As expected, Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi qualified at the last minute, just before noon Wednesday to run for re-election, making this race a heated four-man contest.

Wait a minute, make that a three-way: Councilman Ceasar Mestre has withdrawn his candidacy. In a long Facebook post over the weekend, Mestre told his supporters that he had missed too much time with his loved ones, “missed family trips, birthday parties, school activities, movies” because of the campaign.

“I have always said my most important title is ‘dad’, yet it was becoming less important. When you are competitive, it’s easy to get caught up in the campaign and lose perspective,” Mestre wrote in the heartfelt post. “I kept saying only until November, but should I win, and become Mayor , it would only be worse.”

Read related story: Miami Lakes voters say ‘yes’ 10 times, and cut mayor’s powers

He said that the mayor’s post in Miami Lakes has “turned into more than a fulltime position as future political ambitions dictate the rhythm. To some, this may be o.k. To me it’s not. I have been blessed with a good career and a great family. The price to pay for this endeavor is something I am unwilling to give. I have observed what this can do to families and most times , it’s not a good result… So I have decided not to continue with this campaign.”

And as if to drive the point home, he posted the news with pictures while on a family vacation in Canada.

So that leaves Pizzi to fight off Councilman Manny Cid and founding mayor Wayne Slaton.

In a statement, Pizzi said he only decided to file for his third term after “hundreds of town residents flooded his law office this past week asking him to continue as mayor and help improve the town.” We doubt this. We predicted he would want to keep his job and also he would file last minute.

Pizzi also said, in the same statement, that he was “looking at an intense campaign ahead,” but that he was ready.

Read related story: Young GOP VIPs back Manny Cid for Miami Lakes mayor

“I love being mayor more than anything else because of the many great things I can get done for our Miami Lakes residents,” he said in his classic way of saying nothing. “It has been a great honor to serve as Miami Lake mayor these past eight years that’s why I have filed for re-election.”

Cid is considered the front runner, and more so now that Mestre dropped out (curiously it was after that big GOP VIP event for his colleague). But Manny better have his game on. Because, despite his caricature-like personality and seeming legal and ethical foibles, Pizzi has a solid group of people who blindly follow and adore him. Yes, it is kind of like a cult.

Pizzi may have really heavy baggage — a bribery arrest, suspension from office, a pricey legal battle to get back in office after acquittal and that hit and run with a tree in the middle of the night (read: dodged DUI). And all this is fresh baggage because he had old baggage ($200K stolen from his office, saying he wanted to plant drugs on a council member’s car) dogging him for years. But his supporters only see what they want to see.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees

And Ladra would not be surprised if members of that cult were among the other eight candidates for the three council seats that are also on the ballot.

Councilman Tony Lama is challenged by attorney Elizabeth Delgado Mizrahi and Councilman Nelson Rodriguez has two opponents, attorney Alex Dehghani and Xiomara Pazos, who ran against Mestre in 2014 (64 to 36%).

There are three candidates vying for the seat vacated by Cid. They are Luis Collazo, Esther Colon and Nayib Hassan.

And we will learn more about all these people — and the cults they belong to — in weeks to come. Stay tuned.

Two different mailers for Andrew Korge arrived in mailboxes Monday, a day before the absentee ballots are mailed in Miami-Dade: One was positive and one was negative.

Way negative.

Korge, challenging Sen. Dwight Bullard in the Democratic primary in District 40, basically says Bullard is untrustworthy and living off his campaign funds. The mailer also brings up Bullard’s multiple campaign violations and fines, including a $5,000 fine from May, which, the piece adds, the senator has not paid. It says he has a “nonstop disregard for campaign laws.”

“Bullard’s consulting firm was paid $19,000 from his own campaign,” the mailer states in a series of bullets marked with currency bills. “Bullard’s campaign made more than $14,000 improper petty cash withdrawals.”

The mailer also says that Bullard used his campaign to buy more than $1,500 in personal clothing and over $7,600 in food and drink at restaurant and bars, including Hooters and Wet Willies.

That’s something that people have known for a while and it’s something that is not singular to Bullard — or Democrats. Just take alook at State Rep. Frank Artiles‘ reports.

