To show how far he’s fallen from a bright future to a powerless present, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez turned into a sniveling baby begging Commissioner Joe Carollo for respect at a public meeting last week.
This was right before the commission approved the first chunk of the $400 Miami Forever bond approved by voters in November of 2017. They voted 4-1 for $58 million to go to:

$10.3 million to fight sea level rise, including a redesign of Brickell Bay Drive and the installation of 50 new one-way valves
$15 million for new affordable housing projects and a single-family home rehabilitation program
$420,000 for upgrades to Fire Station No. 10 located at 4101 NW 7th Street
$7.6 million to improve nearly 4 miles of roadways
$25.3 million to enhance public parks, including upgrading playgrounds, repairing sidewalks, and enhancing accessibility.

Carollo had an issue with the way the money was carved out and, sources say, didn’t get what he wanted, which was basically to wait a little longer so he could get some housing project proposals worked up by his pals for properties he recently convinced the city to buy in his district (more on that later).
That’s why his cries of foul Wednesday were so disingenuous.
Read related: Miami owes $120K in legal fees from Crazy Joe Carollo’s lawsuit
“I know what’s happening here,” Carollo said. “I see the sharks sitting right back there, the guys that raised three and a half million for the strong mayor…just waiting to get some of this money.”
As far as anyone can tell, he was referring to Mike Llorente, Baby X’s former chief of staff — and, Ladra believes, cousin — who joined his brother Marcelo’s lobby firm with Alex Heckler, LSN Partners, in 2016.
Funny thing is, though, the Virginia Key redevelopment project on which Llorente is a paid lobbyist did not get any of the bond funds Wednesday. None of the clients he’s registered lobbying for got anything from the pie. But that won’t stop Carollo from casting scurrilous aspersions that work for his convenience.
That said, Baby X didn’t have to throw a hissy fit with his point of order. You can see the mayor acting like a battered wife on this video clip posted by longtime Miami blogger Al Crespo. Diehard Suarez fans might want to sit down first.
“Again, I’ll ask the commissioner — I’ve asked in private, I will ask in public — to please respect me,” Suarez said, almost babbling. “I’ve always respected you.
“I’ve never said anything disrespectful to you or have ever implied any decision you made or haven’t made is based on anything other than what you think is best for the city so I would respectfully request that you do the same.”
Suarez begging Carollo for respect like that has got to be one of the signs of the apocalypse. It is so unnerving.
Read related: Miami’s Francis Suarez loses big as voters reject strong mayor measure
And really? He has never implied that any decision Crazy Joe has made is not in the best interest of the city? He may be the only one who can say that.
Here is some unsolicited advice to Suarez, who doesn’t return Ladra’s phone calls anymore: So, you lost the stupid strong arm mayor proposition you should never have put forth? So what? Move on, man! Yes, it was a political bruising and your stock went down some. Get over it. You have three years to do the good shit we know you can do and make voters forget about this in 2021. Don’t dwell. Come up with something spectacular.
And kick the bullies where the sun don’t shine. Especially when you have the votes. Take the win!
Don’t beg. It is not becoming. And it’s fruitless.
Carollo is not going to respect you no matter what, because you don’t tow his line. So if you want his respect, then coddle to him. If you want the voters’ respect, stand up for yourself next time and tell him what’s what. Call his bluff and tell him that you will give his friends’ housing projects a fair shot.
But if you want Carollo to bend you over some more — and secure your one-term fate — then keep begging for his respect.

