Sen. Marco Rubio almost totally blew it.
Okay, yeah, sure, the Republican who has taken $3.3 million from the NRA during his political career was brave for just showing up at the CNN Townhall Wednesday in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High in Broward last week. The crowd at the BB&T Center just a few miles from the school where 14 students and three teachers died was not a friendly one. It was mostly students and parents and teachers from Parkland school. He was booed repeatedly. Ladra almost feared for his safety at one point.
Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson , also there for the Jake Tapper led discussion on gun control and school safety, congratulated Rubio’s courage as did some of the students, parents and teachers who asked him difficult questions nonetheless. Rubio didn’t flinch. He stood there and let people take shots at him, as he should have. And so he gets an A for effort.
He gets a C minus on the rest of the evening, however, and just barely misses flunking because of three things: (1) the foresight to shift a teeny tiny bit on policy, saying he would support increasing the age requirement for all guns from 18 to 21 and better background checks (2) his stand against letting teachers carry guns at schools and (3) his willingness to reconsider magazine clip size.
It’s something. And to repeat what some of the gun control activists have been saying, something is better than nothing.
But, true, it’s not enough. Not quite. And Rubio almost failed because he tripped all over himself trying to defend his position.
Here are some dos and don’ts the senator could use for the next time, and you know there will be a next time before these Parkland students succeed in making change happen:
DON’T correct or “school” the father of one of the dead kids on something you said. “Let me explain,” Rubio told Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, a 14-year-old who was shot in the back as she ran away. As if there could possibly be an explanation at this time and place. How about no? Rubio couldn’t help himself and just had to “explain” or clarify his words. “Here’s what I said: The problems that we’re facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone.” Was it because Guttenberg said your comments on this have been “pathetically weak.” Don’t contradict him. Don’t set the record straight. Just say sorry, bro.
DON’T let the perfect get in the way of the good. The explanation was that the ban being considered on assault rifles only applies to about 200 firearms, leaving more than 200 guns that are used exactly the same way in the legal realm. How is this a good argument to be telling a man whose daughter was killed with one of those guns? That you can only prohibit half of them? Baby steps are okay, senator.
DON’T talk so much about “me, me, me” and all that you’ve done for gun safety. This is not a campaign event. You sound arrogant and out of touch. Even if it is true, there is a time and a place for everything.
DON’T say “people buy into my agenda” five times trying to defend taking campaign contributions from the NRA. In fact, don’t say “buy into my agenda” at all. Your agenda should be our agenda, which at this moment is gun control and school safety. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans support some gun control and almost 100% support universal background checks. Also, if the KKK bought into your agenda, they could contribute, too?
DON’T lose a debate with a 17-year-old. Cameron Kasky, one of the surviving students and one of the founders of the #neveragain movement, seemed far more comfortable on that stage — even chatting with the crowd — than you did, senator. He’s the boy who challenged you to stop taking blood money from the NRA. You know what? At least say you will think about it. Because… aren’t you? Aren’t you thining about declining any more contributions from the NRA? You should be. You don’t have to change your “agenda” but you would gain credibility for it.
DO recognize a watershed movement when you see one. These kids — Cameron and Emma Gonzalez and Alfonso Calderon and David Hogg and Delaney Tarr and Alex Wind — they are going to be Time’s Person of the Year for 2018. You need to start listening to them. They are the future. Even your old Cuban base is impressed by them. Moms like me are going to listen and, more importantly, follow their lead. You should too. Or get out of the way.
DO get with the program. Change is coming. You can taste it in the air. These are not children. These young adults — and the tens of thousands who joined them in student walkouts across the country Wednesday — can vote this year. Gun reform is coming whether you like it or not. So be in front of it. Or gt out of the way.
DO break up with Dana Loesch and the NRA. They don’t support your agenda anymore, since they don’t support changing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 or, I believe, limiting the size of magazine clips. It’s time you part ways. You might lose some campaign cash but you won’t be elected again if you don’t. It’s going to be an albatross.
This should just be the start of this conversation. There is a lot more to say and ask and debate.
And Rubio is going to have to bone up on what his constituents want and the real steps that need to be taken to make our schools and communities safer — before he gets kicked out of class.

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It was a slam dunk with the absentee ballots.
As soon as the mail-in votes were counted for the Republican primary in House District 114, Andrew Vargas — an insurance attorney who is the law partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo — was celebrating a victory with 76% of them. Jose Pazos, a Marine who runs a condo management firm, knew he lost. It ended up 75-25, but really, at this point, does it matter?
