It is a fact that firefighters get cancer and die of cancer at a higher rate than the rest of us — 14% higher. Study after study shows that job-related cancer is the number one killer of firefighters.
It is a fact that no fewer than 45 states have addressed this issue by passing laws that provide additional cancer coverage or health benefits for them.
It is a fact that a bill to extend cancer coverage for firefighters has sailed through and is certain to pass in the Florida Senate and has a whopping 82 sponsors in the House. That’s two thirds of the membership — more bipartisan support than any other bill this year, or perhaps any year ever, practically guaranteeing passage.
But Rep. Jose Oliva, as the Republican Speaker of the House, is holding the bill hostage, refusing to send it to committee or take it to the floor. And it’s not because he is too busy trying to arm teachers in our schools. Or because he is concerned about the potential impact to municipal government budgets. This legislature is not shy about passing unfunded mandates.
Oliva gave some lame excuse about home rule. “This is an issue best dealt with at the county level as each department faces varying levels of danger and exposure and counties are best equipped to tailor benefits to need within available resources,” he said in a statement.
But that is BS. There is no difference in levels of danger from municipality to municipality, which, by the way, have multi-agency agreements to work together. There is no difference in levels of danger from state to state.
“This is something that didn’t discriminate along county lines,” said Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor in the Senate.
Read related: GOP gets desperate in Hialeah senate race against David Perez
The fact is Oliva won’t move the House bill to punish firefighters statewide for supporting one of their own, Coral Gables Firefighter David Perez, against former State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr. in the 2018 senatorial race that Diaz eventually won.
Former State Rep. Frank Artiles — who is close to Oliva and has been a staple in his office even before he gets the green light to lobby next week — basically threatened as much on Facebook during the campaign.
“Good luck on your cancer presumption bill next year… I see a 4 stop bill in your near future,” wrote Artiles — who was forced to resign in 2017 after he made some very racist statements in a drunken rant — on a David Perez Facebook post.
If that’s not proof that this is political payback, Ladra doesn’t know what is.
Artiles has a grudge against firefighters. He basically ranted to Ladra about them during Dade Days in 2013.
And yes, he had a couple of drinks in him.
“Their jobs are ridiculous. They hardly fight fires. They work 24 hours on and 48 off,” he told Ladra outside a bar in Tallahassee. We were standing alongside then State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz and former State Rep. Robert Asencio, who was there in his pre-elected role as president of Florida Public Employees Partnership. When Asencio and Ladra asked for proof of his allegations, Artiles admitted his real reason for the hate: Firefighters unions had mailed six mailers against Central Florida Republicans that year. “They went after my boys,” he said.
Read related: Tales from Tallahassee — quick observations from Dade Days
House Bill 857 would require municipal governments to provide full cancer coverage, including disability and death benefits, to firefighters who meet a certain criteria, like being non-smokers and on the job for at least five years. Instead of workman’s comp, firefighters who are diagnosed with any of several specific cancers in the bill would get a lump sum one-time $25,000 payment, money that can help their families pay for the healthcare and keep their homes.
Again, 45 states have adopted similar laws. That’s 45 out of 50, indicating that it is the right way to go.
Supporters say the measure is necessary to account for the increased risk of cancer due to not only smoke inhalation but exposure to carcinogens and burning toxic substances in building materials, such as asbestos. All those boots on the state capitol steps are from firefighters who are sick or have died of cancer.
Critics, which include the League of Cities, say it forces an unfunded mandate on municipalities that are already stretched thin.
But the truth is the $5 million estimated impact it would statewide is a drop in the bucket in Florida, where, just last year, the legislature approved $147.5 million worth of budget turkeys, otherwise known as individual appropriations that circumvent the thorough and thoughtful committee and budget process, most of the time for legislator’s pet projects.
The truth is this bill’s blockage has nothing to do with the budget. This is nothing more than political payback. At its ugliest.
Oliva hasn’t even had the courtesy to respond to the firefighters who call him or the relatives that have traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for the bill. Juan Garcia, father of Ralf Garcia — a Miami Fire firefighter paramedic (photo, right) who died in 2015 of brain cancer at the age of 28 — wrote Oliva a personal letter that was hand-delivered by Omar Blanco, president of the Miami-Dade firefighters union two weeks ago. Y nada. ¡Que descaro!
All the firefighters and their families want is for the merits of the bill to be discussed by the members of the House and not decided upon by one man who has made himself God in this case.
“We just want an opportunity to present our situation,” said Claudine Buzzo, a Miami-Dade firefighter diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2016, who was out of work for four months to get treatment.
“He is not even allowing us to be heard and that’s what’s baffling,” Buzzo told CBS4’s Jim DeFede on Facing South Florida. “We don’t know what the reason is. He won’t even speak with us.”
Yeah, we know why.
Call Oliva today and demand that House Bill 857 be heard. Skip the office number. Call him on his cellphone at 305-761-6144. Text him. Tell him to put political payback aside and do the right thing.

