You know who may not want Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia to be the next mayor of Hialeah? His longtime friend, lobbyist Terrence “TC” Wolfe. It could cost him $150,000.
Wolfe is president of the resource referral non-profit that Garcia founded, H.O.P.E. Mission, and a government consultant who works out of the same building as the commissioner’s district office — and has hundreds of thousands in municipal contracts.
That includes a $150,000 contract approved by the Hialeah Council in March with Wolfe’s firm, NCGA Inc., which stands for New Century Government Affairs (Garcia is vice president at a different firm called New Century Partnership). It is a $50,000-a-year contract for three years — actually $49,992, for a total of $149,976 — basically to rub elbows with electeds and push the city’s federal legislative priorities.
Isn’t that the mayor’s job? And wouldn’t it be a conflict of interest if Garcia became the mayor of the city that has a $150,000 with his BFF?
Garcia was pretty insulted when asked about the potential conflict of interest and told Political Cortadito that in 27 years in government — he began as a Hialeah councilman and was a house rep and a senator for eight years each — he has never been accused of any wrongdoing. Well, except for that paper bag he delivered to Hialeah boletera Deisy Cabrera after her 2012 arrest for collecting ballots for several candidates, which he said was a pan con bistec for the hungry old lady and not a cash payoff to keep her quiet.
Read related: Deisy Cabrera plea deal saves politicians tied to AB fraud
Furthermore, he intimated that perhaps Wolfe wouldn’t have that contract if Garcia were to be elected.
“I’m not the mayor of Hialeah now,” Garcia told Ladra. “If I were to become mayor, that could be revisited. We’re talking hypotheticals, but if you know me, you know I’m transparent.”
TC Wolfe and Rene Garcia last December at a H.O.P.E. Mission reception and awards event.
Wolfe also has a contract with Miami Lakes that won’t be at risk. The $5,000 monthly payment that expires next March was approved last month, with a bid waiver. But he’s been working for the town since 2023 and even helped Miami Lakes get its stand alone zip code — so it’s not confused with Hialeah — and at least $3 million in federal appropriations for the NW 59th Avenue project, Town Manager Edward Pidermann wrote in a memo April 15.
“NCGA has also assisted in the preparation of requests for new appropriations for the upcoming federal fiscal year,” Pidermann wrote, recommending an extension of the contract that would give Miami Lakes time to issue a request for proposals and open a competitive process, “while ensuring that the Town continues to receive the necessary federal support during this transition period without interruption.”
It’s probably just a coincidence that Miami Lakes’ newly elected Mayor Josh Dieguez, a longtime Garcia ally, is listed as a director of H.O.P.E. Mission in public records with the Florida Department of Corporations. (BTW: So is Jeanette Rubio, who Ladra thinks is Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s wife.)
Wolfe is a respected lobbyist that also has contracts with many school boards across the state. He advocates for education and real estate interests. With an office in DC, Wolfe lobbied the U.S. House and Senate in 2023 on behalf of the Association of Builders and Contractors’ Florida East Coast Chapter.
He is politically active, but just a little bit. According to multiple records, he has donated to a number of Republican campaigns across the state and to Maggie’s List, a federal political action committee founded in Florida in 2010 to get conservative women elected.
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’
There’s been a lot of attention lately to the $10 million in Medicaid settlement money that was diverted to (read: stolen by) The HOPE Florida Foundation, the non-profit which aims to get Floridians off public assistance, run by Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, who is still mulling a possible run to succeed him. Like this was a kingdom. Turns out that the non-profit then gave the money to two different political action committees that fought the legalization of marijuana last year.
Turns out, one of the PACs was run by James Uthmeier, who was also chief of staff to Ron DeSantis at the time and appointed earlier this year to attorney general.
It’s only natural to wonder if our local H.O.P.E. — it is a word used in a lot of non-profits — is also a conduit for funds to political committees or candidates. But it’s financial records show that it operates on a much smaller scale.
H.O.P.E. Mission reported almost $138,000 in revenue in 2023 and spent just over $52,000 in wages, according to ProPublica. According to an IRS filing of the 990 form, for tax-exempt organizations, the year before, in 2022, H.O.P.E. Mission reported a total of “contributions an grants” of $186,524 and wages of $45,767. The document expresses that the non-profit also had other expenses totaling $109,000 in 2022 and $85,790 in 2023, itemized as meals, rent, events (probably including backpacks and school supplies for distribution in August) and contracts.
