In their first run-off ever, Coral Gables voters on last week picked Mike Mena, a land use attorney who has never served on any city board or committee, over longtime activist Marlin Ebbert, a retired schoolteacher who was backed by the a group of residents irate about recent development decisions. It was 54 to 46 percent.

Everyone saw it coming after the first round two weeks ago, where Mena captured a whopping 44 percent in the four-way race. Ebbert, in second place, got 32 percent. He would have won outright if voters hadn’t changed the charter to require runoffs. And even if Ebbert had gotten every single voter that cast for her on April 11 to go out again two weeks later, and she didn’t, she would not have won.

Read related story: Ebbert, Mena head for runoff in Gables commission race

Sadly, the commission seat was decided by just over, 5,100 voters and neither candidate got the numbers they got in the first round. Funny enough, Ebbert got the closest, with 2,392 votes (296 fewer than on April 11) while Mena got 2,794 — 849 votes fewer than his 3,643 earlier showing. It only proves runoffs are not the perfect pill some thought.

Mena was sworn in Friday with the two winners from the earlier election: Commissioner Patricia Keon — who won a challenge from former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers — and returning Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, who beat Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick in a close race to win his seat back after 15 years out of office and out of sight.

Developers must be drooling. If the City Beautiful was attractive to them in the last few years, people with the right connections can now get their properties upzoned and secure variances for everything from height restrictions to setbacks. That Jeannett woman is out of the way. Her heir apparent was summarily dismissed. Ladra can see them now, licking their chops.

Read related story: Hoff, Mena stand out in four-way commission race

Mena spent more than five times what Ebbert spent to get this seat. His total as of the last campaign report filed, which was at the end of March before even the first round, was $136,540. Hers was $21,595.

Someone want to tell me again how you can’t buy an election?

It’s going to be up to Gable residents to keep these people honest. Ladra hopes they stay involved outside the election as they were during the race. Mena’s first meeting with the new Mayor Valdes-Fauli is next Tuesday, May 9.

The four-way Coral Gables commission race becomes a two-way race as longtime activist and everybody’s favorite tia abuela Marlin Ebbert heads into a runoff with land use attorney with hipster facial hair Mike Mena.

And Mena heads into it stronger, having garnered 44.5% of the vote Tuesday to Ebbert’s 33%. Retired Gables Police Sgt. Randy Hoff did not fare as well as Ladra thought he would with 18%. Maybe Ebbert’s name recognition — she ran against Vince Lago two years ago, getting 31 to his 53% — and a Miami Herald endorsement helped. Perhaps the baggage of Hoff having been a police union boss who advocated for employees on the retirement board was too much for residents to bear.

As Ladra predicted (and it was the only thing I got right), Serafin Sousa was a distant fourth with under 5 %.

Read related story: Hoff, Mena stand out in 4-way commission race

Mena, who Ladra was told was recruited into the race by Commissioner Frank Quesada, had far more money to campaign and has been doing so aggressively (he is the opposite of Chip Withers) with a dozen or so mailers and teams of young people knocking on doors every day. He had raised more than $136,500 as of March 28, compared to Ebbert’s $21,600.

He will likely raise more far more money than her over the next two weeks as well. Expect the campaigning to start Wednesday as absentee ballots will likely be mailed out again in the next few days and the runoff is in less than two weeks, April 25.

Does it really matter who wins now? The pro development foces (read: Quesada and Commissioner Vince Lago) have the third vote they need to continue to drive their agenda now that former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli won his seat back, beating Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick in the ugliest of the three races. The answer isnt simple. Ladra says no. And yes.

No because Ebbert will likely end up in the same 4-1 position that Slesnick found herself in many times. Yes because she is friendly with Commissioner Pat Keon (both women are members of the Gables Garden Club) and maybe can talk some sense into her on the dais. And Lago has voted against development a couple of times so it just might make a difference once or twice a year.

Plus the message to newbies like Mena should be that they need to serve on a board or committee at the city level before running for full fledged commissioner.

But Ebbert would have to get practically all of Randy Hoff’s share to beat Mena.

If only the 2,687 who voted for her Tuesday and the 3,643 who voted for Mena show up or cast ballots for the April 25 runoff, well then, better luck to Ebbert on her third, next try.

With little more than a week to go before the Coral Gables election, voters are getting a mailbboxful of promises and endorsements and attacks. The mailers in Coral Gables are almost always something to talk about — and this year is no exception.