So there is nothing indicating any AB fraud in the Vargas campaign, run by Steve Marin and Alex Miranda (former chief of staff to Democrat Philip Levine when he was Miami Beach mayor). It looks like they just had a good strategy made possible by lots and lots of campaign cash — at least $190,000 as of Feb. 15, compared to Pazos $30k.
Read related story: Jose Pazos is best, familiar choice for House 114 special primary  today
It’s hard to say that money didn’t make the difference, since Vargas had quite a bit more promotion in the weeks leading up to the AB drop: at least six mailers, three phone banks and canvassers who swept the absentee voters in the district — twice. In comparison, Pazos had one mailer, one phone bank and canvassers maybe contacted AB voters once. Maybe.
One of the mailers which went to all AB voters for Vargas is this one with newly-minted Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is popular in the District. So much so, they mailed it twice.
“Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is with Andrew Vargas,” said one side. “Andrew Vargas has, among his qualities, the integrity and leadership that the residents of District 114 deserve. I look forward to working with him to help our communities,” it quoted Suarez on the other side.
Home. Run.
If one really wanted to split hairs, one could say that Trujillo and Suarez won this election. Because if you asked Pepe Voter six weeks ago who Andrew Vargas was they might have guessed. “Un reggeatonero? El cura? Tu tio? El hijo del presidente de Paraguay?” He is relatively new and unknown in the district. In fact, Vargas was the GOP pick to succeed State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, who is termed out, in District 119 where he has roots, but switched to 114 as soon as Daisy Baez resigned for non residency and lying about it — some would say he had his bags packed before she signed on the dotted line and that Trujillo kept putting the pressure on Baez to resign (which was the right thing to do). Vargas still has to campaign, starting tomorrow probably, because this is just to fill Baez’ vacancy until November. So he just wanted the advantage of an incubency won during a  low turnout special election.
And, of course, he still has to beat Democrat lobbyist Javier Fernandez May 1.  That might prove more difficult than beating Pazos in a swing district that is turning bluer and in the Trump backlash timezone. And Ladra and some other political observers believe that Vargas may have a harder time against Fernandez than Pazos would have. He’s already been blamed for the attack ads that started against the Dem even before the primary was over.
Read related story: Limited early voting in House 114 GOP primary could be voter suppression
A series of emails and robocalls that Ladra has not seen or heard, but were reported in the Miami Herald, are made to look like they ame from Fernandez himself.  “My name is Javier Fernandez, but my friends call me Javi “Lobby.” I’m a lobbyist who’s represented casinos, out-of-state developers, professional sports franchises, and, yes, retail sex toy shops,” the email states.
It is distributed by a brand new political actiona committee, People for a Progressive Florida, but Hernandez has blamed Vargas… and c’mon! Pazos couldn’t even raise enough money for his own campaign!
Hernandez, who has demanded a debate to counter the claims, is likely to bring up the fact that Vargas is the second most litigious attorney in the state when it comes to “assignment of benefits” lawsuits against insurance companies, which legislators have said are increasingly fraudulent and which are arguably driving the cost of homeowner insurance up (more on that later).. Ladra can see the mailers now: “You pay more insurance because of this guy,” with an arrow pointing to Vargas. “He wants you to pay even more,” reads the other side.
Hey, he drew first blood.
There are about 34,000 Republicans registered in the District. Only 4,488 voters cast ballots in this race (overseas and provisional ballots still have to be counted but won’t make one iota of a difference).. Because Republicans aren’t that adamant about voting unless it’s against a Democrat. More will come out in May. But they will be joined by about as many Democrats and about as many Independents, who are likely going to be a deciding factor.
Which means only one thing for certain: Vargas is going to spend a lot more money.

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Today is the day we find out if homegrown grassroots can beat big money when the votes are counted in the Republican primary for the House District 114 seat.
The former would be Jose “Pep” Pazos, 42, a Marine who runs a condo management business and who has lived in the district all his life. His partner is former State Rep. Julio “The Good One” Robaina and his former partner is ex Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan “Zorro” Zapata — two of the few good guys who represented their constituents not special interests.
The latter would be Andrew Vargas, 35, an insurance lawyer who just moved into the neighborhood and a law office partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, the appropriations chair, which is the main reason why Pazos lags behind in campaign cash: Nobody wants to piss Trujillo off.
This is why Vargas has almost $190,000 in contributions — including bundled donations from charter school interests, lobbyists like Ron Book and the Munilla family — and loaned himself another $50K for $24o,000 as of last Thursday (Feb. 15), according to the last campaign finance report. He’s been able to spend it on multiple mailers and Pazos has a measly $30,000. It’s a David and Goliath battle many political observers believe Gov. Rick Scott scheduled intentionally in order for Vargas to have an advantage.