Nothing reported to PACs.
Over the course of five years, from 2019 to 2023, H.O.P.E. Mission reported getting $648,846 in grants and contributions. Ladra was unable to find any IRS filings or financial reporting for 2024.
H.O.P.E. Mission’s address is in Hialeah, in the same building where Garcia has his District 13 office. Garcia also had his district state senate office in that building and Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who just stepped down as mayor of Hialeah to go lobby in D.C., had his office there when he was the county commissioner in that district.
It’s also the address for Wolfe’s consulting firm.
Cozy.
Former Hialeah Councilman Bryan Calvo has suggested that Garcia, if elected, will “continue covering up years of wasteful spending,” which he said includes this “shady $150,000 consulting contract handed to a close friend with zero transparency.
“This is how they do business — taking care of themselves while Hialeah families struggle to make ends meet,” Calvo wrote in an email to voters after Garcia announced.
But Garcia said Calvo is making baseless accusations because he has no track record to run on.
He said Calvo is “an immature child” who “has nothing on me,” so he has to make things up. Calvo’s claim to fame, suing the city to get the 911 records and claiming issues with response times, was a political stunt simply to go against Bovo, Garcia said. “Is narcissist behavior caused an unnecessary panic in the city of Hialeah.
“I have always been very clear and transparent about how I do my job, since I’ve been in the legislature,” Garcia said, sending hurt that it would even cross Ladra’s mind that he would grease the wheels to help a friend. He said he resigned from the H.O.P.E. board “for that reason, to avoid any conflict.
“You can never question my integrity,” Garcia said. “Everything I’ve done in the public arena is in the interest of the people who I serve.”
The post Miami-Dade’s Rene Garcia connected to lobbyist with $150,000 Hialeah contract appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Three municipalities in Miami-Dade are possibly signing up to be inspected by the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency, the state’s own Elon Musk group —  let’s just call it Baby DOGE — to find and root out waste, inefficiency and fraud.
Last week, the city of Miami Commission voted to ask Baby DOGE “to come to the city of Miami and look for government waste and fraud.” And in Coral Gables, a commissioner wants the state’s DOGE to review the city’s budget “to make recommendations on elimination of government waste” before this year’s budget process begins. They’ll discuss it next month.
They join Hialeah, whose council last month approved a resolution supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ establishment of Baby DOGE and Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo invited the governor to come check out the city’s books. What does he care? He was already on his way out to go work in D.C. as a lobbyist, anyway.
DeSantis announced he had established the task force in February to, among other things, “look into local government expenditures by utilizing publicly available county and municipal spending records to expose bloat within local governance.” But, of course, he has asked municipalities to cooperate.
Gables Commissioner Ariel Fernandez has asked the city clerk to put a resolution on the agenda for the May 20 commission meeting to discuss a possible Baby DOGE review with his colleagues. “There may be things that we have not noticed,” he told Political Cortadito.
In Miami, it was Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s pocket item at Thursday’s meeting. Even though Miami’s Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring said that the city did not meet the threshold for DOGE intervention, Carollo said it would be a good idea anyway.
Commissioner Miguel Gabela asked if not meeting the threshold means the city is in good financial health. Um, Spring said, don’t get carried away.

“I’m not gonna use the words ‘good financial health,’” Spring said. “We affirmed what they asked us, which is… have we met any of the criteria [to trigger a review]. And the answer was no.”
Read related: Miami Commission moves forward with Allapattah CRA — sans Joe Carollo
Two speakers from the public were also in favor.
Brenda Betancourt, president of the Calle Ocho Inter-American Chamber of Commerce and a candidate for commission in District 3, dared the commissioners to do it.
“This would be a good way to make sure that every single dollar that is collected from the city of Miami residents are actually invested in the best interest of the residents.” Betancourt, a frequent speaker at public comment, said. “If the city, in the way it has been managed for years, doesn’t have any problems, I don’t see why they can’t have the department of efficiency that can actually prove to the city of Miami residents that we are spending our money correctly.”
And Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, who has been on a social media tear against the Downtown Development Authority, was also supportive — and it gave him another opportunity to hit the agency.
“This is an important issue that should be taken up. We do have government waste, especially with the Downtown Development Authority,” he said. “If this agency moves forward, it’s going to do what we’ve been asking for.”
But a third woman said it could wreak havoc, like it’s done at the federal level.
“It concerns me. We need a certain number of employees and we need a certain number of procedures to function as a government,” she said. “This is again move fast and breakl things that’s what scares me. I have a computer science degree. I am a systems thinker. I understand hs concepts,” she said about Musk. “Again, I worry about applying software mentality to people.
“Consider the health of our functioning democracy.”
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
It almost seemed like Commission Chairwoman Christine King and Commissioner Damian Pardo were going to do just that.
“I don’t want there to come in and be a swift sweep of whole departments and people are out of work,” King said. “Efficiency? Yes. But just a broad stroke of… and whole departments are gone? I am not in support of that.
“I am always in support of looking at our processes. We should do that just regularly every so couple of years,” King added. “But I will not support a broad stroke of getting rid of whole departments.”
Pardo said he wanted to “remind everyone that we have an inspector general’s office that is kicking in and we do have audits, I believe in forensic audits. if we want to invite further oversight, great,” he said. “But like you, madame chair, if it’s something that’s fast and let’s break things, I will not support it.”
All Carollo had to say, though, was that it was just to identify efficiencies, and that an ultimate decision would come back to the city commission.
“This is an additional set of eyes,” Carollo said, “so the we can truly live on that word that is thrown around so often — transparency.”
At the end of the discussion, it passed unanimously.
Nobody wants to be seen as defending waste and fraud.

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia filed paperwork earlier this month to run for mayor in Hialeah, after Esteban “Steve” Bovo announced that he was leaving for a Washington, D.C., lobbying gig. But is Garcia really running?
He didn’t have a press conference to announce his candidacy. There is no announcement post on any of his social media. Garcia filed quietly and without any fanfare — on April Fool’s Day, no less. He’s always had a sly sense of humor. He has also told people and the media that he is not 100% in, and has until qualifying in July to make up his mind.
His campaign is so non-existent that Bovo went on La Poderosa last week, eight days after Garcia filed his paperwork, to say he hoped to persuade Garcia to step up and run for mayor. Like he didn’t know he had already?
Many political observers say this is a ruse and that Garcia does not intend to resign his county commission seat. They say he’s just doing longtime ally Bovo a solid by freezing out the mayor’s sworn enemy, former Councilman Bryan Calvo, with the mere possibility he’s going to run. Garcia, who started his career as a Hialeah council member and went on to serve in the Florida Senate, would easily and immediately be the frontrunner. Anyone who might have donated to Calvo’s campaign might now think twice about that.
It would also discourage any other potential candidates from running for the seat. Already Council Member Jesus Tundidor, who had been a potential mayoral candidate before Garcia barely jumped in, filed paperwork — three days after Garcia did — for the commission seat in District 13 instead. But is he really going to run for county commissioner?
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’
Because observers also say that Tundidor could switch with Garcia in July, and step into the mayoral race. The other possibility is that Bovo and his camp support a run by Jacqueline Garcia-Roves, who was council president and is now interim acting mayor. Or someone else altogether. Commissioner Carl Zogby has also expressed interest.
Maybe Rene Garcia’s candidacy is designed to give Bovo and his clan the next two and half months to decide what happens.
But Tundidor’s political action committee, Stronger United, raised $210,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to the campaign finance reports recording transactions from Jan. 1 to the end of March — which was before Garcia filed for Hialeah mayor and before Tundidor filed for county commission. So those donations — which include $25,000 from real estate developer Michaeld Wohl and $10,000 from All American Amusements, a maquinita company that also supported former Mayor Julio Robaina — were most likely for a mayoral campaign. And there’s no way they didn’t happen without Bovo’s okay.
And the bulk of the contributions came on March 11, which was more than a month after the rumors of Bovo’s impending departure were published in the Miami Herald.
