportunities for Mayor Gimenez to interfere with and, indeed, manipulate the electoral process — and we still don’t know how often he calls the elections supervisor on the weekends.
“So, twice a month?”
“There is no figure,” White said, exasperated at very legitimate questions that really need to be asked after she is subpoenaed and under oath..
She did say she did not feel uncomfortable by his call or what she deemed as his “inquiry,” because she insists her boss did not ask her to extend the deadline. Gimenez simply asked, White said, if it could be done if it needed to be done — lke it was a hypothetical situation? — and she said why, yes, it could.
Did she happen to mention to Gimenez that Mayor Suarez had, indeed, asked for such an extension just a couple days earlier and that she denied it? “I did not tell him,” White told Ladra. Hmmmm. Don’t you think that would naturally come up in that Sunday conversation? I mean, if it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Read related: Beware of Carlos Gimenez Jr. at Gables School Board forum
The deadline exists, by the way, because of all the work that goes into putting together the general election ballot, starting the day after the primary. There are dozens of questions on the ballot with more than 20 questions in one city alone this year (North Bay Village) and each of those has to be translated to Spanish and Haitian Kreole, then have those translations “negotiated,” because they are never spot on the first time, then have them all approved before the ballot is laid out.
“He just wanted to know if I was asked for an extension would I have a problem with that,” White {photo left) told Ladra. “It’s not that big a deal for me to give a city an extra week, for one city for one question. Especially since I saw the meeting and they were struggling with finding the ballot language.”
But there are three problems with her story: One is that Suarez, too, had asked for an extension for just one city for just one question and she had said nananina to that.
“My recollection of that conversation is he asked ‘Is the deadline firm?’ and I said, ‘Yes, it is,’” White said.
Then why wasn’t it firm that Sunday in her conversation with Gimenez?
The second is that the meeting took place on Monday — and she had already told Mayor Gimenez she would extend the deadline a day earlier. Sp watching them struggle with the language had, literally, nothing to do with it.
And the third is that Gimenez himself told the Herald about a conversation that seemingly went differently. After all, he is the supervisor of elections delegating the power to White.
“To me, it’s important to get things right,” Gimenez told the Miami Herald. “Adding another week to get things on the ballot, I don’t see a problem with that. I would do it for anyone else who asked. That is the democratic process.”
White needs to be put under oath when questioned by ethics investigators and/or prosecutors. Yes, Ladra went there. This is by far the clearest evidence of abuse of power by a man whose friends and family plan apparently knows no bounds. It’s not as if they need someone to make a complaint, but if they do, I will.
Where are the authorities?

Read Full Story

During his re-election campaign last year, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez could not distance himself fast or far enough from then Republican candidate for POTUS Donald J. Trump. Our Republican Cuban-American mayor even urged Trump to drop out of the race and endorsed Hillary Clinton late in the race — in a blatant grab for black and anglo Democrat and last minute undecided votes.

At one point, after he was forced into a runoff, his campaign considered having him change from Republican to Democrat.

Gimenez could have embraced his ties to The Donald, who went on to become president. After all, he once tried to give Trump our public golf course on Key Biscayne and his son, CJ Gimenez, lobbied for Trump in the city of Doral.

An election changes everything for some people and recently those ties have been proudly reclaimed.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s next mancrush giveaway to Donald Trump

The mayor took Thursday and Friday off to travel to D.C. with his wife and son, lobbyist CJ Gimenez, for the inauguration.

For Junior, it’s not just a pleasure trip. It’s business. And it is interesting who his silent partners may be.

CJ announced his branching out into his own lobbying firm earlier this month. Corporate papers for Hemispheric Consulting Group were filed Dec. 22 with the state, listing CJ’s wife, Tania Cruz (who used to be a rabid Democrat, no se ahora) as the registering agent. The company will work on behalf of South and Central American and Caribbean interests who need to lobby the federal government.

Pero por supuesto this was coming. The boy has always used his political ties to his own dad as a business opportunity. You think he wouldn’t use a connection to the leader of the free world? There’s just some doubt as to whether he really branched out on his own.

Ladra didn’t get the press release sent out Jan. 5. Naturally. CJ doesn’t love us. But it was sent to and published by Herald county reporter, Doug Hanks:

“Carlos J. Gimenez, a Miami-based public affairs specialist, announced today that he is part of a team launching Hemispheric Consulting Group LLC, a new entity established to provide guidance, analysis and advocacy before the Federal government.  HCG will focus primarily on foreign policy, international trade, environmental and energy related issues with a strong emphasis on Latin American interests.

Until recently Gimenez served as Vice President and General Counsel of Balsera Communications, a public affairs and media relations firm.  A lawyer by training, he previously worked on land use, government relations and regulatory issues as an attorney.

During the last three years, Gimenez served as lead consultant for The Trump Organization’s activities in South Florida and was directly involved in the redevelopment of The Trump National Doral Miami Resort, the World Golf Championship and the Miss Universe Pageant. He also frequently served as a spokesperson for the Trump Organization with English and Spanish media.

“Having worked closely with the President-Elect over the last three years I can personally attest to his laser like focus on resolving issues in a direct and accountable manner.  His election presents a great opportunity for the entire hemisphere, not just our country.  My objective is for our Hemispheric Consulting Group to be a bridge between North and South as part of that process.”

