Juan Zapata is still the only official candidate for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 — and he is making the most of holding all the dance cards: His campaign got a big head start last week with an interview on Univision’s local Channel 23.
The former commissioner was interviewed by Erika Carrillo, the same reporter who was new to Univision when she scooped everyone on the story someone at the county fed her about Zapata — who was the mayor’s biggest critic and budget ball buster — taking Harvard classes paid by taxpayers.
Of course, it wasn’t that cut and dry. Zapata took the same course some other commissioners, including Jean Monestime, had taken. When he extended the course, the county was automatically charged. He always intended to pay for it himself, however, and reimbursed the county immediately.
Read related: Juan Zapata is first to throw hat into 2020 mayoral free-for-all
But the damage was done to one of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s biggest critics and main challenger on the dais. And Zapata ended up dropping out of his 2015 re-election campaign, disgusted with it all and frustrated with his attempts to reform our county government.
“That frustration still lives in me and that is why I have a desire to change it,” Zapata told Carillo. “I saw the monster from inside. And I saw people who governed caring only about themselves, about their own interests.”
He may find himself fighting some of those same “people” again, as the growing list of possible mayoral wannabes include three of his former colleagues: Commissioners Esteban Bovo, Daniella Levine-Cava — which the station mistakenly identified as Cuban-American — and Xavier Suarez. Rounding out the list of names that have been floated are former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and former Congressman Carlos Curbelo.
Read related: 2020 contender Xavier Suarez has dream slate for commission
And we’re almost two years out. No wonder Zapata is campaigning already.
He told Carrillo that he would be able to raise the money he needs to wage a positive campaign that is “looking to the future.” But, judging from the almost 3-minute interview, he is going to bring up the mistakes of the past.
Zapata always voted against the half cent tax deviation and said that his mission as mayor would be to reform county government, particularly the transit department.
“To me, it always seemed a lack of respect to ask the taxpayers for the money, collect the money and use it for another purpose, not the one you collect it for,” Zapata said. “That has to stop.”
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
But, while he always criticized the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, he is against the Bryan Avila bill moving in the House to eliminate the agency. “To give those funds to Tallahassee would be an error. In Tallahassee, every chance they get to take our money and spend it elsewhere, they will take it.”
And he promised not to give his favorite lobbyists and campaign people juicy jobs and contracts.
“Nobody will be given favoritism,” Zapata said. “The government will have one job, to produce results for the citizens of this county.”
About the Harvard episode, which will likely come up in the campaign because that’s all opponents will have on Zap, the former commissioner is obviously owning the misstep and that’s refreshing in politics.
“I learned from that experience,” Zapata said, adding that the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission found nothing wrong and that, before he left the commission, he passed an ordinance clarifying the limits of those funds.
“I think the citizens know that I had every intention [to pay],” he said.
Watch the entire interview here.