“It wouldn’t surprise me one way or another. When it comes to Hialeah, anything is on the table,” said Calvo, who resigned his seat to run for Miami-Dade tax collector last year and lost the Republican primary to Dariel Fernandez. Calvo has also heard the rumors of the ghost candidacy, but said he is not changing his campaign in any way.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m running regardless of who it is against.”
Sen. Garcia told Political Cortadito Thursday that his candidacy was not a political maneuver. “I am considering it seriously” he said, adding that he is “talking to residents and trying to figure it out where I best serve.” The response so far? “Honestly, it’s a mixed bag.”
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
Some people have said they want him to run and others have said that they want him and need him to stay at the county. “That weighs heavily on me,” Garcia said, adding that he’d also be the third county commissioner to step off the dais this year. District 5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins announced earlier this month — the day after Garcia filed for the Hialeah race — that she was running for Miami mayor and District 6 Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, or rather former District 6 commissioner Cabrera, resigned this week and was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
“If I leave, that’s three new seats on the commission,” said Garcia, who was automatically re-elected last year with no opposition. “I made a commitment to serve for four years.” And he’s doing some important work, he added.
“My priority has always been Northwest Dade,” Garcia said. “That’s the quagmire.”
The post ‘Rene Garcia for Hialeah Mayor’ could be a decoy for someone else to run appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Before Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo steps down to take a job at a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, he voted Tuesday to give himself retirement benefits.
Ladra was still trying to get details on what the deferred compensation plan for electeds would look like, because there was zero discussion or debate about the two ordinances on the dais before everyone voted in favor of giving themselves more free money. But there were no official answers as of Friday afternoon.
According to sources close to City Hall, council members will be vested after five years of service, but the mayor is vested from Day One. It’s also retroactive to October 21, 2021.
Ladra was unable to get more details after several emails to the city clerk and calls to Bovo went unanswered and unreturned.
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo posts extreme views, promotes ‘big lie’
There will still have to be a second reading Feb. 25 before it’s final.
It’s not exactly a pension, per se. Voters in Hialeah did away with pensions for elected officials in 2013 with 80% approving a charter amendment.  Before that, electeds got a pension after they reached the age of 55 and completed 12 years or more of service on the council. It also required any future changes to the pension plans of elected officials to be approved by a city-wide vote.
It did not wipe out the pensions that were already granted. According to Ballotpedia, former Mayor Raul Martinez gets a pension of $180,000 a year and former Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez gets around $190,000 a year.

Bovo, who makes $190,000 a year in salary and expenses, will be leaving his post to join The Southern Group, a prominent lobbying outfit in D.C., according to the Miami Herald, which reported it last week. His compensation is reportedly going to be higher, but he still felt the need to take a little more from Hialeah taxpayers.
It’s likely that a majority of Hialeah residents don’t have pensions. This population’s average household income was $53,000 a year in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s household. Individual average salary was at about $25,800. The Census also said that 17.5% of Hialeah’s residents are living at or below the poverty level.
Remember when Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela pulled the same thing with granting lifetime pensions in his city and got pummeled for it on the radio and in the news? The backlash from the community caused him to want to put an item to reconsider o the agenda. But Mayor Francis Suarez got there first with a veto and was hailed as a hero.
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
But in Hialeah, so far? Crickets.
And here we have a mayor who has one foot out the door, voting on extending his benefits before he does.
Former Councilmember Bryan Calvo, who resigned to run for tax collector (lost in the primary), is now running for mayor in November to replace Bovo and said he would undo the golden parachute as soon as possible if given the chance.
“The pension proposals are a total slap in the face to residents and father proof that Bovo and company are more concerned about extracting every possible cent from the tax payer than public service,” Calvo told Political Cortadito. “For both items to be approved unanimously and without any discussion on the dais is proof that the fix was in for Bovo to make a final cash out before his departure and to setup his heir apparent for a comfortable transition.
“If elected, I will absolutely repeal said ordinances,” said Calvo, who sued Bovo in 2023 for abuse of power after the mayor allegedly hampered his efforts to get 911 information. The lawsuit was dismissed in court last year.
Ladra smells a campaign issue.
The post Steve Bovo’s parting gift: Retirement benefits for himself, Hialeah electeds appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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