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In a resounding defeat to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, voters solidly rejected the strong mayor initiative by 65% of the vote Tuesday — a signal that the new mayor doesn’t exactly have the mandate he thought he had.
Is Francis the Future suddenly the Prince of the Past?
Maybe it wasn’t a complete loss. Voters did approved the Miami Freedom Park retail complex with a soccer stadium that he lobbied so hard for. But they approved that and the lease and development of the Miami Riverfront Center property by 60 percent — and then shut Suarez down.
It was like, yeah this, sure that, and then nananina to the Suarez power grab, which he has spent several years and millions of dollars on.
It’s not just a huge blow to Baby X — whose allies on the dais just got targets on their backs — it hurts his papa, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who has had thoughts of running for county mayor in 2020.
It’s bittersweet for Ladra. Because while we did not support the strong arm mayor move, we certainly don’t enjoy how smug Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his cohorts are feeling right about now. Both raised money for campaigns against the measure. We won’t know how much they spent for weeks.
And Ladra is pretty sure this sets the stage for a Gimenez run for Miami mayor in 2021. Then he will try to push forward a different strong mayor referendum that he will call strong mayor lite.
Suarez is likely going to lie low for a few days, but he already told the Miami Herald that he wanted to try again with a different, probably also “lite” version.
Ladra thinks he should try to score a few victories first and concentrate on making the voters who elected him — and who have been shaking their heads for the last few months — remember why he was once Francis the Future.

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It looks like Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loves a good spanking.
After getting smacked down by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge who said his lawsuit to block the strong mayor referendum on the city ballot had absolutely no merit whatsoever, Carollo filed an appeal late Thursday — an 11th hour hail Mary to deny voters the chance to weigh in on this controversial charter change.
Carollo, who asked for an expedited hearing because the election is Tuesday, must think the strong mayor measure is passing. Why else appeal the decision this far in?
But, more importantly, who is paying for these frivolous lawsuits? What is this costing taxpayers? It’s costing them something. More than half of the eight (!) attorneys involved — including two former federal prosecutors — represent city or county employees or entities.
Read related: Judge calls Joe Carollo sore loser, rips apart strong mayor lawsuit
City Attorney Victoria Mendez represents the city, Mayor Francis Suarez and City Clerk Todd Hannon in the matter. Every hour that Mendez works on the case is paid by city taxpayers. Deputy Miami-Dade Attorney Oren Rosenthal, who makes $298,000 a year, represents Supervisor of Elections Christina White. Every hour Rosenthal works on the case is paid by county taxpayers (including city taxpayers).
But there is also outside counsel: Raquel Rodriguez, of McDonalds Hopkins, for the city and the city clerk, and Robert Martinez, of Colson, Hicks Eidson, for the mayor. Every billable hour of theirs for this case is on taxpayer’s back and on Carollo. That’s already a hefty bill for the city. Ladra made a public records request Friday for the payments or invoices so far but had not received a response as of the evening.
And we still don’t know whether the city will end up paying Carollo’s attorney, too. Mendez told Ladra on Friday that the city had made no payments to either Jesus Suarez, who filed the lawsuit, or Genovese Joblove Batista, his law firm.
But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be payments made later. Both the original motion and the appeal repeat that the plaintiff is Carollo, “individually and as commissioner of the city of Miami.”
Read related: Miami taxpayers could be on hook for Joe Carollo’s frivolous lawsuit
It’s those last six words that could leave the city on the hook.
Carollo won’t talk about it. He did not return multiple calls and text messages. But the attorneys aren’t doing this for free.
There are no legal expenditures reflected in either Carollo’s PAC or the Miami Dade Residents First, the PAC belonging to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who is using it to push a no vote.
Also, while she is not on the list of attorneys who got a copy of the notice, Gimenez daughter-in-law Tania Cruz is involved in some way. She got a text message from Jesus Suarez two minutes and three seconds after the lawsuit was first filed. “FILED,” it said, all in caps. Like he was reporting to a supervisor?
Then there are also Jennifer Blohm, Ben Keuhne and Marcos Daniel Jimenez representing the Miamians for an Independent and Accountable Mayors Initiative PAC, which gathered the petitions to put the question on the ballot. Strangely enough, Keuhne was on Carollo’s team just recently when the commissioner won a challenge to his residency.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs strong mayor
One of the arguments made in the lawsuit is that the petition did not meet requirements — which Circuit Court Judge Miguel de la O ruled did not matter since it was the city commission that voted to put the measure on the ballot.
The main argument is exactly the same, which the judge categorized as tears over spilled milk: Carollo didn’t get his way on the dais and the question moved forward to the ballot. So he took his gripe to court.
Does this mean that he’s going to legally challenge other decisions that go against him on the dais?
Because that can get expensive.