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With all the recent speculation about Alex Penelas and/or Carlos Curbelo tossing a wrench into what we thought was a battle between heir apparent Esteban Bovo and Sir Xavier Suarez, the people’s knight, for the open mayoral seat in 2020, the first to throw his hat in the ring was none of the above.
Former Commissioner Juan Zapata — who last gave up the fight for his own re-election in 2016, citing a hostile work environment — filed paperwork on Monday showing he has opened a mayoral campaign account and will run for the top county job.
Read related: Chased out: Juan Zapata leaves hostile work environment
“#ItsTime to get county government truly working for its residents and transform an antiquated government structure that fails to address the present and future needs of our community,” Zapata said in a statement Ladra believes is the key message of his campaign, hence the hashtag, which was repeated in the press release emailed Monday evening.
“As a commissioner, Zapata tirelessly fought to maximize taxpayer resources, increase police presence, protect the unincorporated areas, strengthen the county’s infrastructure, institute innovative policies and advocate for viable transit solutions.
“#ItsTime to bring a true spirit of public service back to county hall and lay out a vision for the future of Miami-Dade County.
“Zapata will focus on keeping our residents safe, protecting our environment, improving mobility, and addressing the inequality and affordability issues that exist in our community. His broad public service experience, along with his reputation as a servant leader, positions him as the best choice for Mayor to bring about responsible prosperity and innovative solutions to Miami-Dade County. #ItsTime.”
His media contact is Bibiana “Bibi” Potestad, the Florida House candidate in district 119 that he supported last year (she lost the Republican primary to Juan Fernandez-Barquin, who is the new state rep now) and who once interned for Zapata when he was the first Colombian elected state rep (2002-2010).
If elected next year, Zapata would be Miami-Dade’s first Colombian-American mayor.
Read related: Juan Zapata’s last meeting items: ‘Smart growth,’ zoning, ATVs
But the field is expected to be fat. Bovo is going to run, and the recent acquisition of Brian Goldmeier by Penelas shows he intends to run for something. Some people have been floating Curbelo’s name, but the former Congressman has a great national TV gig that he could parlay back into national office, if he keeps his pants on long enough for Marco Rubio to retire.
Who else? Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava might actually think she has the chops already, even though she has hardly been the force she promised to be on the commission. But Commissioner Rebeca Sosa has long thought she deserves to be the county’s first female mayor.
Then there’s the recent flurry of urgent activity in tweets and posts and email blasts from Commissioner Joe Martinez‘s office. There’s going to be a detour over here. There’s going to be road construction over there. Cold weather is coming, bundle up, and Happy Holocaust Remembrance Day. But that could just as likely be for a run at the sheriff’s seat created by voters last November.
Ladra also knows for a fact that former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera is talking to people about it. And a lot of Democrats still want to see former Congressman Joe Garcia there.
Ladra is likely forgetting someone. Whoever it is, other candidates are likely to make much out of a Master’s Degree program at Harvard that he first paid for with county funds before he paid it himself. Zap — an outspoken critic of Mayor Carlos Gimenez already had a target drawn on his back — had originally signed up for a shorter program that the county had previously paid for with other commissioners in the past.
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
He decided to get more out of it, but before he could reimburse the county for the difference, someone (read: a Gimenez lackey) had tipped of a reporter and the story had been cast as if Zap had intended to make taxpayers pay for his professional development all along. And it came right at re-election, which is what likely caused him to withdraw.
But that may be all they have. Because Zapata’s wide field of supporters say he has always represented the best interest of the people against the developers, the special interests and the politicians that serve them. Ladra knows him as a bold speaker who isn’t afraid to ask the difficult questions and calls the budget process the shell game that it is. He would likely be a reformer at the county.
Maybe #ItsTime for someone like that to run for mayor after all.

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When was the last time you got a six figure raise?
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez gets a $100,000-a-year raise, nearly doubling his salary to $250,000 a month beginning in October, because, well, because he can.
As strong mayor, he is his own boss and can apparently decide to give himself a raise whenever he wants. No performance evaluation. No bargaining. No nada.
If you will recall, Gimenez cut the mayor’s salary when he was first elected post recall in 2011. He brought the salary of $325,000 — which fueled the Carlos Alvarez recall as much as the Marlins stadium deal — down to $150,000. Now that he’s termed out, he wants more. The county commission approved a budget Thursday that includes the pay raise, without any real discussion as to whether the mayor deserves it.
When was the last time you got a 67% raise? When was the last time you received a raise without a performance evaluation?
“Based on what? Raises should be based on something he’s done,” said former Commissioner Juan Zapata, a potential mayoral candidate for 2020. “Has he lowered taxes? Has he fixed any major problem?
“This is not the right amount. This is not the right time. It makes no sense to normal human beings,” Zap added. “I don’t know anybody whose paycheck has gone up more than 60%.
“It’s an insult. It’s offensive.”
Read related: Carlos Gimenez has new role as rainmaker — soliciting for 10 PACs
So let’s do what the commission failed to do, shall we? Let’s give Gimenez — who has been spending less time at work and more time soliciting contributions for his chosen political gang — a performance evaluation.
On infrastructure he gets an F. On everyone’s number one problem, transit, he gets an F. He promoted the smart plan during his last mayoral campaign and promised new rail in TV commercials only to say later that there was no money for rail and he was going to buy buses instead. That makes him a liar.
He says there is no money for rail but he forgets to say that it is because he has been stealing the half penny tax voters approved in 2002 to pay for more rail in order to pay for operations and maintenance. He want to keep stealing those People Transportation Plan funds this year to the tune of $90 something million.
On investments he gets an F. He may brag about the state of the economy, but that’s mostly state-driven, something Rick Scott can brag about not him. The mayor must be evaluated based on people’s investment in unincorporated Miami-Dade. And developers would rather be water boarded.
On management he gets an F. The level of services provided by Miami-Dade has diminished while the fees for those services have gone up. That’s just backwards. Services up and fees down deserve a raise, not the other way around.
On economic development he gets an F. Gimenez may say to look at the airport and seaport. But those are self-sustaining economic engines that he can’t crap up. What did Miami-Dade get for all his little trips abroad? What new businesses has he brought? How has he diversified our economy?
What big problem has he fixed?
Do we have a new civil courthouse to replace the really toxic one making people sick? Have we restored all the library hours and park services cut in 2013 and 14? Do we have a seamless procurement process that is not plagued with problems, complaints and accusations of cooked deals? Do we have happy county employees? Do we have open, transparent government for real?
No, no, no, no and no.
At the same time, we are rewarding a man who abuses his office and power often and usually to benefit himself or someone on his friends and family plan.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez son’s firm got $4 million PAC repair job
Did he get a $200 an hour job for his best friend in water in sewer? Did he secure a job for his daughter in law with a county vendor? Did he take yearly junkets around the world on the taxpayer dime? Did he give a $4 million no bid contract to the construction company that employed his son Julio Gimenez? Did he delay an elections department deadline for his other son, the lobbyist CJ Gimenez (photo, right) making a career out of his bloodline?
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
These failures and abuses should not be rewarded with a raise. In fact, any number of these by themselves could be a good reason to fire Gimenez. After all, Alvarez was recalled on similar grounds.
The final part of this review should be to determine if Miami-Dade is better or worse off today because of his “leadership.”  It’s a cost benefit analysis: In the end, does Carlos Gimenez add value or cost us opportunities?
 