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Legislator admits she doesn’t sleep in District 114

State Rep. Daisy Baez announced Friday that she was dropping out of the Democratic primary to replace former Sen. Frank Artiles in District 40. But, maybe Baez should resign from the legislature altogether.

That’s not only because she still lives in outside the district — admitting to Ladra on Saturday that she sleeps in District 112 — but also because she quite possibly lied on her voter’s registration form, which would be a third degree felony.

Baez cited her mother’s failing health as the reason why she was withdrawing from the special election to replace Artiles, who resigned after getting caught insulting other legislators in a racially- and sexist-tinged rant.

“My life today is a direct reflection of my mother’s decision to immigrate to this country and work multiple jobs to ensure that I could live the American Dream,” Baez said in a statement sent just after 1 p.m.

“Just after announcing my intention to run for the Florida Senate, my mother’s health deteriorated and it became clear to me that spending time with her now is of utmost importance. As her daughter, caring for her is my number one priority. Therefore, I will not pursue a campaign for the Florida Senate,” she said. “Instead, I will spend the upcoming weeks with my family and continue to use my voice in the Florida House to speak out clearly and forcefully to fight for better jobs, to protect our environment, to ensure we all have access to affordable health care, and to support our public schools.”

That would be the right thing to do. But the news also comes three days after a Miami Herald story exposed the fact that she likely does not live in the district she represents, which explains why Baez was bold enough to think she could run for a Senate District where she doesn’t live. Now we know she’s done it before. And it looks like it took time to sink in. Because that same day the story came out, last Tuesday night, Baez was at a South Dade Democrats Club meeting showing no signs of backing down.

On Friday, it seems, she finally realized that she can’t overcome this development in a race against two veteran politicians with higher name recognition who — bonus — actually live in the district (Annette Taddeo and Ana Rivas Logan).

Read related story: Three women to battle for Senate 40’s Democrat spot

Which brings us back to why she should resign. Because the voters of House District 114 do not have any representation right now, have not had any representation during this past session. And they deserve some.

Baez apparently let people believe that she had moved from her house on Malaga Avenue (photographed) in District 112, to an apartment on Anderson Road, which is in District 114, right before the election. But the Herald found discrepancies in that. Other people live in the apartment at Anderson and neighbors said that Baez does not live there. Her dogs and campaign staff were at the house on Malaga, which she said was being renovated so she can put it on the market.

It’s more likely that she never moved out of the house where her dogs apparently live. When Ladra spoke to her Saturday afternoon, Baez admitted that she was sleeping at her house, the Malaga house outside the district.

“Right now, I’m sleeping at that house, yes. But I think I don’t want to talk about the situation any more,” she said. “I’m trying to correct the situation. I made an offer on a property today.”

What a coincidence. Today.

Baez said she had always intended to move into the district and said she has documents to show she began the process for a loan in January. But she has not had time between the legislative session and her 92-year-old mother’s health to purchase a new home. “I pretty much left for Tallahasee immediately after I was elected. I’m a normal human being with a million different things to deal with.”

The problem with that is that one of the things she apparently dealt with was trying to fool the public into thinking she lived in the district. When asked multiple times if she ever lived in the Anderson Road apartment, Baez refused to answer but intimated that she had not.