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Former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who just lost special election for county commission in June on the heels of a loss in a special Senate race, has moved from his room in his parent’s house in Little Havana to a riverfront condo next to Sewell Park so he can run for city commission next year.
Dean DLP’s new digs on the 18th floor of the Terrazas Riverpark Village Condo, at 1861 NW S River Dr., is a 967-square-foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit purchased in 2016 for $345,000 by Josefa Ortas, whose mailing address is in Madrid.
It also happens to be in Senate District 37 and Florida House District 111, but it is doubtful that anyone in the Diaz de la Portilla family wants to go up again against Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, who has beaten both Alex and big bro Miguel. And it’s hard to believe ADLP would make este sacrificio more than two years before the next state race.
Besides, las malas lenguas say he is definitely eyeing the city seat so he can conspire with BFF Commissioner Joe Carollo, who he campaigned for and supports. Carollo also campaigned with ADLP in city of Miami senior housing complexes and is reportedly under investigation because of allegations he used city resources trying to elect his friend.
Read related: Gimenez family hit in Senate campaign… ADLP’s wag the dog
But the burning question is: Does Alex really live at Terrazas, where the typical rent for a 2/2 on a high floor — like the one with this view in this picture — is $2,100 a month, or is he pulling a Carollo?
To remind readers, Carollo wants us all to believe that he lives in a small Brickell apartment and not in his mansion in Coconut Grove. His residency was challenged in court by the second place finisher who sought to prove that Carollo did not live in the district for a year before qualifying, as required.
The judge ruled in favor of Carollo, who signed the lease for the Brickell Station Lofts unit on Sept. 22, 2016. The deadline to qualify for the ballot in that election was Sept. 23, 2017.
ADLP changed his voter’s registration address on Sept. 15. The qualifying period for the Nov. 5, 2019 Miami city election is from Sept. 6 to Sept. 21.

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A mailer landed in Miami mailboxes this week from Joe Carollo‘s electioneering communications organization, Miami First, telling voters that Mayor Xavier Suarez is being dishonest about the strong mayor referendum and asking them to say no and punch 383.
Ladra wasn’t surprised that it broke election law. ECOs, similar to a political action committees but with different rules, can refer to a candidate or issue only “without expressly advocating the election or defeat.” Seems that “say no to” and adding the punch number advocates defeat.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs strong mayor
But it’s no surprise, first, because it’s Joe Carollo, who cares very little about those technicalities and, second, because his alleged mailer consultant is Tania Cruz, the daughter-in-law of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who is relatively new at this.
Yet, for someone who makes stupid mistakes, the girl is already banking, getting more than half of the $188,130 spent by Miami First, with $101,585 for consulting and mailers. Add that to the $60K the wife of lobbyist mayoral son CJ Gimenez got from the campaign account, first reported on Political Cortadito last month, and it’s a total of $161,000 so far from Carollo to Cruz. Which, yeah, sure, she may have to split with former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who seems to have taught her a thing or two, but it’s still a good amount.
Read related: Joe Carollo files late campaign report with $60K to mayor’s daughter in law 
And she ain’t the only one in her family on Carollo’s payroll. Barby Rodriguez Gimenez, the other daughter-in-law married to the bad boy son, got paid $14,269 for “consulting” also. If you add it all up, the Gimenez clan has been paid at least $175,000 by Carollo since last year.
It breaks down like this:

$10,000 for Barby Rodriguez on Jan. 10 for consulting
$37,384.05 to Tania Cruz on Nov. 18 for consulting
$15,758.52 to Tania Cruz on Nov. 11 for consulting
$17,641.80 to Tania Cruz on Oct. 25 for mailers
$17,641.80 to Tania Cruz on Oct. 21 for mailers
$13,159.30 to Tania Cruz on Oct. 7, 2017 for mailers
$4,269 to Barby Rodriguez on Sept. 27, 2017 for consulting