Of the 34,000 registered Republicans in the district, a little over 3,900 have been returned so far. That includes 3,691 absentee ballots returned to the  Miami-Dade Elections Department as of Friday and the 210 votes during early voting last week. The Coral Gables library has the highest number of early voting ballots cast at 160. That’s three times the 50 cast at the two southern library branches — where soneone named Andrew might do better — combined.
The winner of today’s race could very well already be decided.
Pazos has his base in the northern end of the district, where voting performance is high and absentee ballots are more tyupical. He has both the mayor of West Miami and Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes, whose district overlaps with 114, as allies. And we know him. He’s the son of a former Cuban political prisoner. And he’s run for office twice before, once losing to State Rep. Michael Bileca, before the district was redrawn, and another time in 2014, but he withdrew before qualification because his father was ill. We feel like we know him and/or want to know him.
The Miami Herald endorsement, which doesn’t always get it right, was spot on when it said that Pazos has more experience and more passion than Vargas. Las malas lenguas tell Ladra that Vargas is really running to please Trujillo, that he’s going to be Trujillo’s proxy after the state rep leaves to be an Ambassador for Donald Trump.
We do know that Vargas wasn’t going to run in this seat as recently as last summer. He was filed to run in House District 119, where State Rep. Jeanette Nunez is termed out, because he lived and grew up in Lakes of the Meadows. He only moved into 114 recently and changed seats only after former Democrat State Rep. Daisy Baez was caught living outside the district and lying about it. She was forced to resign after protesters showed up at her Coral Gables house and demanded it — protesters that some say were sent by Trujillo, who has been reportedly parading Vargas around Tallahassee, office by office.
This district has been plagued by controversy and it needs to have someone whose backstory is not so convoluted.
Ladra also thinks Pazos has the best chances against the Democrat candidate, lobbyist Javier Fernandez — if that’s what you Republivans want.
 

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Political consultant and gypsy conartist Vanessa Brito is scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade Court Tuesday, but not on a campaign violation or the defemation charge against her.
No, this time she is defending a petite theft charge that stems from a shoplifting incident at the Target store in Midtown. Stealing clothes instead of votes.
It happened around 4 p.m. last Aug. 28. Brito — who has worked on several local political and judicial campaigns, including the 2011 recall of Mayor Carlos Alvarez — was seen going through the store, stuffing clothes, shoes, houseware items and a phone charger into a large silver bag before walking out, “passing all available cashiers and checkout points,”  and walking out, reads the arrest report. Store personnel stopped her outside. Total value of the items was $118.24.
The docket history found online seems to suggest that Vanessa entered a”deferred prosecution” program in October — in which defendant’s usually pledge to take some kind of class and/or to pay the victim back — and hasn’t followed through. Because the deal was revoked on Jan. 22. The court records also indicate that she got a stay away order for the Target at 3401 N. Miami Ave.
Brito’s case is on the calendar for 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, and she will be represented by attorney Rick Yabor, not former attorney Michael Pizzi, who has represented her in other matters. Yabor would not comment on the case. Not even to tell what Brito’s got on him.
Ladra was not able to reach Brito, although I did leave messages and send texts to the cellphone I have. The number listed on the police report was disconnected. And the address on the report, 43 NW 41st St., is the New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, which provides services to the homeless as well as people with emotional or behavioral health issues. But las malas lenguas say she doesn’t live there anymore and that she moved to Daytona Beach, where she plans on getting a tattoo, according to a post on Facebook.
Daytona is where she was arrested in December for trespassing, according to the Volusia County Corrections Department. No longer the dewy ingenue, she looks in the mugshot like she was shooting up or doing meth. And that may explain the shoplifting.
Why is Ladra bringing you this news? Why is it important? Because this gifted snakeoil saleswoman continues to pretend to be a political analyst and legitimate activist. Because you never know what movement or campaign she will crawl into next, what out-of-towner will hire her to collect petition signatures, what fake recall she will conviince someone to fund, what smear campaign she will stage.
Because she is up to something.
After several months, perhaps a year or more absent from Facebook, she recently shared Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa‘s photos from the soccer announcement and has also posted items about Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
Maybe she’s trying to elbow her way into one of the county campaigns this year, having worked with some of the commissioners and judges before.
That would be another crime.

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UPDATED: So this is why she didn’t run for re-election.
Former Miami Beach Commissioner Joy Malakoff, who said she wouldn’t run again because of a back injury, was hired by the city at Wednesday’s commission meeting to do three months of community outreach for the city’s general obligation bond effort for $50,000. Guess her back is feeling much better.