But as far as negative mailers go, this one — with carefully positioned photos of Bullard and flying 100 dollar bills all over — is pretty classic with its brown and black and yellow. In contrast, the positive Spanish-language bio piece is blue and green and orange and includes pictures of Korge with his family and with President Bill Clinton.

These two are the third and fourth, or maybe fourth and fifth mailer from Korge to the Democrat voter in Ladra’s household. We haven’t gotten one mailer from Bullard.

Bullard told Ladra we’d get one this week. He, too, was waiting for absentee ballots to drop. “I don’t have $700,000 of my dad’s money floating around. So we waited.”

The senator has told the Miami Herald — and then the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office — that Korge tried to bribe him off the ballot with $25,000 (more on that later) and that the trust fund kid speaks Clintonese when he says “I unequivocally did not offer $25,000 cash.”

He also said he expected that some people to go home today to find the negative hit piece in their mailbox and he was ready to answer questions honestly at the forum tonight.

“I’ll be the first to admit I’ve not been as on time as I should have been,” Bullard said about his violations, adding that he pays the fines from his personal account, not the campaign account.

“I have been negligent. If that’s all they can find on me, that speaks volumes,” Bullard said.

“I’ve always been one of those folks who accepts my misgivings and uses them to learn lessons,” he added. “I just don’t think that my opponent has the same thought process.”

Many local Republicans just simply cannot wait to vote for Marco Rubio again in the Aug. 30 primary. So the Miami-Dade GOP is having a straw ballot vote next week  for that U.S. Senate seat.

Of course, the incumbent is the favorite. But all four Republican candidates — Rubio, Carlos Beruff, Ernie Rivera, and Dwight Mark Anthony Young — have been invited to speak or send surrogates on Aug. 11. Members of the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee will cast straw ballots for whoever they want to go to the general in November against the Democrat that wins, Patrick Murphy or Alan Grayson.

“A bunch of other RECs have done straw polls and the chairs of those counties have told me it has helped motivate members and was different and interesting,” said Miami GOP Chairman Nelson Diaz. “Some of our own members asked me about it, so I brought it up to the executive board, which unanimously requested it.”

He said the results would be made public.

Rubio is swamping Beruff, his closest challenger, in straw polls across the state. The Brevard County REC gave him 411 votes to 105 for Beruff. The developer did even worse in his own backyard of Sarasota, where only his campaign manager voted for him in a 50-1 showing.

Maybe the straw poll voters are looking at scientific polls, including a June Quinnipiac University survey that showed Rubio’s margin growing against both Murphy (50 to 37%) and Gayson (50 to 38%) while Beruff would lose (40 to 34%).

Is there somewhere Ladra can place a bet now?

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez continues to dodge debates with any of his challengers and is expected to be a no-show to the debate Wednesday hosted by a coalition of women’s groups — the first real public debate in such an important election.

A member and former vice president of the League of Women Voters of Miami Dade — which is hosting the debate with the YWCA of Miami-Dade, the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade —  tweeted last week that the mayor had not responded to their first request. In fact, he is the only candidate not to respond.

So his campaign was sent a letter.

“As the incumbent candidate, we invite you to participate and join your fellow candidates at this debate,” it starts. “We hope you accept the invitation so that you may share your platform and vision for Miami-Dade with our members and community. Through this debate, it is our collective intent to encourage informed and active participation in government.”

Herald county reporter Doug Hanks retweeted her tweet and said “four weeks to go and no debate to cover yet.”

To which the woman replied: “I hope you’ll be there Wed, despite no Gimenez. The people should know all the candidates’ platforms.”

But c’mon, people! Do you really expect Carlos Gimenez to go anywhere in public where he might be asked uncomfortable questions about his pal Ralph Garcia Toledo‘s $200-an-hour job at Water and Sewer? Of course not. Or about his son’s threatening phone calls to candidates who dared run for the same school board seat as his aunt? Nah.

