DEVELOPING STORY: Coral Gables Commissioner Jorge Fors, who is in a heated runoff for the Miami-Dade Commission seat in District 6, has filed a lawsuit against his opponent, GOP political operative Kevin Marino Cabrera, over what he says are lies and “doctored images” of Fors in a series of mailers.

“I won my current seat in 2019. I know South Florida political campaigns can get ugly, but this is beyond the pale. Enough is enough,” Fors said in a statement. “Cabrera showed us he will do or say anything, even outright lies, to get elected.”

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Two more district contests are headed to runoffs in November

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One would think that with five open Miami-Dade commission seats this year, due to term limits finally kicking in, we would have better candidates trying to seize the opportunity. But when you really look at it, this batch of wannabes is one of the least promising.

It was amazing — and it sucks — that former Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg was able to take the District 4 seat without having to convince one voter. There was no debate. No discourse. And that’s not good for democracy. Steinberg doesn’t really have to be accountable to anyone.

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It’s not just Miami-Dade District 6 where former President Donald Trump has a friend running. One of the candidates challenging Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins is also a Trumpster.

She doesn’t have his endorsement like Kevin Marino Cabrera has, but that’s probably only because Karen Baez Wallis, who resigned as director of Jackson South’s emergency services to run for office, does not think the 2020 presidential election was entirely stolen.

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There is a lot of money going around in the Miami-Dade District 2 racethe clusterbunch race with six candidates. And it’s not all where you’d expect it to be.

Sure, North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime is raking it in with real estate investors and developers. He’s got almost $800,000 between his campaign account and his political action committee. But social worker extraordinaire Marleine Bastien, founder and director of the nonprofit Family Action Network Movement, has the healthiest campaign account, without loaning herself a dime and without the bundling that is more evident in the other candidates’ records.

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All six candidates in the Miami-Dade District 2 race are experienced public servants or civic leaders and any one of them would make a good county commissioner. But two candidates stood out for the right reasons Thursday in The Miami Foundation’s forum: Wallace Aristide and Joe Celestin.

These two — a former principal of Miami Northwestern who is now principal of ITech magnet and a former mayor of North Miami — showed a real grasp of municipal government, budgets and issues. They answered questions with details and authority, passion and conviction.

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