“For the intent of the law, I changed the address,” which sounds to Ladra like she changed it on paper but not in real life. So I asked her again? “When was the last time you slept there?”

“I understand what you are getting at and I’m not going to answer. At this point, I’m focused on getting this corrected and taking care of my mother,” she said.

“Okaaaaaay. Did you ever sleep there even one single night?”

“I understand what you are saying. We are trying to correct that. We feel that we complied with the law at the time,” Baez said. “I’m working fast and furious to correct it. It was not my intention to be outside the law.”

Aha! Outside the law. So, Baez must realize that she may have committed a third degree felony when she filled out a voter’s registration form on Nov. 2, a week before the election, changing her address to the Anderson Road apartment.

Read related story: Red goes blue, blue goes red in four flipped 305 seats

Ladra likes Baez. An Army vet and small business owner, she is on the right side of most issues, even if she is in the minority party and no position to do anything about it. Still, her voice is one that is needed on issues of immigration and housing and education and the environment. So that’s why this hurts. She had the best intentions, but the ends do not justify the means. She should do the right thing and quit. She lied to the people who voted for her. She does not represent them. Her blind ambition — the same ambition that caused her to jump to the Senate race after four months — caused her to run in a district that was not her own.

People have to stop doing that! It wasn’t right for Artiles — who was a state rep in 2011 when Ladra discovered him living in Palmetto Bay, outside his district — when he did it, nor for former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, and it isn’t right for Baez.

And Ladra knows the Dems aren’t going to want her to just give up the seat they just won, but they could lose it in two years anyway if someone uses this against her. And that voice she has is going to be somewhat hampered by the fact that it now comes from someone who tried to pull the wool over the voters eyes.

And we’re off. Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday set the date for a special election to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles, who resigned hastily last month after he was caught making racial and sexist remarks to black colleagues. The primary will be July 25 with the general election September 26.

Now, if we can only get an answer from State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, the preferred candidate of the Florida Republican Party, even though there is probably nobody in Tallahassee closer to Artiles — maybe because there is nobody in Tallahassee closer to Artiles. Perhaps, since the session ended Monday, he will finally let us know one way or another: Is he going to run for Senate District 40 or what?

Diaz said goodbye to the Florida House in a teary speech Monday and has, apparently, said he is interested in running. That is, if something better doesn’t come along. He is waiting to hear about a post he’s been waiting for at the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Florida. Ladra hears it ain’t gonna happen, that he’s been passed over because he’s never seen the inside of a courtroom. He could, however, be waiting for another Trump administration handout, er, I mean position. Or to run for Florida AG if Pam Bondi makes a move.

Either way, his heart is not entirely in the Florida Senate. District 40 is a consolation prize for Diaz.

Read related story: Two new ‘open’ seats spur political piñata question: 40 or 27?

Meanwhile, he’s got the local GOP practically paralyzed. State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez is happy where she is at and plans to run for the Senate seat now occupied by Anitere Flores, which is an easier win for her and means she doesn’t have to move her young family from their home. Plus, she would be loathe to run against her one-time boss and mentor, former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla (photographed left), the first Republican (#thanksfrank) to make it official but who isn’t really one of the good ol’ boys. It’s quite likely that the GOP is looking for someone else. And no, not former Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata, who isn’t much of a party line guy either. Zap, who represented much of the same district as a state rep, hasn’t returned Ladra’s calls but he’s been running self-promoting ads on Facebook after he said he was interested. Still, we hear he will only run if his friend Diaz doesn’t.

Seems Diaz, who is holding things up, le cai bien a todo el mundo. Well, except maybe former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, who he waged a nasty war with in 2012 when they were redrawn into the same district and . He hasn’t gotten into any major controversy or scandal in almost seven years. Everybody says he’s loyal. Is that why the GOP has so much Pepi love? But when you really think about it, he is quite possibly the wrongest candidate for this seat, if only because it would be too much like electing Frank Artiles all over again.