Even before recent news stories got Gimenez hiding his head in the sand, he was not looking forward to debates. He may have told El Nuevo Herald’s Enrique Flor that he would debate all the candidates as he did in 2011, but his campaign has repeatedly declined requests. He was a no-show to the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association forum last week. And a longtime Spanish-language TV show producer told Ladra that the mayor’s campaign manager, Jesse Manzano, had specifically said they did not want to debate his strongest rival, Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado — the only one “within striking distance” according to polls — on a live show.

It’s not just because he’s an even worse speaker in Spanish than he already is in English.

It’s because he knows he can’t deny documented facts about his lack of vision and his mismanagement with special taxing districts and the People’s Transportation Plan half penny sales tax fund, which he has been misdirecting to balance the general budget. It’s because he knows he can’t defend his miserable track record with public safety, where he puts the optics of body cameras before the reality of a 500 officer shortage. It’s because he can’t deflect from the broken promises he has made in terms of transit solutions and transparency.

And it’s because he really doesn’t want to talk about his friend Ralph. Especially since Gimenez — photographed here with Garcia Toledo and former county aviation director Jose Abreu at Greenstreets in Coconut Grove around the same time Ralph started billing the county — might be subpoenaed about this and whatever other deals he and his BFF may have cooked up.

In fact, the only debate that Ladra believes Gimenez has accepted is the one on WPLG’s This Week in South Florida on Aug. 14 — which will be almost two weeks after absentee ballots are mailed out on Tuesday.

Happy coincidence? I think not.

But maybe by then we will know more into a criminal investigation into Garcia Toledo’s fraud. Ladra has been told that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office is looking into that lucrative inside deal. Because that’s what it is, ladies and gentlemen. Fraud. The wonderfully detailed Miami Herald story about how this totally unqualified insider — the mayor’s BFF, driver and campaign finance chair — got a lucrative contract where he has billed $672,000 in 18 months for having meetings and filing papers kinda glossed over one thing: That bill is intentionally and fraudulently bloated.

It appears that Garcia Toledo’s hourly rate benefits from a multiplier used in many municipal contracts. They pay vendors more when they have overhead — like office space, staff, equipment. All things that Garcia Toledo, whose address is a P. O. Box, does not have.

Going by past performance by our SAO public corruption unit, this investigation will not be completed before the Aug. 30 election and will probably end at Ralph. But if anyone thinks that Gimenez didn’t know about the inflated invoicing, well then they are not paying attention.

Remember how convoluted this whole process was when a $1.6 billion contract — part of federally- and state-mandated compliance projects we have to undertake in Water and Sewer — was awarded to AECOM after first being awarded to a competing company, CH2M Hill. Don’t feel bad for either of them. They both have a piece of this multi-billion infrastructure overhaul.

But you can be certain that Garcia Toledo’s subcontract as a contract manager — especially when there are probably dozens of county employees who are incredibly more qualified than he is — was part of the required criteria on the hush hush. It was part of the deal made. “You get this chunk of the billion dollar pie but you have to hire my buddy to do, well, really nothing.”

And Ladra will also bet that Ralph is not the only one who was made part of the deal. Las malas lenguas say his is not the only subcontract being investigated because of ties to Mayor Gimenez (more on that later).

An unofficial report in 2014 from the director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust said that “the decision making process as a whole, on a project of great significance to Miami-Dade County, has raised substantial issues regarding the integrity of the process and the fairness of the outcome, which could have a negative impact upon the public trust in County government.”

Ya think?

And that, again, is why Gimenez won’t debate. He knows he can’t regain the public trust so why bother having to try?

Especially if there’s going to be uncomfortable questions about his buddy’s sweet deal.

The Kendall Federation of Homeowners Association will host seven candidate forums between Monday and Tuesday for voters who live in the western part of Miami-Dade.

Last week, the group hosted forums for the county commission race in District 11 and the congressional Democratic primary race in District 26.