From the endorsement of a former governor to the image of a university that had to be pulled to the giant, trifold of Herald stories from the city’s ugly past that landed in mailboxes Saturday — the Gables has been deluged in postal politics for a couple of weeks now.

The most prolific mailing candidate in this election has to be Mike Mena, who is running for commission in Group 3. Nobody in that race has come close and, in fact, Ladra is not certain that Serafin Sousa, the non candidate, has sent any mailers at all. Marlin Ebbert and Randy Hoff will have each sent two or three by election day. Hers focus on her standing with the anti-development residents and says that she will listen to and speak for them. His focus on his service of almost 30 years as a police officer and include two separate endorsements from former Chief James Butler and former Assistant Chief Ana Baixauli, which should have been one piece with both of them combined. Hoff could have sent another message on the second piece.

Meanwhile, Mena has sent so many mailers that voters are coming to expect a new one when they get home from work. They were getting one every day the week that absentee ballots dropped. But are they memorable? Nah. They’re pretty much cookie cutter. Take his picture out and plug in another young, ambitious lawyer from Miami or Miami Lakes or Miami Beach or wherever and you have the same thing. He uses phrases like “common sense” and “commitment to security.” Yawn.

Read related story: Hoff, Mena stand out in 4-way Gables commission race

That was the same reaction Ladra had with former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers‘ endorsement from former FIU President Modesto “Mitch” Maidique, who coincidentally had picked up an election package and who, Ladra suspects, has an itch to run for office (this endorsement could be a tit for tat). I’m sure it was intended to connect with the hundreds or thousands of FIU students and alumni in the City Beautiful, but it was eh for the rest of us who didn’t go there and there are just as many of non FIU students in the city. Withers, a proud graduate of the University of Florida, would have been better served to use the University of Miami logo.

Then FIU and former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera complained and Withers had to take the image of the smiling Maidique in front of an FIU buillding — letters blazing in neon at the top — off his social media.

“The Withers campaign and you should be aware that neither the campaign nor you are authorized to use the FIU logo or imagery without the express approval and licensing of FIU,” wrote FIU General Counsel Carlos Castillo in a cease and desist letter last week.

Cabrera, who actually did go to FIU (Withers didn’t) and actually led the alumni association at one point, filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. After all, Withers is a Gator! A bull Gator at that, who actually had a skybox in Gainseville at one time and has flown up to see the games.

Read related story: ‘Chip’ Withers vs. Pat Keon because of the Paseo project

“He should have known better. To mislead and say you have done it before without repercussions is completely wrong,” ,” Cabrera told me after Withers was quoted in the Miami Herald saying he had done it before. “I can’t recall him using a university logo before,” added Cabrera, who worked on three of Withers’ past campaigns.

The complaint says Withers intentionally misled voters into thinking that he got the FIU endorsement vis-a-vis Maidique because it implied that he was still the voice of the university.

“The mail piece sent by Withers specifically attempts to confuse voters into believing that Modesto ‘Mitch’ Maidique is still part of FIU and endorses Withers in his oficial capacity. While the piece states that Maidique is the ‘former’ President of FIU, it lists him as a current professor and thus provides the endorsement as part of Maidique’s oficial capacity, an illegal act,” wrote attorney JC Planas in the complaint, because a state university cannot endorse anybody.

“Perhaps the most blatant violation in the piece is the use of the FIU logo in the picture. Had the campaign simply used a picture of Dr. Maidique actually taken in front of that building, it still would likely have been a technical violation. However, super imposing his picture on a larger than ordinary picture of the building with the logo, was a deliberate attempt by Withers to deceive voters into thinking the endorsement was something other than that of an ordinary public citizen with no current leadership role at the University.”

Yeah, maybe. But what Ralph and JC really did was make a blah mailer and make it newsworthy and infinitely more interesting. Now, Ladra wants one for her collection.

Not as much, however, as I want that mailer with commissioner Jeannett Slesnick in a hot rod. In it, she is nicknamed “Speedy Slesnick” for her lack of support for a 5 MPH reduction that does nothing if there are no police officers to enforce it. “Stupid,” is what most voters reacted when they got it. The piece is so bad, it’s good. I want to frame it and hang it on a wall.

