And Jose Aragu gets a $300K gift from Ken Griffin
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association, formerly the Dade County PBA, announced on Tuesday their endorsement of Miami-Dade Public Safety Chief Jems “James” Reyes in the historic election for Miami-Dade sheriff, the first since the 1950s.
“In his current role as our Chief of Public Safety, James has demonstrated his commitment to law and order and providing our officers with the resources they need to do their jobs more safely and effectively,” PBA President Steadman Stahl said in a statement. “As we navigate this transition from the Miami-Dade Police Department into an independent Sheriff’s Office, we have confidence in Chief Reyes at the helm because of his proven high-level command experience in a Sheriff’s Office, tireless advocacy for our officers, and above all his commitment to public safety.”
One of the questions asked at the forum for the Miami-Dade sheriff candidates Monday was whether or not our community would be safer if we each went out and bought a gun, obviously getting the training or whatever needed to use one. And, almost like an echo chamber, the candidates said they believed in the Second Amendment — an expected answer from law enforcement types who own guns themselves.
And that’s what’s wonderful about the U.S.A., most said, some bringing up their political prisoner parents and family’s flight from dictatorship.
Fourteen of the 15 candidates for Miami-Dade Sheriff have confirmed attending a forum Monday night on Zoom hosted by the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations. They will each get an uninterrupted five minutes to talk before having another five minutes of questions from the board.
There will be no chance to rebut anything anyone says.
What’s in a name?
For Miami-Dade Public Safety Director James Reyes, a longtime employee of the Broward Sheriff’s Office working in corrections who was appointed six months ago to the new position just before he threw his hat into the Miami-Dade sheriff’s race, it’s an extra vowel. Because James Reyes is also Jems Reyes.
In his second video as Gino the Magnificent, Miami-Dade sheriff candidate Jeffrey Giordano — a long shot poking fun at the November election and some the 17 candidates in the clown car — manages to offend women, blacks, short people, union members, seniors and even phlebotomists.
It’s Part 2 to his first posted video as Gino, a take on Johnny Carson’s skit where he portrayed Carnac the Magnificent. In the first video, posted in February, Giordano took pot shots at candidates Ignacio Alvarez, Jasper Bishop, Ruamen de la Rua, Alex Fornet, Joe Sanchez and retired MDPD Lt. Rickey Mitchell, calling the funeral home owner “Grim Reaper Mitchell,” and “the only candidate who will profit from multiple deaths in Dade County.”