Monday’s series focuses on three state races:

• In Senate District 39, The KFHA has gotten confirmation from Senator Dwight Bullard and his challenger, golden trust fund kid Andrew Korge, unless he is arrested before that for the allegations that he tried to bribe Bullard out of the race (more on that later).
• In House District 115, they will have Democrats Ross Hancock and Jeffrey Solomon, who are vying in the primary to go up against State Rep. Michael Bileca in November.
• In House District 118, they have gotten confirmation from everybody except former Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, who lost a really embarrassing race against Daniella Levine Cava in 2014. That includes former State Rep. and Congressman David Rivera. The other candidates are Carlos Pria, Anthony Rodriguez and Stephen Rojas Tallon. They are all after the seat vacated by State Rep. Frank Artiles, who will face the winner of the primary

Tuesday is for county races, but it appears that Commissioner Dennis Moss is not going to represent. At least he had not confirmed as of Sunday night, said KFHA President Michael Rosenberg. Moss’ challenger, Earl Beaver, is listed.

Read related story: Awkward! Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia face off with polite jabs

The way it works is that candidates give an introduction and then are there to answer a number of questions before the audience. It does not work like a debate, although the candidates can take turns answering the questions and it did turn out to be debate-like last week between congressional candidates Annette Taddeo and former U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia.

The other forums Tuesday are:

• School Board Member Lubby Navarro — a lobbyist who has never been elected because she was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to replace lobbyist Carlos Curbelo when he became a congressman — and her challenger Aster Mohammed, who unfortunately doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance on South Beach.
• Speaking of snowballs, Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Farid Khavari, who has lost this contest twice, getting 0.4 percent in 2011 and 0.85 percent in 2012. He must be encouraged by the doubling of his support! He insisted on a chance to address the audience since Raquel Regalado got the opportunity last week. Mayor Carlos Gimenez snubbed the group and has declined several debate requests (more on that later).
• In the race for Kendall’s Community Council 12, sub-area 124, three candidates want to fill out what is probably the busiest of the zoned zoning boards.  Angela Vazquez, who is currently the incumbent and chair of the council, is being challenged by Christopher Leon and Frank de la Paz.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Kendall Village Center ‘Civic Pavilion, 8625 SW 124 Ave., right in front of the movie theater.

Let’s face it, the big draw here is going to be the Bullard vs. Korge fight, which Ladra suggests the KFHA present as the last forum, to keep the audience there. And the undercover agents.

Unless Lynda Bell decides to make an appearance. She could steal the show.

Miami-Dade’s premiere LGBT rights group came out with new endorsements Friday — and snubbed two gay candidates in one race.

SAVE Dade endorsed former prosecutor Jason Pizzo for the state Senate race in District 38 over former North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns and former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora — both of whom are openly gay, both of whom have won Champion of Equality awards and both of whom are, needless to say, verklempft.

“My track record on SAVE Dade is perfect. I’ve passed more LGBT legislation than anyone,” Góngora said.

Said Burns: “To choose somebody who doesn’t have a record, who hasn’t done one single thing for this community, is definitely questionable.”

But a look at the campaign reports might provide the answer as to why Pizzo — whose endorsement is announced at the same time as the endorsement for immigration activist Francesca Menes for State House District 108 — was picked: Both Menes and Pizzo hired Christian Ulvert as their campaign manager.

Ulvert was chair of SAVE Dade’s executive board until he stepped down last year over concerns that he was mixing business with activism. Ulvert owns Edge Communications and works with several political candidates and referendums on local campaigns. He helped get Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava elected, worked for Dan Gelber’s campaign for Attorney General and is currently working on the Senate campaign for Jose Javier Rodriguez and the House run of Nick Duran. He may have resigned from the SAVE board in 2015, but he is a high profile Democrat (was recently political director for the Florida Democratic Party) who still influences SAVE behind the scenes. The executive director he hired is still there. His buddies are still on the board.

“I just don’t believe the process is a fair one,” Góngora said. “I believe it’s been tainted by money.”

Read related story: Michael Gongora, Jason Pizzo rack up endorsements for Senate

Ulvert did not return calls and ask for questions to be sent via email. He later responded that he had no involvement in the endorsement process.

SAVE Executive Director Tony Lima admitted that the fundraising was a key issue.

