What looked like a sleepy, mismatched mayoral race and incumbent slam dunk in Coral Gables has turned into an exciting rematch and likely turnover: former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick has decided to run again.
Slesnick, who lost her first mayoral bid two years ago by a scant 187 votes, has made an appointment with the city clerk to file her paperwork for the mayor’s race Friday morning, just before the deadline (’cause that’s how she rolls).
Boom! Crack! That sound you just heard was Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli passing out and falling down.
Because Election Day in 2017 was during Spring Break for many Coral Gables voters, who were out of town or otherwise preoccupied. Election Day is after Spring Break this year (the last week in March) and add to that two years of Valdes-Fauli’s inept leadership and bully attitude toward residents and we have a whole ‘nother picture.
“I’m going to give people a choice,” Slesnick told Ladra Thursday. “I want someone at City Hall that respects our residents’ opinions.”
The workaholic real estate sales queen often wears a button that says “Make America Kind Again,” and says she wants “a kinder, gentler atmosphere in Coral Gables where people and business owners are respected.”
Whispers about a possible run have been swirling since Slesnick picked up an election packet at City Hall on Tuesday. People she knew and some she didn’t had been pressuring her to run for weeks. They pull her aside at Publix and at the dry cleaners and ask her to run.
Slesnick told Ladra weeks ago that she wanted to serve, but didn’t want to campaign. That’s probably because Valdes-Fauli invented some ethnic bias that doesn’t exist last time and made the race really ugly. He shouldn’t get away with it this time. Voters shouldn’t let him.
This race is also likely to center around development. A Business Monday story in the Miami Herald about how the Gables has changed due to a lot of recent development has a lot of people buzzing. Slesnick is known for her opposition to over development, having voted against height variances and the PASEO project, for example.
Developing story. More to come.
 

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One incumbent already decided not to run for re-election. An activist and would-be challenger withdrew from another race within days. A former commissioner who resigned to run for Congress wants her seat back and a former State Rep wants to run for another.
Oh, and then there’s the candidate who can’t keep it in his pants.
The Miami Beach elections are nine months away and talk about un parto. It’s already so interesting it might just beat Miami and Hialeah this year in terms of sheer entertainment.
Oh, it’s boring on paper. Mayor Dan Gelber is running basically unopposed. He has a challenger, but Ladra is not certain Konstantine Gus Manessis — who only has sustainable growth on his website as an issue and nothing about who he is — can whip up either the political machinery or grassroots support he would need to beat Sy Gelber‘s boy. Ladra thinks he’s vulnerable to the right challenger and hopes someone turns up between now and qualifying deadline in September, if only because debates and choices are good for the community.
The only real race, according to documents filed with the city clerk’s office, is in Group IV, where three candidates have declared: Michael David Barrineau, Steven Jay Meiner and Rafael Velasquez. If the last name sounds familiar, it could be because he ran for office before.
Or it could be because he was accused of exposing himself to a city commissioner.
Velasquez was a commission candidate and a friend and supporter of Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — the former commissioner that might jump back in the fire — when he reportedly unzipped his pants and exposed himself to her. It happened in her car after a campaign brainstorming dinner with wine. He then ran to the state attorney’s office to say she made the whole thing up but no woman would believe KRG would intentionally want to be known for that over anything else. Oh, and then there are the two other women who came forward to describe uncomfortable language and body rubbing.
Read related: Bravo! Kristen Rosen Gonzalez says Rafael Velasquez ‘Weinsteined’ her
It will be great to see Rosen Gonzalez get back into action. She was forced to resign her seat last year in the middle of the campaign for Congress after the state legislature changed the rules precisely to try to keep District 27 red. Not just because she is a true public servant and a voice for some of the city’s disenfranchised, but also because either way it’s going to be, um, interesting: She could file in her old group, against the guy who exposed himself to her — and wouldn’t that make for some awkward debates. Or she could file against Ricky Arriola, who needs someone to challenge him now that activist Monica Matteo-Salinas withdrew mysteriously just three days after filing to challenge the incumbent.
Did Arriola threaten her? Matteo-Salinas was tremendously vague in her Facebook post:
“Last week I made the decision to launch my campaign for the Miami Beach Commission Group 5 race. This decision was in pursuit of my dream of running for elected office and serving the community I love so deeply. My hope in entering the race was to build a campaign built on integrity and a burning desire to help make Miami Beach the absolute best it can be.
That said, in one short week it has become abundantly clear to me that the timing is not quite right for me. Therefore, I am ending my candidacy for Miami Beach Commissioner effective immediately. While this is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, I know in my heart it is the right one.
Thank you so much for your understanding and support!”
Matteo-Salinas told Ladra it was “nothing nefarious,” but still wouldn’t go into details. “There are things I can discuss and things I won’t,” she said. A complete about-face from the day she filed when she said “I have a big mouth – and an even bigger brain. And I’m not afraid to use them!”
Read related: In Miami Beach, Ricky Arriola has a challenge — Monica Matteo-Salinas
Arriola becomes the only incumbent other than the mayor, now that Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman announced she would not run for re-election. (Are the rumors of an investigation into pay for play true?) But that seat is not likely to draw a lot of names. That’s because former State Rep. David Richardson — a little less ambitious after losing the Congressional primary to Donna Shalala — is basically a shoe in. Whoever Blake Young is, Ladra thinks he or she just hasn’t heard about Richardson’s announcement.
Ladra has also heard that Adrian Gonzalez, a restauranteur who has run for office before, is thinking about throwing his hat in. And certainly more of the several dozen people who applied for the KRG vacancy not knowing the fix was in for Malakoff — anyone of them could run.
The qualifying deadline isn’t until all the way in September. So it could get even more interesting before then.