Diaz is Artiles’ BFF and roommate in Tallahassee. They live in what is apparently a frat house with State Reps. Jose Oliva and Manny Diaz, Jr. or Rey Rodrigues. Diaz has been quoted as saying he has cherished the time they’ve spent together in that house. “Some of the most funny and memorable experiences of my legislative career… I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said.

They have been side by side for seven years. Artiles wants Diaz to succeed him (and should he be allowed to hand pick his replacement?). Who knows Artiles better than Diaz? Let’s pretend for a moment that Pepi didn’t know and accept Artiles as a racist pig, which would mean the racist and sexist remarks to colleauges at an after hours were somehow an isolated incident — and nobody who knows him even a little bit believes that. But let’s pretend that Diaz had a blind spot with his friend’s racism. Was he also blind to the Hooters girl and the Playboy model that served as “consultants”?  Blind to the questionable campaign expenses?

In a scathing Miami Herald story the week he resigned, a reporter found that Artiles had used his campaign account to pay the women $3,500 for their “consulting” services and to fund trips to the Kendtucky Derby and Key West, as ell as $51,000 in reimbursements to himself. Reimbursements for what exactly? Are we to believe Diaz was never around for any of this?

And the same political consultant who refused to tell reporters what those expenses were for, David “The Disgusting” Custin, also works for Diaz (and is pushing Diaz or Nunez so he can get paid).

Everyone is talking about Pepi’s lovely little emotional goodbye speech on the house floor after the session ended Monday, but I live in District 40 and, before I vote, I want to know what Diaz knew when.

Diaz and Artiles are still tight. Artiles last week shared Diaz’s Facebook post about condo association reform. If I were Diaz, I would ask his friend to not help so much. “Dude! Deja de postear about me!”

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

It’s a mutual admiration thing. Diaz has posted tons of pictures of him with Artiles on his social media platforms, where he is extremely active, posting pictures with celebrities, including our celebrity presidnent, Donald Trump, who fired our esteemed state rep from The Apprentice during season 5 in 2006. I’m telling you, he’s a frat boy. Ladra nickamed him the King of Selfies. I mean, what has Diaz done in seven years in the House except take more selfies than any elected should be allowed to? Anyone? Every single bill he sponsored this year died in committee or in calendar even, including his gaming bill, which would have expanded casino and gambling options in South Florida despite the fact that it is not what his constituents want. Who does he work for anyway? Genting?

Late Monday, Artiles posted several links to his Facebook page about his best friend’s farewell speech. “Where’s he going,” someone asked in a comment.

“Running for senate,” Artiles replied.

Could El Zorro come to the rescue again?

One of the names being batted around for a special election to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles — who resigned Friday after making inappropriate and racist comments earlier in the week when speaking to a few colleagues — is his all-time rival and nemesis, former Miami-Dade Commissioner and former State Rep. Juan Zapata.

Zapata abruptly withdrew his candidacy from his re-election to the county commisison last year. He had grown sick and tired of the retaliatory tactics of the mayor and his allies and the hat trick maze that is the county budget. But he had been one of the good guys, asking the right questions, not playing politics or favorites with the other electeds and watching, more closely than anyone else, the taxpayer’s money.

Now, maybe we can have him in the Senate.

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns, but still needs to apologize to Hialeah

Zapata was out of the country Friday on business but returned a text message from Ladra about it.

 “Yes, I am seriously considering it,” he wrote, and followed it with a smiling emoji. The big smiley one, not the little smile.

“I wasnt going to be able to contribute much in the county commission. The state senate would obviously allow for way more,” Zapata told Ladra. “This is my area. I have always fought and worked for it. Nobody knows it better than I and my experience has prepared me well.”

It would only be gravy if he gets to replace his longtime nemesis (my words, not his).

Zapata and Artiles have been rivals. Artiles ran for state rep against Zapata twice and lost. He then basically recruited and ran police officer Manny Machado against Zap in the 2012 county commission race (lost then, too).

Other Republicans being considered for the job would be State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz — but he is being groomed for Attorney General — and State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, but she has filed to run for Sen. Anitere Flores‘ termed-out seat in 2018 in what is a slightly safer district for her and probably with Flores’ blessing.

