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.

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Last week, Dan Gelber became the mayor of Miami Beach. This week, he is using his new political platform to back former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn‘s bid for state rep in District 113.
This is Gelber’s first endorsement since his victory Nov. 7, but with 82% of the vote, it probably won’t be his last. Ladra is certain that he’s already gotten calls from congressional candidates in District 27, which include Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and State Rep. David Richardson, whose seat Weithorn is running for.
Gelber will also co-host a campaign kick-off event for Weithorn Wednesday at Meat Market on Lincoln Road.
Read related story: Miami Beach elections end as expected with Gelber, Gongora, Samuelian
“I have known Deede for years and she is uniquely qualified to represent our community in the State House,” said Gelber, who served in the legislature for a decade including as Democratic Leader of the House before he became a state senator.
“She has proven herself a wonderful steward of public dollars, which is something we need desperately in Tallahassee,” Gelber said. “And most importantly she is unafraid to stand up against the wrongheaded ideas that are often born in Tallahassee.”
The election is next November.
Read related story: Will La Gwen’s retreat cause more musical chairs?
Weithorn — who has been running for 113 since 2015 when Richardson was supposed to run for Gwen Margolis‘ senate seat but then didn’t because she didn’t retire — was equally effusive.
“Dan has a distinguished record of public service and I’m proud to call him my mayor,” she said. “It means a lot to me that he was willing to come out in support of my candidacy so soon after winning his own race.”
It certainly gives her kick-off some ooomph.
And Ladra is certain that Comeback Commissioner Michael Gongora will also endorse her — but he only won with 65% of the vote.

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