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Maria Cruz is a Coral Gables activist who is not afraid to speak.
She does so quite often at commission meetings, letting the mayor, commissioners and city administrators know exactly what she thinks. She has no hair on her tongue. She asks for more public records than Ladra and keeps her neighbors and friends informed on key issues.
Cruz is such a pain in the neck to her critics that the former administration had a police major spy on her at a commission meeting, possibly taking photographs of text messages that the taxpaying citizen was sending to the electeds, her employees, with whom she had a right to communicate freely.
Read related: Coral Gables spying major keeps her job, maxes pension
That spy? Former Coral Gables Police Major Theresa Molina, who had once been tapped for police chief by then interim city manager Carmen Olazabal. now a commission candidate and the only woman running in the April 9 election so far (qualifying ends Friday).
So when Olazabal’s social media accounts started buzzing with female power messages, Cruz took notice and decided it was time to speak again: In an email she sent to the 7,575 Gables residents — addresses she got from the city’s newsletter email list, a public record — she reminds voters about Olazabal’s questionable judgement, at best.
I’m writing to you today on my concerns about the current race for city commissioner. As a 43-year resident of the City Beautiful, I find myself obligated to share my experiences with one of the candidates, Carmen Olazabal, whom I believe is not the clear choice for our commission.
While Ms. Olazabal was interim city manager, she went against our elected officials and appointed an interim police chief, Major Theresa Molina (Miami Herald, September 12, 2014), without review. Major Molina violated my rights by spying on me, taking photographs, unbeknownst to me, at a city commission meeting. As a result of this abuse of authority, Major Molina was suspended and subsequently forced to retire.
As a woman, mother of three daughters, and grandmother of two young girls, I feel strongly about the importance of women representing us in all levels of government. However, this belief should not lead us to elect candidates with poor judgement and questionable track records.
Coral Gables, my home since 1976, deserves better.
Your neighbor,
Maria
Cruz was already upset that Olazabal was running and when the former manager pulled the female card and attached #WomenWhoRun to all her social media posts, it bothered her enough to pen the note.
Read related: In Coral Gables money race, unchallenged incumbent is leading
The email — which Cruz said she paid for out of her own pocket — also comes with five hyperlinks to stories about Molina and Olazabal’s time in the Gables. Ladra is kinda proud that three of them are Political Cortadito stories. Two others are stories that were published in the Miami Herald.
“My letter is not a campaign letter. My letter was to make sure people remembered,” Cruz told Ladra Tuesday, a few hours after the email went out. “Coral Gables voters have to vote for the best candidate, not the one who happens to be a woman.”
How much do you wanna bet it becomes a campaign letter?
Either Ralph Cabrera, who Cruz supports but didn’t name in the letter, or Jorge L. Fors, Jr. — the two other candidates in the race for this seat, vacated by Commissioner Frank Quesada — are going to send it in a mailer to more voters.