The GOP can’t just pick anybody off the street. They are going to want someone with name recognition who can win on a shorter campaign cycle and thwart the efforts of state Democrats, who want to get their seat back in a district that slightly favors the blue. Artiles, who was a state rep for six years — only winning the House seat once Zap left office to run in the — had beaten former State Sen. Dwight Bullard by 10 percentage points, mostly by calling him a terrorist.

Naturally, Bullard is one of the Democrats being considered. But seeing how he moved out of the district to try to get the chairmanship of the Florida Democratic Party, it would be easy to attack him if he just moved back in to run for his old seat again. I can see the mailers now. Instead of Arab headwear, he’d be carrying luggage. Besides, Bullard might win a primary but he won’t win the general in a district that is about 60% Hispanic. He already tried that once and failed.

Read related story: Chased out: Juan Zapata leaves hostile work environment

The others are perennial candidate Annette Taddeo (who would also win a primary but not the general) and former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, who is the person that should have won that seat from the get go, but the Democrats decided to back Bullard and she didn’t even campaign.

Rivas Logan told me she had gotten several phone calls already by lunchtime Friday. Of course, she’s the female flip version of Zapata — a moderate Democrat (she used to be Republican) who has bocoup name recognition.

“It depends on the timeline,” said Rivas Logan, a high school administrator who retires in October. “This is how I make my bread and butter. Politics is a hobby.”

A date has not been set yet for a special election, but it could come as early as this summer, with a 60 day campaign. 

We are already envisioning a showdown between Zapata and Rivas Logan, which will be clean and on the issues, and we can’t wait for these two longtime public servants to show the rest of the puppies how it’s done.

“He would be a formidable opponent,” Rivas Logan said. “That would be a good race.”

Yeah boy, it would!

State Sen. Frank Artiles resigned Friday for having a racist rant earlier in the week, but only after it became increasingly clear that he had no other choice.

Nothing was getting done in the final weeks of session was the capitol turned on Artiles’ words to his colleagues, including calling Senate President Joe Negron a “pussy,” Sen. Audrey Gibson a “bitch” and “girl,” and using a slang version of the n-word to describe another group of senators. In fact, things were only getting worse. A new group or person called for his resignation every day, including people from his own party. Protesters went to his Miami office, delivering signed petitions and threatening a recall and Artiles reacted by threatening several of his colleagues with depositions that would try to show this kind of language is used all the time in the Florida Senate.

It certainly didn’t help matters that he was reluctant to apologize and then was forced to do it on the Senate floor — either that or Negron would bring it up — in what was the most half-assed, sorry-not-sorry apology ever, where he not only pooh-poohed his words.

His resignation letter Friday — under threat of being expulsed by the body — wasn’t a ton better.

“I apologize to my family and friends and I apologize to all of my fellow Senators and lawmakers. To the people of my district and all of Miami-Dade, I am sorry I have let you down and ask for your forgiveness.

“My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State.

I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.”

So, he is resigning because he is a distraction, not because someone who talks like he did doesn’t belong in the hallowed halls of the Florida Senate. Okay, we’ll take it.

At least he didn’t blame Hialeah again.

Artiles may have resigned from the Senate, but he still owes Hialeah an apology. Sen. Rene Garcia, a Republican who represents Hialeah, said as much this week after Artiles said his use of offensive language was instilled in him growing up in the diverse environment (not!) of Hialeah where, apparently, he wants us to think that kind of talk would be honky dory.

“My constituents and I would agree that this language is simply unacceptable. Senator Artiles owes the residents of Hialeah an apology for unfairly associating them with this kind of behavior,” Garcia said in a written statement.

It didn’t take long for newly-minted Sen. Frank Artiles to misbehave now, did it?

It shouldn’t take this long for him to resign.

A known bully and hothead who punched a college kid in the face at a bar and who wants to kill a Florida black bear, Artiles was in the news again Tuesday after a group of African-American colleagues said he had used the n-word with them and had insulted one of them in multiple other ways, calling her “bitch,” “girl,” and referring to himself as “a fucking assohole.”