Read related story: Coral Gables mayoral race takes nasty, ethnic turn

Ladra also wants the mailer sent by Raul Valdes-Fauli‘s political action committee over the weekend (more on that later), which could be the largest political mailer any voter anywhere has ever gotten. It’s practically a postal billboard. But I only want it because it features me prominently — in several Herald articles from when I covered Coral Gables for the daily newspaper in 2008 and 2009… which means it’s an attack of former Mayor Don Slesnick, who beat Valdes Fauli in 2001. Talk about sour grapes! But guess what? Don Slesnick, who inherited a lot of those problems as well as a recession, is not running now. And, frankly, Jeannett Slesnick — who should, and Ladra suspects will, be judged on her own merits — will make a better mayor than her husband did.

Still, this piece is worthy of applause. It highlights the bad headlines in yellow and makes the stories look like they’re on microfiche with a back background and reverse type on the dates they were published. It’s brilliant campaigning, if somewhat disingenuous. I remember those stories. In fact, I remember Mayor Slesnick complained to the Herald editors about me and asked to have me reassigned. He said I had a “hidden agenda” (don’t they always when they don’t like what I write?). But I wasn’t reassigned because there was no agenda. And when I confronted Slesnick about his complaint, I delivered a print out of all the positive stories about the city, which far outnumbered the bad ones.

Of course, voters are not going to get a mailer on those. Because, like I said, Don isn’t running to get his seat back, unlike some people. And Jeannett Slesnick is running on her own record, not anyone else’s.

Valdes-Fauli must be a bit nervous because he has been the one mostly on the attack. Sure, there have been a few mailers about his endorsements, which include Gov. Jeb Bush, whose low energy cost him the presidential nomination last year, and current empty suit and Mayor Jim Cason and commissioners Vince Lago and Frank Quesada. The message is: If you want things to stay pretty much the same and the development to continue, vote for Raul. Again, Ladra gets the feeling that whoever is running Cason would run Valdes-Fauli, too.

Meanwhile, Slesnick’s mailers have stuck to the endorsements and the issues and the reasons why she is the best candidate for the job, not why Valdes-Fauli ain’t. Voters will get a bi-fold this week with several Gables residents and leaders — including former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham (a Democrat) and former State Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (a Republican).  The mailer ran as an ad in Sunday’s Herald’s Neighbors section. Ladra likes that one if only because it has so many people in it.

She also sent a 20-page magazine about the development — her signature issue and the one thing that can help push her over the top. It details her vote on the different projects and shows that she is not against all development, only what she calls “unacceptable development that strays quite a bit from our master code.”

Perhaps she felt the need to set the record straight. Valdes-Fauli — whose had several attack mailers that intend to mislead the voters — had already sent one out that said she actually voted for the Paseo project. That’s just a lie. A lie nobody believes.

The record clearly shows she voted against it, the sole commissioner in a 4-1 vote. She did vote subsequently on votes benefit the city and to lessen the impact to residents. That’s her job. She’s not going to vote against things that are going to make an already approved project better.

Four candidates have filed to fill the seat left empty by Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick‘s mayoral bid. And while they couldn’t be more different, they all sound pretty much the same.

We have a soft-spoken schoolteacher/grandma activist, the retired cop and union leader, the land use attorney who works with the construction industry and an angry civil engineer who can best be described as the City Beautiful’s own version of President Donald Trump when he was a candidate.

All of them talk about curbing development and easing traffic and filling police vacancies as the top priorities. There are a few differences in their approaches, but they pretty much espouse the same positions. So, we are left with figuring out who might be the best candidate based on who they are and the baggage they bring.

So, who are they? What baggage? Let’s take them in the aforementioned order, which happens to be alphabetical, shall we?

This is Marlin Ebbert‘s second attempt at a commission seat. The retired teacher ran two years ago against Commissioner Vince Lago and Ross Hancock. But she is a veritable staple in Gables civic life, having served on too many committees and boards to name here and being involved in preservation efforts.

Ebbert is a really nice lady. She is the candidate that was recruited and is endorsed by the Riviera Neighborhood Association (aka Gables Neighbors United). But that might be all she has going for her. She is passionate about the Paseo project’s approval and says the city turned a deaf ear to residents’ concerns, which it really did. But from the two candidate forums in which she has participated, she seems a little lost in the headlights on everything else.

“I have a good head on my shoulders. I’ve made wise decisions all my life. I really feel that I’ve amost been in training for this job, to stand up and run for a commission seat.”