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There is a secret meeting in Miami Beach this afternoon at which the city manager’s contract will be discussed, as well as several other measures that include limiting residential input into government policy.
City Manager Jimmy Morales could come out of it with a raise and a five-year contract. Not right away, maybe. But once they know how the votes are going to go, a commission meeting is just a rubber stamp.
The Committee as a Whole meeting — coming three weeks after Morales asked for a five year extension and for the city commission to authorize the finance committee to negotiate a raise — is not a regular commission meeting. It is a more like a secret gathering. It is not in commission chambers. It is in the manager’s office conference room. It is not aired on television or streamed live online or even recorded. There is no public input.
If Commissioner Michael Góngora had not put it on Facebook, nobody would have known it was happening.
City commissioners got an emailed agenda from the mayor’s chief of staff Friday. “Below are the items to be discussed at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole. Do you want to add anything,” Michelle Burger wrote, before adding the items:

City Manager Performance Evaluation
Ballot Questions / Resolutions
Best Practices for the Office of the Mayor & Commission
Eliminating the Commission Committee system and moving towards two (2) Commission meetings a month
Quarterly meetings for all boards and committees (except land use boards
Policies related to presentation and awards agenda

The last one seems pretty boring, but the rest certainly seem like they should be discussed at an open and public city commission meeting.
Particularly the manager’s evaluation, which was taken off the table by Mayor Dan Gelber last summer, when the commission evaluated the city attorney, Góngora said.
“I had inquired whether or not we were going to be evaluating the city manager and I was advised it would happen at a future date,” Góngora told Ladra, who said he was put off by fact that it came so much later on the heels of the request for a five year extension.
“Regardless of how you feel about the city manager’s performance, I’m unaware of us ever doing such a lengthy contract extension in the past,” Góngora said.
Gelber did not return a call for comment. Commissioners John Aleman, Micky Steinberg and Ricky Arriola did not return emails seeking comment Tuesday morning, although Arriola did have his aide call back and stress that the 2 p.m. meeting nobody knew about — with the seven commissioners, their staff, the city manager and his staff and the attorney and clerk and their staff in the manager’s conference room — is open to the public.
Commissioner Mark Samuelian said he was not concerned because nothing would be determined Tuesday without further discussion. “I’m under the impression there will be more than one discussion,” Samuelian said, adding that a salary increase would  go before the finance committee.
But when? Because also on the agenda for the secret meeting is a discussion about having all boards and committees meet quarterly instead of monthly or more regularly. This item would clearly get a lot of comment at a regular commission meeting.
“They are suggesting that the frequency of the meetings could be burdensome to city staff,” Samuelian said, adding that he wants to hear from staff about just how stressful it is and from his appointees to see what they think.
Góngora said he opposed the idea. “Those committees do a great job. Limiting them to once a quarter would stifle them and the hard work they do. It would severely impact citizen involvement,” he said.
There’s another questionable item about scrapping the committee structure within the commission and having all issues go before the full commission twice a month. These meetings are already 12 hours long sometimes, and this would likely make them longer. But it would also give the mayor more control.
No wonder he’s bringing these things up in secret.

