Rumors of Manolo Reyes’ impending death are vastly exaggerated. The Miami commissioner was diagnosed with leukemia last year, but has apparently responded well to treatment and is on the mend.
And – after what he’s seen the city go through in the last couple of months — he’s also on a transparency and accountability tear.
Talk about awkward: Steven Miro, the former chief of staff fired by Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo in 2018, is back at City Hall this week as special advisor to newly elected Commissioner Miguel Gabela.
Miro said his job would be to run the district offices and “make sure the constituent services are up to par, which they haven’t been.” He is going to be making $60,000 a year, which is more than he did as Carollo’s staffer before he became a whistleblower and got fired in 2018. Miro had gone to the State Attorney’s office to report PaellaGate, Carollo’s use of district funds to campaign with Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, in the county commission race of 2017, with the Spanish dish at elderly housing.
As always, the candidates in our local elections are not the only ones who win or lose come Election Day. A bunch of influence peddlers, lobbyists, developers, consultants, environmentalists, preservationists and other special interests will float up with the winners on the ballot, or go down the losers’ proverbial drains.
And this has become somewhat of a tradition on Political Cortadito. So, without further blah blah blah, here are the winners and losers of the Miami 2023 elections.
It was bound to happen. Voters in Miami’s District 1 got a mailer last week reminding them that suspended Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla had been arrested on public corruption charges, including money laundering and bribery, in a case mostly about campaign contributions.
It writes itself.
Commissioner Joe Carollo is suddenly living outside his district
Beba Mann is going to have a cow.
After more than two years and a prolonged legal battle between the county and city of Miami, illegal plastic barricades placed suddenly and without a public process to restrict traffic in Silver Bluff were finally removed Wednesday morning.
