March was another good fundraising month for former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is running for the Miami city commission seat in District 1 and has raised more each month for a total of $142,000 in 90 days.
The next biggest bank belongs to Miguel Angel Gabela, but he loaned himself $100K so he’s only raised $34,130 — about a fourth of ADLP’s contributions. Local favorite Horacio Aguirre raised $69,135 and the other four candidates haven’t raised that much between them, so let’s not worry about them for now.
Read related: Alex DLP keeps bunching bundles of special interest campaign money
The Dean came out of the gate swinging with $40,000 in January and topped that with $45,380 in February and then topped that with $56K last month, according to the last campaign reports that were filed.
Just as in the past two campaign reports, ADLP’s March advantage comes with bundles, or contributions made from the same source through family members or companies. Bundles generally indicate more than just a casual interest in a candidate’s position or vision. They are usually special interests.
March’s special interests include the developers of Riverside Wharf, who gave Diaz de la Portilla $5K in five maximum $1,000 donations, and Steve Perricone, who gave him $4,000. He also got $5,000 from Jayme Halli and $3,000 from Miguel Mouriz, both of whom are involved in retail investment and development.
Ladra can’t help but wonder if all these people are working together on a common project.
Read related: Alex DLP bolts out of Miami gate with a campaign cash advantage
Gabela doesn’t have any obvious bundling in his campaign report, sans a couple of paired contributions. He does have maximum contributions from former State Rep. Gus Barreiro — not surprising since the Barreiros and the DLPs are feuding fams — and from former Miami Commissioner Mark Sarnoff, a little more surprising because he used to be a DLP friend. Something must have happened there because Sarnoff, who helped the Dean in his county commission run last year, also gave $2,000 from two of his political action committees.
He also has $1,000 from lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez‘s New Leadership Network political action committee.
Aguirre raised $26,500, with no new bundles, which is harder.
As reported earlier, he already had bundled contributions — at least $10,000 from Terry Zerby and his family and partners in the marine terminal business, another $8,000 from Sara Babun and her related companies and $6,000 from Emmanuel Pacin, a real estate and marine guy. All $24,000 of it is Miami River money. Much of District 1 runs along the river.
Among Aguirre’s expenses are more than $3,000 to political consultant Dario Moreno, another ex DLP ally.

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Former State Sen. and current Miami city commission candidate Alex Diaz de la Portilla had another stellar month for fundraising in February, more than doubling his total to almost $86,000.
But at least half of the $45,380 raised in February, according to the campaign financial reports filed last week, was through bundles, which generally indicate donors with more than just a passing interest.
That includes $2,250 in 11 contributions from real estate development companies tied to Sergio Pino, $5,000 in five maximum contributions from real estate development companies controlled by Henry Torres, $3,000 in three maximum gifts from property management companies held by Lewis Swezy, $3,000 from lobbyist Eric Zichella, another $5,000 from real estate and development companies controlled by Rolando Delgado, $2,500 from former State Rep. turned lobbyist Eddy Gonzalez and $2,500 from hotel developer Richard Meruelo.
Ladra can’t help but wonder if these folks want a piece of the Miami Freedom Park Pie, the mega shopping/office/retail complex disguised as a soccer stadium that is planned for Melreese Golf Course. It’s got room for a hotel, too. The Dean — whose first month was also marked by a bunch of bundles and lobbyist dinero — is running for the seat vacated by the termed out Commissioner Willy Gort, who opposes the mega complex as planned.
Read related: Alex DLP bolts out of Miami gate with a campaign cash advantage
The open seat has drawn a number of candidates.
The only one with more money than Diaz de la Portilla is Miguel Angel Gabela, who loaned himself $100K. He raised another $17,000 but has spent more than half of that so far. Horacio Aguirre has spent the same $8,575 or so, but he has raised a total of $42,425. Eleazar David Melendez, the former aide to Commissioner Ken Russell, raised $4,442 in February, but spent $3 more. He has a total bank of $22,165. The only other person to have raised any funds is Yanny Hidalgo with $12,087, and spent $2,561 of that.
Former congressional candidate Michael Hepburn has withdrawn from the race and none of the other three candidates have raised a dime.
But, wait, there’s more. Because Alex DLP’s political action committee — the one he used for the senate race and then the county commission race — has raised almost $22,000 since October. He’s also spent almost $10,000, including $3K to Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador.

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Don’t think that former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is not a true threat in the Miami District 1 race this year. While some think this three-time loser is unelectable, it’s best not to underestimate The Dean.
Especially when he is raising more campaign money than anybody else.
Read related: After loss in Senate, Miami-Dade races, Alex DLP may try Miami
Diaz de la Portilla tapped into his list of lobbyist buddies so they could bundle for him and he could come out with $40,400 in the first month. That’s just a couple K over the next highest amount, $38,000 by neighborhood fave Horacio Aguirre, who has been raising money since October.
Sure, it shows that Mike Gabela has raised $112,000 but he loaned himself $100K of that so he’s only raised $12K in a whole year. That’s worst than Yanny Hidalgo‘s $10,337, raised since October.
Eleazar Melendez, who also announced in January, raised $17,723, which wouldn’t be bad for someone without a rolodex full of lobbyists who owe him. Except he loaned himself $12K of that.
Read related: Neighbor vs neighbor in Miami District 1 as Eleazar Melendez files
Which means that a week before the second campaign report is due, just looking at January’s reports, Diaz de la Portilla is winning the money race thanks to his lobby pals.
He got at least $9,000 from former State Rep. and lobsterman Manny Prieguez, Jr., and his business and family interests as well as at least $5,000 each from Ron Book and his companies and Miami Beach parking czar Rafael Andrade and his companies. Add $1,000 each from Hugo Arza, Juan Mayol and Felix LaSarte and more than half the cash is lobby money.
There’s another $4,000 from Anibal Duarte-Viera, an attorney who is also a real estate developer and deal maker — and possibly a slumlord. Google him.
Read related: Bank foreclosed on ADLP, who ‘moves’ to run for Willy Gort seat in Miami
We don’t have long to wait to see if DLP — whose house is being foreclosed on and who “moved” in September into the district that is being vacated by termed-out Commissioner Willy Gort — was able to keep the pace in February, because those campaign reports are due next week. Ladra, for one, can’t wait to see who he taps into next.
Aguirre has some bundling of his own, with at least $10,000 from Terry Zerby and his family and partners in the marine terminal business and address in Oklahoma City and North River Drive. There’s another $8,000 coming from Sara Babun and her related companies and $6,000 from Emmanuel Pacin, a real estate and marine guy. All $24,000 of it is Miami River money.
Much of District 1 is along the Miami River, a newly booming area of development in the city.
Aguirre’s best month might be March, with his official campaign kick-off fundraiser Thursday hosted by former Mayor Tomas Regalado, Rev. Guillermo Revuelta and ten others at the new Miami Police Benevolent Association Hall.
There are two other candidates, Michael Hepburn, who just lost in the Democrat congressional primary, and Francisco Pichel, but neither have raised any money yet.

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