This juicy job was not advertised. There was no competitive process for it. And believe me, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people who could do it better than Malakoff, and in two languages.
By the end of Friday, after Ladra had made a series of inquiries, Malakoff “withdrew” her name from consideration. But the kicker is that there may have been a Sunshine Law violation because at least one commissioner got a late night call Tuesday about this item. From who? She wouldn’t say. But that means it’s interesting.
Normally, a former commissioner would have to wait two years after leaving office to work for or lobby the city, but commissioners on Wednesday — after the city attorney reminded them that they could — waived that rule in order to give Malakoff the palanca position. Both the vote to waive the rule and the vote to award the contract to Malakoff was 5-2, with only Commissioners Michael Góngora and Kristen Rosen Gonzalez voting against both times.
But it’s a moot point. Earlier Ladra said it was illegal and I certainly think it was invalid. That’s because Miami Beach — which has more rules about campaign contributions than any other city probably on Earth, prohibits anyone who gave to a candidate’s political campaign from becoming a city vendor, which is what Malkoff did on Wednesday, for at least a year. She left office three months ago, after contributing to both Mayor Dan Gelber’s and Commissioner Micky Steinberg’s campaigns. Ladra had first written that they shouldn’t have voted on this, but rather recuse themselves. I thought commissioners were the ones that were prohibited from voting on items for vendors who contributed.
Mayor Dan Gelber
Gelber, who only called me back after he read the story to correct me, fell all over himself to correct me and explain that it wasn’t exactly illegal. He pointed me to the ordinance and indeed, it says that “a person or entity other than a vendor who directly or indirectly makes to a candidate elected to the office of mayor or commissioner shall be disqualified for a period of 12 months following the swearing in of the subject elected official from serving as a vendor with the city.” This, too, can be waived by a 5/7th vote.
So, wait a minute. If the commission waives that part of the Beach ethics ordinance, then she can have the job. So the same mayor and/or commissioners who get the campaign contribution can then turn around and waive the rule that prohibits their benefactors from getting a juicy city contract?
“I actually looked at it the other day,” Gelber told me about Ordinance 2-487, giving me the number.
So he thought he was going to have to waive both sections of the ethics ordinance: The one that prohibits a former employee or elected from being a vendor and the one that prohibits a person or entity who gave to his campaign. Like that is so much better.
Ladra is glad the mayor corrected me because, actually, this is worse. He was going to waive both ethical requirements. For a guy who ran on ethics, this is rich.
But it gets better (or worse).
Gelber first told me that Malakoff didn’t get the job outright, that the commission simply authorized the city manager to negotiate a contract with her up to $50,000. We all know that’s how it works in every city and at the county. Electeds authorize or instruct the city manager or mayor and the negotiation is done. It doesn’t come back. And Gelber knows this, too, because he contradicted himself moments later.
“I don’t quibble with the fact that there are people more qualified. He may hire them, too,” Gelber said, referring to the city manager. “He may not have to go through us. There’s going to be lots of people doing outreach.”
First, whoa! “Lots of people?” How much is the city going to spend to convince residents to increase taxes? How many of those people are gonna be campaign contributors and friends? And, secondly, aha! “He may not have to go through us,” he said. And I asked him to confirm. “The only reason it was before us is because we couldnt hire her,” without the waiver, Gelber told Ladra, “because she was a commissioner. He needed that.”
But, then, he certainly wouldn’t have to come back to the commission.
Commissioner Michael Góngora
Góngora told Ladra he voted against Malakoff getting the plum post because there was no prior announcement or open, competitive process. The job came up during a discussion item, an update from the city manager on the efforts to get a GOB passed. Then suddenly, out of nowhere City Manager Jimmy Morales explains how they’ve been thinking about hiring Joy Malakoff, who was sitting in the audience, as a consultant to do outreach.
Only Góngora and Rosen Gonzalez seemed shocked, really. Every other commissioner talked about her unique knowledge and experience, laying it on pretty thick. Like, almost too much, you know? Over compensation. Commissioner Ricky Arriola practically drew a sword to defend his colleague. Really, anyone who cares about this has to watch the video on Facebook posted by former Commissioner Michael Grieco (more on that later).
Though she had previously voted to move forward with the GOB exploration process, citing parks and a swimming pool as some of the projects she would like to see funded, Rosen Gonzalez told Ladra Friday that she hasn’t decided whether to move forward with what is essentially a tax increase until she has details on how much it would be and how it would impact homeowners. She certainly wasn’t ready to hire someone to do outreach. Once, and if, the city gets to that point, she wants to advertise the position and hire a professional.