A good head on your shoulders is nice, but I think that you also need a good grasp of administration, economics and policy. Also, Lago and Commissioner Frank Quesada will eat her alive at the meetings and the administration will likely be able to manipulate her more easily.

Sgt. Randy Hoff is a retired  officer who has worked at the city police department for almost 30 years, the majority of that time on the marine patrol, before retiring recently in order to run for office in the city where he has lived for 20 years. He has been vocal on public safety, as vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 until his term ran out in December. That has led some of his opponents to float the idea that he would be soft on labor. But Ladra thinks that what they are forgetting is that he is no longer labor. He is now just a homeowning taxpayer — and retired on a fixed income, at that — so he’s going to watch that bottom line same as anybody else.

But what it could mean is that we’ll finally have a former employee on the dais to help the commission navigate issues with staff. He’s going to bring that perspective. Ladra suspects that will be an advantage to the city at contract negotiating time. And Coral Gables employees are such an integral part of the city’s fabric, it’s about time one is elected.

Mike Mena is an attorney partner at Akerman. He admits to working with the construction industry and said at the last forum that he “negotiates deals.” Does that mean he’s a lobbyist? He’s not registered, but he touts experience in working with developers and construction companies to get desired results so what do you call that? You call it being too close for comfort.

He actually said “it could have been a Home Depot” about the Paseo project on U.S. 1, which is what developers always say when they want to upzone a property. So he sounds like he would take the developer’s side.

A handsome dad with hipster facial hair and more money than any other candidate, Mena has been in Gables mailboxes more than anybody else. But he seems a little like a carbon copy of Lago and Quesada, only shorter. And he seems a little too ambitious. I mean, he has never served on any city board or committee and has come out of the blue, after moving to the city some years ago, to run for a commission seat? Why not mayor? Ladra bets that, like Lago, Mena he has higher office ambitions and would use this seat as a stepping stone.

I have five little words for him: Pay your dues, young man.

Serafin Sousa is a civil engineer with a construction company who got pissed off at the city’s building department — it takes too long to get a permit and it’s too hard to get an inspection — and decided to run for office. He apparently has all the answers. He does actually make sense when he said that the Miracle Mile project should have been done in stages, finishing one block before starting another. “That way you don’t have all the merchants going through one year, or a year and a half, of suffering,” he said.

But his anger comes through too strong. He has a Trumplike air of the no bullshit businessman going against the establishment and he says everything with a sense of “duh!” like the rest of us are stupid. Eso no cae bien. He does not seem like a serious candidate, however, and Ladra suspects he will come in a distant fourth place.

This race is the gentlest of the three and all the candidates, pictured here at the debate last week at Coral Gables Congregational Church, are cordial and respectful to one another. Maybe that’s a result of being in a four-way race rather than a one-on-one.

But that may change soon because there’s going to be a runoff here. It will be the first time in Coral Gables, where the highest scoring candidate used to win before voters approved a charter amendment last year. And while Ladra may like Hoff and Ebbert the most, I predict a runoff between Hoff and Mena. Hoff is a strong candidate who has campaigned hard, knocking on doors six days a week. He has the support of city employees and their families and he should have gotten the nod from the Riviera preservationists because Mena is going to get into the runoff simply because he is the only Hispanic and the retired cop has a better chance of beating him in the runoff than the retired teacher has.

Word about town is that Mena was recruited by Lago and Quesada because they don’t want Hoff or Ebbert to thwart their drive to redevelop every part of Coral Gables. With Mena, the three of them would have a majority to approve whatever they wanted.

Let this be my official endorsement of Hoff. Ladra feels a little bad, because Mena was the only candidate who purchased advertising on Political Cortadito. I wish I could support him back, but I can’t. Not yet. Let him serve on a city committee or board — may I suggest Hoff appoint him to one — and come back in four years when Lago runs for mayor (or county commissioner or state rep).

Last week was interesting. We had a bunch of protests of not just Donald Trump but also Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who was the first and only big city mayor to acquiese to Trump’s demands on sanctuary cities.

This week, we get to have fun watching Gimenez and Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo do everything possible to avoid talking about the mayor’s 180-degree turnaround on the county policy, in violation of a county resolution. It’s not on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting because the chairman scheduled a special meeting just for that. Guess they expect it to take a long time, huh?