Gimenez continued, “Latin America will see that the Trump presidency is an opportunity to redefine bilateral relations in a positive and compelling way.”

One of Gimenez’s partners in HGC, Ambassador Julio Ligorria, added, “Our company can bring to Latin America the correct insight into the approach that President-Elect Trump will have.  Carlos, our team and I have worked closely over the years and I appreciate how much he understands the importance of strong bilateral relations.  We are very bullish on what will come under President Trump.”

Gimenez will serve as Managing Director of HCG.”

It certainly presents an opportunity for him, doesn’t it.  And for his Freddy Balsera, too.

See? Some people at first thought CJ’s announcement and the words “until recently” meant he was leaving Balsera Communications, where he “worked” for the past three years as vice president and general counsel. The quotation marks are there because anyone who knows CJ knows that the mayor’s son is not a workhorse. He’s used to coasting because of who his dad has always been — the city of Miami manager, a county commissioner and then mayor. I’m not going to say he’s lazy. But because other people have said that, I know he is not known for a super duper work ethic. Hey, I might coast too, if I had a political sugar daddy.

In fact, las malas lenguas say CJ Gimenez only got that job with Balsera because of his daddy and that Balsera was growing tired of him anyway. Maybe it was his teeny weeny work ethic. Maybe it was his instability. CJ is also known to be un fosforito. This post is likely to make him blow up. Maybe it was the bullying he is known for, which was exposed after school board candidates came forward last year to tell the Miami Herald that they were shaken down by CJ, who wanted them to drop out of the race and let his aunt skate in (she won eventually anyway). But the gist is that CJ had become a liability and Freddy was looking for a soft exit.

Read related story: Beware of Carlos Gimenez Jr. at Gables school board forum

Then Trump won the presidential election.

Because, while CJ has been taken off the firm’s drop down menu list for “our talent,” his bio is still on Balsera’s website, the team picture is still up and nothing in that press release states that CJ is not still working with Balsera. “Until recently” he served as general counsel and partner. Maybe now he’s got a different title. Several sources, in fact, told Ladra that he still works at Balsera’s Ponce de Leon Boulevard office and that Freddy — who traveled with him to meet with Trump Jan. 12 — is a silent partner and investor in HCG.

Look at this EFE agency picture from El Pais, where Balsera joins CJ and HCG parnter Ligorria, the ambassador to Guatemala, as well as David Duckenfield, president and partner at Balsera, which by the way was — at least at one point in 2015, when Ladra worked with Freddy on a campaign — representing some coffee interests in, where else?, Guatemala. Ladra wouldn’t be surprised if their first project is some coffee bean tax credit legislation o algo asi.

It certainly looks like they’re still part of the same team and working together. This can’t be a happy coincidence.

The Spanish newspaper reported that the men talked about U.S. policy toward Venezuela, Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. CJ told the Miami Herald that the meeting lasted no longer than 20 minutes. “Obviously I have a longstanding relationship with Mr. Trump and the organization,” he was quoted as saying, social climber that he is. “We had a discussion with folks on his team that thought it would be beneficial for us to sit down with him for a few minutes and bring up issues related to Latin America.

“I think we can create opportunities for business and cultural ties with Latin America,” Gimenez told the Herald.

There’s that word again. Opportunitites abound.

The photo even has a covenient caption that helps them drive the message: “Los expertos latinoamericanos reunidos con Trump.”

Ladra suspects that CJ and Freddy are still partners in this new endeavor

It makes sense that Freddy wouldn’t publicize his partnership, or answer any of my phone calls or emails about this new endeavor of his and CJ’s. It would be weird to have Balsera, who advised the Barack Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012 and helped Hillary Clinton with at least one event in Puerto Rico — suddenly touting connections to The Donald now that he’s prez. Balsera is a nationally quoted Democratic supporter and consultant who last year said that Trump, for whom the firm did lobbying and PR during the Miss Universe contest, was no longer a client.

Duckenfield is also blue to the core, having served from 2014 to 2016 as Obama’s Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Public Affairs.

Maybe this is a way that they can have access to and influence on leaders in both parties? Ladra is not the only one who thinks so. “It’s like a DBA of Balsera Communications, but with no real fingerprints or names on paper,” said another lobbyist, referring to a division within a company. “He wants to keep his Democratic business, too.”

But Ladra doesn’t think Trump or his people know about this double-agent hypocrisy. Not yet, anyway. I don’t think they know either that CJ’s dad, Mayor Gimenez, the papa opportunist, publicly urged Trump to drop out of the race because of the groping comments. Or announced, on live TV, that he was endorsing Hillary. Maybe State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Trump fundraiser and advisor who may be tapped for an ambassadorship, or other lobbyists should tell him.

Because CJ and Freddy may have some stiff competition. They are certainly not the only South Floridians who can claim connections to the guy who is going to be president about midday tomorrow. Lobbyist Brian Ballard — who represented Trump’s interest at the state and was one of his top fundraisers and who may also be tapped for an ambassadorship — comes to mind. As does Sylvester Lukis, Balsera’s former partner.

And those are true believers, there from the beginning. They were with Trump when it was unpopular in Miami-Dade. If anybody wants an inside track to Trump, Ladra would start with those three.

CJ, Freddy and the other silent partners at HCG, whoever they might be, are Johnny-come-latelys who may exaggerate their influence and are only loyal to one party: The green party.

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.