Cruz also got bank from the Ultra Music Festival organizers, who hired her as a lobbyist so they could get a meeting with Carollo, who ended up stabbing them in the back, maybe so he could do CJ a favor.
Read related: Ultra out for Formula 1 could be Joe Carollo nod to CJ Gimenez
But don’t worry. This hasn’t been a one way street. The cash flowed the other way when Gimenez paid Carollo $6,000 a month for years through his PAC. We never knew what that was for. Maybe he was sewing the seeds for this.
And you know there’s more coming. These figures are just through the last campaign report, which counts through Oct. 12. Miami First hasn’t shown any activity from May, when it collected $48,000 from development interests on two separate days. The last expenditure was to La Rue Management for $3,000 worth of more consulting.
We have to wait until the 19th to see next one with this mailer’s expenses on it.
And to see how much more the mayor’s daughter-in-law gets paid.

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Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo is likened to Cuba’s Castro brothers and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in a lawsuit filed Thursday that claims he uses his office to exact revenge on his political enemies and seeks at least $2.5 million in punitive damages.
Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who own the very popular Ball & Chain lounge and other properties along Calle Ocho and are photographed here with their attorney and tenants, claim in their demand for a jury trial that Carollo has “obliterated” their first amendment rights by “using the power and influence of his government office to engage in a campaign of harassment, retribution and retaliation” simply because they supported his opponent in the 2017 election.
“Carollo’s actions, designed to destroy plaintiff’s businesses and reputations, is pure political payback,” the lawsuit states. “Unchecked retaliation and political payback of this scale would lead the United States down the path of Cuba and Venezuela today.”
The main claim is that Carollo sics the police department, fire department and code enforcement on them for ludicrous and frivolous complaints. As the plaintiffs and their attorney set up for a press conference Thursday morning, a city employee snapped photos from the sidewalk.
The lawsuit also claims that Carollo is in violation of city charter which prohibits commissioners from directing city staff and that he has used city resources for his political vendetta specifically to:

Shut down a Christmas party for employees and tenants and their employees and families, a party that Fuller and Pinilla say city commissioners attended before.
Prevented use of the same shipping containers allowed in Wynwood and by the Miami River, almost destroying a family business operating a wildly popular restaurant called Sanguich.
Shut down the plaintiffs’ tenant Union Beer by sending police and code enforcement personnel to raid their anniversary party
Permanently shut down construction on a kiosk market the plaintiff had invested in after already obtaining city approval
Shut down the wildly popular Viernes Culturales because Fuller is chairman of the board of the non profit
Trespass on plaintiffs property and conduct illegal searches and government surveillance

The lawsuit also claims that Carollo makes anonymous noise complaints against Ball & Chain and has solicited neighbors to make complaints, has sicced code enforcement on the valet company and defamed the plaintiffs on radio, calling Fuller “el Padrino” and saying that he operates like a Godfather backed by Venezuelan criminals, which is a classic Carollo move.
“Carollo has also managed to amend key provisions of the Miami city code to target plaintiffs’ businesses,” the lawsuit states. “Carollo’s stated intention is to drive the plaintiffs out of business, even if he has to destroy the life savings and work of the businesses who rent from the plaintiffs.
“These are not mere allegations,” it continues, adding that there are text messages, emails, photos, videos and the testimony of city employees and one other commissioner to attest to the claims. Some of these are included as exhibits. Former Carollo Chief of Staff Steve Miro seems to be the star witness.
They also have Carollo’s big mouth, since he said he was the “new sheriff in town” and “I am the law.”
The lawsuit also uses the very same violation of free speech lawsuit that Carollo filed against former Doral Mayor Luigi Boria when he was fired as town manager.
It was filed against Carollo as an individual, not a commissioner, and said he should be personally liable for the thousands of dollars or millions that these businesses have lost.
He should also have to pay at least $2.5 million in punitive damages to prevent “such despicable conduct in the future.”

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