Ladra has a feeling however, that even though it’s not on the agenda, it will be discussed. If only in public comments. Activists are encouraging people to go and tell Gimenez off while his supporters have also encouraged people (more on that later) to go and show their support for “law and order.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t end in chaos.

As always, please keep sending news about meetings, campaign rallies, political club powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com. This is your Cortadito Calendar, after all.

MONDAY — Feb. 6

3 p.m. — The City of Miami’s Historic & Environmental Preservation Board will meet to receive a presentation, open to the public, of a “historical assessment report” on the Coconut Grove Playhouse. While this is a discussion item only, Playhouse boosters are expected to show up en masse to support continued efforts to restore and reopen the landmark (hopefully more than just the outside facade, or is that battle lost already?). Chairman Keon Hardemon could allow public speakers to make comments — if he’s so inclined. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

TUESDAY — Feb. 7

9:30 a.m — The Miami-Dade Commission meets and tries not to talk about that immigration detention thing. Even though there’s a special meeting called just for that on Feb. 17, it’s going to be hard to get through the whole meeting without taling about it just a little bit. Maybe that’s why the agenda is packed with a lot of items to keep commissioners busy. Topping that list is a whole lot of water and sewer contracts related to the consent decree forcing the county to upgrade it’s system. At least six different contracts for a total of more than $50 million (more on that later). There’s also a $38-million contract with Garney Companies on the table for the design, build and installation of a 48-inch diameter water main pipe. Yes, you read that right: A $38-million water main pipe. Also on the agenda: An ordinance creating a special stadium taxing district for the county and Miami Gardens to share, a $1 million grant for the construction of two “replacement libraries” in Doral and Hialeah Gardens, a $6 million contract for roof repairs at Miami International Airport and a $14.5 million “legacy” contract for security communications maintenance at MIA. Yes, you read that right: A $14.5 million contract for security communications maintenance.

9 p.m. — And you thought the debates were over when the president was elected. Wrong.  This Tuesday, Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — both of whom lost the nomination to run for president — will face off live on CNN in a heated debate about the future of Obamacare. Florida International University students in a group called Turning Point USA Panthers are hosting a “fun watch party” at the Graham Center Pit. But it looks like it may only be fun for Republicans, since they bill it as a debate between “Socialist Senator Sanders and Constitutionalist, Free Market Advocate Senator Ted Cruz” and included the hashtags #BigGovSucks and #FreeMarketsFreePeople. Don’t wear your “I’m with her” button.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 8

9 a.m. — It’s a busy day for the Miami Beach commissioners, who meet to discuss a bunch of things, including an amendment to the city code on maximum building heights and allowable exceptions in commercial zones and the design and development of a skate park at 72nd Street. They will also consider new zoning regulations for West Avenue and the 600 block of Washington Avenue and the purchase of two new “skywatch towers” for the police department and $2 million worth of new equipment for the fire rescue department as well as regulations for sidewalk cafes and a $30 million contract for improvements to West Avenue. Also on the agenda: the second reading for Commissioner Ricky Arriola‘s moratorium on medical marijuana sales (more on that later) and demolition moratoriums on North Beach and on Tatum Waterway properties. Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who joined protesters of the Gimenez immigration betrayal last week, also plans to ask her colleagues to declare Miami Beach a sanctuary city. Told ya it was a busy day for them. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.

THURSDAY — Feb. 9

9:30 a.m. — Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo’s Policy Council meets. This board aims to identify critical capital needs and innovative transportation funding solutions, develop a courthouse capital improvement plan and a cohesive and proactive sea level rise response plan as well as work on gun safety.

6 p.m. — It’s the first fundraiser for Coral Gables candidate Mike Mena, and attorney has Congressman Carlos Curbelo and State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz among the hosts. The event is at El Novillo Restaurant on 67th Avenue and Bird Road. Wait a minute. Aren’t there any restaurants inside Coral Gables that are good enough?

SATURDAY — Feb. 11

Noon — The Miami Young Republicans are still celebrating Donald Trump’s victory with a Make America Great Again BBQ at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne to kick off the year. “We will be unveiling our game plan to drive the discussion on South Florida’s most important issues and elect the next class of Young Republicans to local office. If you have been thinking about stepping up your involvement, or want to serve in a club leadership position, this event will provide a great opportunity to speak with board members to join the team,” says the Facebook invitation.