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It’s not if or when these days in the 305 political world, it’s where.

Folks are lining up like ducks to become the next Florida Senator in District 40, after former Sen. Frank Artiles was forced to resign over racist remarks, or maybe the next Congress member from District 27, after longtime veteran U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced Saturday she would not seek re-election. Some are having to choose between the two.

It’s almost like someone broke open a political piñata and the big kids are just diving in, leaving no room for the new kids to grab any candy.

The latest to officially dive into the 40 contest, even though the governor has not yet set an election date, is former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who switched gears from considering a city of Miami commission run and filed paperwork Wednesday so he can start fundraising for a seat he is all to familiar with. The Dean DLP was in the Senate from 2000 to 2010, serving as Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore, until he was succeeded by his big brother Miguel DLP. This would be his first foray back into politics (for himself; he’s run other campaigns) since losing a bid to go back to the State House (he served as a rep from 1994 to 2000) in 2012.

This should put to rest all the talk about State Rep. Jeanette Núñez, who was being pushed hard by the Florida GOP, which is wise to be seeking a female to replace Artiles because some of his comments were misogynist, too, and you can bet that might become part of the campaign narrative if the Democrats choose a woman (read: wisely). Núñez was already loathe to have to move her family from Doral, from where she can comfortably run for Anitere Flores‘ seat when Flores terms out, which is her plan. She certainly isn’t going to run against The Dean, who was once her boss and mentor.

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

It should be an intresting primary nonetheless. Unless DLP is suddenly back in the GOP’s good graces, they may still push State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz into it. Pepi “The Selfie King” Diaz is said to be in the running for either U.S. Attorney General or Florida AG once Pam Bondi goes to Washington, but Ladra has been told that it’s been a difficult sell, primarily because he hasn’t really seen the inside of a courtroom, has he? Sscares away more of the multitudes on the sidelines thinking about this same senate seat, including former Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata — who has suddenly started a new, fresh round of Facebook ads — and former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado, who has been spending loads of time in Tallahassee since her loss to Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and done many of her radio shows on state rather than county issues. While she lost countywide Regalado — who Ladra helped against Gimenez but is not working with in either of the other races — got tens of thousands of votes in both districts.

Interestingly enough, both Zap and Regalado are also interested in the congressional seat, for which former Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall — who lost a Congressional primary against Carlos Curbelo in 2014 — has formed an exploratory committee and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera has said he’s thinking about it

And why wouldn’t they be?