At least he got one thing right.

Ladra is not surprised that this happened. She’s only surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Artiles is not only a little more aggressive than some people, he’s a magnet for bad news — from the time he was caught by Ladra living outside of his district as a state represenative to last year, when he proposed some hateful anti LGBT bathroom policing bill.

This item, however, might do him in. At least for now.

Read related story: State Rep. Frank Artiles wants to kill a Florida black bear

It happened at the members-only Governors Club near the Capitol building, just after 10 p.m. and “over drinks,” as first reported in the Miami Herald. So maybe he was under the influence. Sometimes, one’s true colors are revealed when one’s inhibitions are removed. Artiles approahced Sens. Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville) and Perry Thurston (D- Fort Lauderdale) and told them that Senate President Joe Negron (D-Stuart) had only gotten to his powerful position because of “six niggers” who voted for him.

“Say what,” one of them sorta said, recoiling at the n-word, and confused because he must have been talking about white Republicans. “Niggas,” Artiles clarified, because the slang version is supposed to make it okay. He said in his half-assed apology Wednesday that he comes from a diverse area where, one would suppose, that is common. He’s my senator, in my district, and I don’t think so.

And you didn’t say it like “my niggas,” Frankie boy. You said it like “those niggas.” Not the same. And you’re not a 17-year-old who wants to sound like Kanye West. You’re a senator, now. Or were.

Because he also called a fellow senator a “girl” and a “bitch” in what was, by all accounts, a political tirade, it is no surprise that Democrats statewide immediately called for his resignation, as they should, and not only because it would cause a special election and a chance for them to win back a seat in the post Donald Trump America that has become a blue promise. SAVE demanded his resignation on Wednesday, seizing on the momentum to get rid of one of their biggest enemies in Tallahasee.

But that’s just gravy. Artiles should resign because former State Rep. Ralph Arza was forced to resign after he left several threatening voice mail messages with racial slurs on the phone of former State Rep. Gus Barreiro. Artiles should resign because the Florida Senate is no place for that kind of language, no matter how sorry you are about getting caught. Artiles should resign because Gibson and Thurston — indeed, any black legislator — should not be forced to work with someone who made such remarks.

It seems an affront to Gibson, in particular, to force her to confront her bully every day.

Former state rep and current Miami-Dade School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall said “it would be impossible for me to sit in a room to create laws that impact our community with someone that has neither regard or respect for those who make those laws with him. 

“As lawmakers, we make laws for men, women, children, Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, and others who come from all corners of the world,” Bendross-Mindingall said in a statement. “A person who is not respectful to all is not fit to make laws for them, neither should anyone be subjected to sit on a dais with such an individual.”

Lastly and perhaps the least, Artiles should also resign because staying in office will only hurt the Republican Party, serving as a constant reminder of how racist the GOP has become that it would tolerate this talk from one of their own.

Where are the Republicans calling for his resignation? Negron stripped Artiles of his chairmanship of the Senate’s Committee on Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities. But he didn’t call for his resignation. Negron said that he apologized and that should be the end of it. And Artiles — who waged a supremely negative campaign against a black Democrat last year — scoffed, saying that he was soon running for re-election.

Are you kidding me? I don’t think so. Artiles sorry-not-sorry apology — reading off remarks most likely prepared by someone else — was hardly as heartfelt as his insults. Ladra is surprised that some ambitious Republican with county or state or federal hopes hasn’t come out to lead the GOP rejection. Sen. Anitere Flores? Are you watching this? Do you want people to remember your silence?

Read related story: Artiles lives outside district

Artiles would be smart to resign and quietly work to make amends. He’s a young guy and Miami is a city with acute political amnesia. Arza is now a successful campaign consultant and lobbyist. And former State Sen. Al Gutman, who pleaded guilty to fraudulently billing Medicare and resigned from the legisulature in 1999, owns the quite awesome and successful Cuban Crafters the cigar shop and bar on Northwest 7th Street.

Hey, maybe they can start a club there.