“This is obviously a political favor,” Rosen Gonzalez said on the dais, raising questions about Malakoff’s skills set for this particular position. But more importantly, telling her colleagues that she had gotten a late night call on Tuesday from someone telling her about the item. Who made that call? On behalf of whom? Nobody even asked her! Some might think that one of the commissioners would have been curious.
Góngora said he would have voted yes had it been presented as what it was, instead of snuck into a discussion item like a Trojan horse. He urged his colleagues to defer the item to the first meeting in March, three weeks from now, so that it would be properly noticed for what it was. His colleagues seemed adamant to make this happen now.
“Discussion items are typically not an action item,” Góngora told me later. “It was mislabeled and misleading. It hadn’t been advertised and properly noticed. The item didn’t say vote three times to hire someone. It said update.
“It seemed like a set up.”
Ya think?
Morales knew he was going to bring this up. It appears it was something that city staffers have been talking about. And at least Gelber was brought into the fold (though it appears Arriola was in on it, too), because the mayor said that “when I first heard about this idea, I thought it was a fair and good idea.”
So that begs the question: When did he first “hear” about the idea? From who?
Malakoff said that she was “asked to sell the GO bonds to the community and I’d be happy to do so.” Who asked her? When?
The city manager did not return several calls from Ladra. He returned a text message at 5:36 p.m., four hours after I texted him, with “She withdrew from the process.”
What freaking process?
When I texted Morales three minutes later asking for the letter or email in which Malakoff withdrew, Morales — who also used to be a poster child of ethics — didn’t respond.
But at this point, it doesn’t matter that Malakoff didn’t take the job that was offered, if not illegally then certainly unethically — though I would bet on the first. Because Ladra believes there was a Sunshine Law violation here. And that this was a deal done on the campaign trail — a job created for Joy, who endorsed several candidates last year. There is just no way that this wasn’t worked out behind the scenes.
This is something for Joe Centorino and the Miami Dade Ethics and Public Trust Commission to look into. Consider this post my complaint if you have to, Joe.

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On Wednesday, a 19-year-old former student with an assault rifle walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County and opened fire, killing 17 people and wounding at least 15 more.
On Thursday, at 1 p.m., the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a bill that would make it easier for convicted felons who have had their rights restored to get a gun permit without the state first getting all the criminal background information.
Yep, you heard that right. Convicted felons whose rights have been restored can’t vote, but they can sure get their guns. Paperwork, schmakerwork.
This is in addition to a slew of proposed bills in the Florida House that will allow guns in private schools (HB 113), allow guns in public schools (HB 621), allow guns on property owned, rented, leased or used by churches or religious institutions (HB 1419) and make it easier for people to get their guns back after they’ve been confiscated by police (HB 6013). Ladra will watch as these move through committees. Stay tuned.
Today’s scheduled discussion will be about Senate Bill 740, sponsored by Sen. Kelly Stargel (R-Lakeland). Buried in a couple of paragraphs near the end of the 98-page Senate Bill 740 — an agricultural piece of legislation about oyster harvesting and water vending standards and seed labeling and restrictions on telephone solicitors — is a change in the law that allows agents with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to grant firearm permits within 90 days even when the criminal background checks are not complete.
Here’s the actual language from page 88 of the bill:
“In the event the department receives incomplete criminal history information or no final disposition on a crime that may disqualify the applicant, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services must expedite efforts to acquire the final disposition or proof of restoration of civil and firearm rights, or confirmation that clarifying records are not available from the jurisdiction where the criminal history originated. Ninety days after the date of receipt of the completed application, if the department has not acquired final disposition or proof of restoration of civil and firearm rights, or confiration that clarifying records are not available from the jurisdiction where the criminal history originated, the department shall issue the license in the absence of disqualifying information. However, such license must be immediately suspended and revoked upon receipt of disqualifying information.”
So, basically, they’re gonna take the guns back when they give them to people who shouldn’t have them. “Ooooops. Sorry, Mad Dog. Can we have that AK back?” Not sure how that’s gonna work.
Currently, gun permit applications are held indefinitely until all the background criminal history information is complete. And according to published reports quoting proponents of the bill, only 1% of gun permit applicants are denied based on incomplete information. So we need to change the law for this one percent? What possible public policy purpose could this relaxation on background checks — which reportedly was requested by Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam — provide the community? I can’t think of one.
Well, maybe, just out of respect for the 17 students and teachers killed Wednesday in a high school, maybe the committee members ought to table this for another day.

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