These opportunities for open seats do not come often. In the case of District 27, where Ros-Lehtinen’s announcement came out of the blue, we already had a bunch of Democrats interested in turning that seat. These include Scott Fuhrman, the DUI driver who lost to Ros-Lehtinen in November, and Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez, the primary frontrunner who has a head start on everybody else — actually challenging Ileana and not waiting until she retired — as well as some early success in the city despite coming in as the mayor’s nemesis. That is, unless Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava jumps in. She has said that she is considering it. That could be a game changer. But are both of them too Democrat to carry the general? Dems seem to think this seat is theirs for the taking.

Read related story: Kristen Rosen Gonzalez to challenge Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

What an episode of Miami Hollywood Squares

Nobody has officially jumped in from the GOP side but Regalado makes sense. Ros-Lehtinen has always been a moderate and Regalado is too. Plus, she’s up on issues like education, immigration, healthcare and housing so she can hit the ground running. I like Mac, but he’s got too problems: He’s a Trump-loving hardline conservative and a gringo. I love Zap, but he should stick to 40, which is where he lives. Regalado lives in 27. She represented much of it on the school board. This is her home base. It’s Dean DLP’s home base, too, but the numbers may not look as good for a more conservative Republican.

Still, these days, it looks like everybody is Annette Taddeo, the carpetbagging perennial candidate who has run for county commission, liutenant governor and Congress. Or David Rivera, for that matter.

Speaking of which, the former Congressman, who has tried to win his seat back and is now running for state rep in 105 (to replace termed-out Rep. Carlos Trujillo), has not expressed an interest in the senate race, which is more natural for him than the congressional seat. Just because he was spotted in Frank’s old office in the Capitol Building in Tallahassee doesn’t mean anything. He could have just been visiting his longtime friend Alina Garcia, Artiles’ former Chief of Staff who once worked for Rivera.

Taddeo, on the other hand, has of course expressed interest in both seats. As well as, let’s just put dibs on it now, any seat that may open up in the future.

Could El Zorro come to the rescue again?

One of the names being batted around for a special election to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles — who resigned Friday after making inappropriate and racist comments earlier in the week when speaking to a few colleagues — is his all-time rival and nemesis, former Miami-Dade Commissioner and former State Rep. Juan Zapata.

Zapata abruptly withdrew his candidacy from his re-election to the county commisison last year. He had grown sick and tired of the retaliatory tactics of the mayor and his allies and the hat trick maze that is the county budget. But he had been one of the good guys, asking the right questions, not playing politics or favorites with the other electeds and watching, more closely than anyone else, the taxpayer’s money.

Now, maybe we can have him in the Senate.

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns, but still needs to apologize to Hialeah

Zapata was out of the country Friday on business but returned a text message from Ladra about it.

 “Yes, I am seriously considering it,” he wrote, and followed it with a smiling emoji. The big smiley one, not the little smile.

“I wasnt going to be able to contribute much in the county commission. The state senate would obviously allow for way more,” Zapata told Ladra. “This is my area. I have always fought and worked for it. Nobody knows it better than I and my experience has prepared me well.”

It would only be gravy if he gets to replace his longtime nemesis (my words, not his).

Zapata and Artiles have been rivals. Artiles ran for state rep against Zapata twice and lost. He then basically recruited and ran police officer Manny Machado against Zap in the 2012 county commission race (lost then, too).

Other Republicans being considered for the job would be State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz — but he is being groomed for Attorney General — and State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, but she has filed to run for Sen. Anitere Flores‘ termed-out seat in 2018 in what is a slightly safer district for her and probably with Flores’ blessing.

The GOP can’t just pick anybody off the street. They are going to want someone with name recognition who can win on a shorter campaign cycle and thwart the efforts of state Democrats, who want to get their seat back in a district that slightly favors the blue. Artiles, who was a state rep for six years — only winning the House seat once Zap left office to run in the — had beaten former State Sen. Dwight Bullard by 10 percentage points, mostly by calling him a terrorist.

Naturally, Bullard is one of the Democrats being considered. But seeing how he moved out of the district to try to get the chairmanship of the Florida Democratic Party, it would be easy to attack him if he just moved back in to run for his old seat again. I can see the mailers now. Instead of Arab headwear, he’d be carrying luggage. Besides, Bullard might win a primary but he won’t win the general in a district that is about 60% Hispanic. He already tried that once and failed.

Read related story: Chased out: Juan Zapata leaves hostile work environment

The others are perennial candidate Annette Taddeo (who would also win a primary but not the general) and former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, who is the person that should have won that seat from the get go, but the Democrats decided to back Bullard and she didn’t even campaign.