“The bottom line in that race is that Jason Pizzo has money and he’s viable. He’s viable and he has a solid plan,” Lima told Ladra. “Although Kevin Burns and Michael Gongora gave amazing interviews, Jason was the only candidate who had a plan to penetrate all the communities you need to get elected. The African-American community. The Haitian community… which is where I think Kevin and Michael fell short.

“We supported them in the past. But in such an important race where we need to make sure that Daphne Campbell is not elected, its important to make sure that we are supporting the most viable candidate that has the most viable plan,” Lima said.

But he said Ulvert, pictured here with President Bill Clinton, had absolutely no influence over the decision making in either endorsement. He said Menes was “another stellar story. She has a really good sense for what her constituency is made up of and what their needs are.”

Candidates are screened by a panel of constituents who make a recommendation to the endorsement panel who makes a recommendation to the board, Lima explained.

In a press release sent by the Pizzo campaign, SAVE Dade Director of Campaigns Justin Klecha said, “Our endorsement panelists from the community were duly impressed with Jason’s answers on issues of LGBTQ equality across the board. Jason is proudly running on a vision of a pro-equality future and support for pro-equality policies like the Florida Competitive Workforce Act.

But Góngora and Burns would, naturally, share that vision of pro-equality because they have lived it. And they both said that the SAVE Dade candidate screening committee did not ask questions about the issues. The panelists were more concerned about how much money the candidates would be able to raise, both men said.

Pizzo may be leading that contest with $400,000 he loaned to himself, but he’s only raised $35,500 compared to $77,000 raised by Góngora. That is a truer test of community support, no?

“I felt that the questions were stacked against us,” Góngora said. “They asked ‘Why would anyone in the minority communities vote for you?’”

Um, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s a Hispanic gay man who has fought discrimination for years.”

Added Burns: “It was definitely personality driven.”

Burns has been married to his partner for 21 years and they have a child they had to adopt in another state because of Florida’s ban on gay adoptions. He has testified in Tallahassee about having to establish a residency in Vermont so he could be a father. He was the first openly gay mayor of a large city in Florida and he added domestic partnership benefits for city employees. He also brought legislation that forced vendors with multi-million dollar city contracts to offer domestic partner benefits to their employees.

As a Miami Beach commissioner, Góngora appointed several LGBT members to city boards and committees, got domestic partnership benefits for city employees and sponsored revisions in the city charter to ensure LGBT protections, including transgender protections, were added to the human rights ordinance. He also worked with Equality Florida in sponsoring anti-bullying legislation in the state. He has worked closely with the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, the Aqua Foundation, Gay Pride Committee, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Equality Florida, SAVE Dade, Unity Coalition and the Trevor Project, the only 24/7 suicide hotline for LGBT youth.

“The fact that they didn’t find Michael or I worthy of their endorsement after the years of advocacy and promoting these issues that we’ve put in is disappointing to say the least,” Burns said.

“I live our issues every day and they decided to support someone who doesn’t even vote,” he added, referring to Pizzo’s voting record. The Miami Herald reported last month that Pizzo, who became a Democrat in April, had not voted since 2008 — skipping 17 elections.

Members of the LGBT community were also somewhat surprised and/or (if they know about Ulvert’s connections) disgusted with the snub.

“I’m both perplexed and upset. It’s shocking,” said Jackie Lalonde, a longtime donor and fund raiser. “It’s shocking.

She said she called SAVE Dade leaders for an explanation. “And I am getting the lamest rationale. They said Pizzo has a better game plan. That’s not a legitimate reason. It’s not that he’s a bad person. I don’t know him and that’s the point. He’s done nothing for our community.

“They should be making a recommendation for someone who has a long history of work and advocacy for the LGBT community,” said Lalonde, a Góngora supporter. “Michael has worked for decades not just for LGBT causes but for all in the community.”

She believes that Pizzo, who is apparently wealthy and has loaned $400,000 to his campaign for a $30,000-a-year job, gave a sizable donation to the non-profit organization.

“I do believe Michael will win in the end, but it is so discomforting as a gay member of this community to be back-stabbed and have it sell out for a political contribution,” Lalonde said.

“It makes me want to throw up.”