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When Audrey Edmonson took over as chair of the county commission last month, she mentioned term limits that will force her to step down in November — and lamented there’s going to be a brain drain because of it.
“The board will never have as much combined experience as it does today,” she said. “There will be a great loss of institutional knowledge.”
Don’t make us laugh, Audrey dear.
First, the idea that there is a lot of brain power on the county commission is funny enough on its own. Have you met Javier Suarez? But the thought that newbies without any government experience are going to be running county government is utterly ridiculous when, in fact, we have a slew of veteran lawmakers already chomping at the bit.
Our next commission will most likely be a bunch of familiar faces playing yet another round of political musical chairs.
Read related: Commission term limits don’t really mean new faces
Five open seats — a miracle caused by the passage of term limits by voters in 2012 — have provided a unique opportunity for upwardly mobile local politicians to climb the government ladder.
Former State Sen. Rene Garcia was the first elected to throw his hat in the ring, running for the District 13 Hialeah/Miami Lakes seat that will be vacated by Esteban Bovo, who is termed out and running for county mayor. He did it last year, before he even left office, and has already raised $7,197, which is pennies because he hasn’t gotten started yet.
Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, himself termed out this year at the city, filed paperwork last month to run for the District 1 seat being vacated by Barbara Jordan, and has a big fundraiser at the NINE club at Hard Rock Joe Robbie stadium on Feb. 28. Jordan and Gilbert will also co-host the 6th Annual Black Heritage Festival at Miami Carol City High and it seems he has her seal of approval. Jordan, who has been a commissioner for 14 years already, could also run for mayor of Miami Gardens because, well, what else is she gonna do?
Las malas lenguas say another seat swap is planned between Edmonson and Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon and that they struck a deal to support each other. He hasn’t filed any paperwork and there are already two other candidates who have. But neither one has raised any real money and Hardemon, who has publicly said he plans to run, would start off as a frontrunner by a million miles.
Nobody has talked publicly about Edmonson running for Hardemon’s seat but we already know she feels she has the experience and “institutional knowledge” (read: special interest connections). And, like Jordan, Edmonson — who will have served 15 years at the county and served as El Portal mayor before that — might not know how to survive if released to the wild. Don’t ask Ladra if Edmonson lives in the district because that doesn’t always matter, as proven by Joe Carollo, who somehow convinced a judge that he lived in a tiny apartment he just rented in Little Havana rather than in the really nice Coconut Grove house he and his wife have owned for years.
Former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado lives in District 7, where Xavier Suarez is termed out and, most likely, running for county mayor. At least for now. Regalado, who lost a mayoral bid in 2016, has switched races three times already. First she was going to run for Congress in District 27, then she was going to run for state Senate in District 40, then she switched over to run for senate in District 37 where Jose Javier Rodriguez sits now. Then, since a Democrat won the congressional race and J-Rod is sitting put for now, she moved on to the county. But who knows with her? She may run for a city of Miami seat in 2019 instead? Or state rep.
Read related: State Rep. Kionne McGhee runs for District 9 county commission
State Rep. Kionne McGhee hasn’t filed any paperwork either but he confirmed to Ladra Sunday that he would run for the District 9 seat in South Dade vacated by Dennis Moss, who has been in that very same office since 1993, same as Commissioner Javier Souto, who was miraculously re-elected in November.
Does that mean Moss is going to run for state rep in District 117?
Ladra couldn’t reach him over the weekend. But I’d make that bet.

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez is not only running for mayor in 2020 (probably), he’s got a whole slate of commission candidates he is supporting.
“Ordinarily, it would seem a bit early to engage in those discussions,” Suarez said.
But this is no ordinary election. Term limits approved by voters in 2012 mean that five of the seven county commission seats on the 2020 ballot will be wide open. That makes for a unique opportunity to change the make up of the board — and its priorities — which has people coming out of the woodwork.
That “together with the announcement of various eminent candidates for the five open seats, compels me to make my own plans clear – beginning with what issue and which candidates are likely to advance the county in the right direction,” X said.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez taps commissioner to block return of 1/2 penny funds
Suarez, who announced his endorsements last week, naturally would want allies for his administration and indicated that these candidates will support his efforts to separate the half penny funds from operational and maintenance expenses and implement the S.M.A.R.T. plan.
“Winston Churchill defined ‘squandermania’ as diverting taxpayers’ money for useless or improper purposes,” Suarez said, hinting at a word we might see on the campaign trail. “The misuse of the half-cent for 17 years, totaling $1.8 billion, must end in 2020. I am committed to supporting five new commissioners who will see to that.”
Those candidates are:

District 1: Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, a “dogged champion and architect of Miami Garden’s renaissance as the eminently livable city in the northernmost region of the county. Recently selected chairman of the Transportation Planning Organization, he has fought for prioritizing the northern corridor of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan and to recoup municipal powers over the site of Hard Rock Stadium.”
District 3: Miami Commissioner Keon Hardeman, who “has distinguished himself as chairman of both the Miami City Commission and the SE Overtown C.R.A. His relentless pursuit of tax increment bond monies resulted in $60 million of financing, including affordable housing and commercial/cultural development, that have already transformed NW 3rd Avenue into one of the most desirable places to live, work, and play in the urban core.
District 7: Former Miami-Dade School Board Member and one-time mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado, who “led the effort to complete and promote MAST Academy, as well as bringing the school system to its present ‘A’ rating. She is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds and a strong proponent of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan using rail, as presented to the voters in 2002.”
In District 9: State Rep. and Minority Leader Kionne McGhee., considered “the emotional leader of the battle to bring rail to the South Dade transitway. He, too, is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds, testifying before the CITT in the 2017 board meeting that led to the resolution calling for the unwinding of unification by 2019.”
In District 13: Former State Sen. Rene Garcia, “one of the most respected legislators ever to serve our county. He is committed to using the half-cent surcharge for its proper purposes. He has been a steadfast supporter of Medicaid expansion in Florida. Like the others in this slate, he believes that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”

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