Rivas Logan told me she had gotten several phone calls already by lunchtime Friday. Of course, she’s the female flip version of Zapata — a moderate Democrat (she used to be Republican) who has bocoup name recognition.

“It depends on the timeline,” said Rivas Logan, a high school administrator who retires in October. “This is how I make my bread and butter. Politics is a hobby.”

A date has not been set yet for a special election, but it could come as early as this summer, with a 60 day campaign. 

We are already envisioning a showdown between Zapata and Rivas Logan, which will be clean and on the issues, and we can’t wait for these two longtime public servants to show the rest of the puppies how it’s done.

“He would be a formidable opponent,” Rivas Logan said. “That would be a good race.”

Yeah boy, it would!

Newly elected Commissioner Joe Martinez is sort of on a war path. And there is no bigger casualty than former Commissioner Juan Zapata. Martinez has several items on Tuesday’s agenda to start to undo some of the things that Zapata is most proud of from the last four years.

Martinez will ask his colleauges to strip the “West End” name from county facilities — basically erase it from the map. He also wants to stop the North end Municipal Advisory Committee, which has been meeting to move forward on the incorporation process.

“It was my platform. It’s why I ran,” Martinez said though we know that he ran because he can’t stand not being in office. After all, he ran for mayor in 2012 and for Congress in 2014 but couldn’t get elected outside his district.

Read related story: ‘West End’ Kendall city would operate with $40 million

He says that the West End name was thrust upon the public without their consent or input. “People didn’t have a say. A lot of people didn’t like the way the name was just given to them.”

If approved, the West End Regional Library will go back to being the West Kendall Regional Library, the Miami-Dade Police Department’s West District Station will go back to being the Hammocks District Station and the West jEnd District Park will go back to being the West Kendall District Park.

“That’s fine,” Zapata told Ladra on Sunday, explaining that the West End moniker was intended to be a regional brand to bring together the communities of West Kendall, Bird Road, Country Walk, Kendale Lakes, Calusa and Hammocks, among others.

“You can self identify whatever you want, but you need a regional brand,” Zapata said, adding that he had sought the advice of marketing experts and had three town hall meetings about it. “They couldn’t market West Kendall. Everyone just thinks of it being ‘so far’ and ‘the traffic.’ I wanted to change that narrative. I couldn’t change the narrative without that name. I wanted people to look at this area differently. I wanted to change the vibe.”

Counters Martinez: “I’m not doing it to undo what he did. In the 12 years that I was commissioner, not once did anybody say let’s change the name.”

Read related story: Juan Zapata’s ‘West End’ is criticized — with poetry

But while he says Martinez is doing the same thing that he accuses Zapata of — making the name change arbitrarily without input from the community, the former commissioner and state rep is more concerned with the rescinding of the MAC, which has met for about two years to put together its incorporation application.

“All I did was allow a process, start a conversation,” Zapata said. “I can’t understand why anybody would be against neighbors getting together to discuss the future of this community.”

Zapata and incorporation supporters say that the district provides $16 million in revenue to the county through property taxes but does not get it’s fair share of unicorporated municipal services.

“We’ve actually been waiting fo the county to do a public hearing” said Joe Rodriguez, a member of the North side MAC. “It’s very feasible to do a city out here. The county’s own consultant told us we’re getting raped out here by the county. We give millions in taxes but you never see a cop out here, or very rarely.

“We’re almost at the end of the process. We’re not finished because the county has been dragging their feet,” Rodriguez said, adding that Martinez never even went to the group to tell them what he was doing.

Read related story: ‘West End’ has fewer cops per capita, needs more

“We’re at the end of the process,” he told Ladra last week. “All we’re asking is to let this go to a vote of the people If it passes, it’s the will of the people. If it fails, it fails.”

Martinez counters that very few people attend the MAC meetings. “If there were 200 people who show up, or 150. But I don’t remember many people being in favor of it.” He says he campaigned against the incorporation because voters told him they were against it.

“They do not want another layer of government,” he told Ladra, “and the people who show up to vote are just the eople in favor.”

He says he’s open to getting it started again — “if that’s what the people want.”

Asked how he would pay for the changing of the signs — which Zapata paid for out of his office funds — Martinez said he had not thought about that yet. He wanted to see if the old signs were still around somewhere. But he might seek private sponsors to make donations.

But won’t he owe someone a favor then?