Manny Cid, Maribel Balbin among potential candidates
Miami Commissioner Ken Russell lost the U.S. Senate race Thursday.
No, the election didn’t come early. It’s still in November. And maybe he would have lost anyway. But Russell’s sudden and unjustifiable switch on the Miami Freedom Park lease agreement — even with amendments made on the fly — is going to haunt him in the race. Or any future election.
West Miami’s new mayor is the youngest municipal mayor in the state of Florida, a chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed baby-face who looks more like a high school student than a politician.
Eric Diaz-Padron, 27, could also be the next Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator and 2016 presidential hopeful who started his career as commissioner in this same tiny town of less than 8,000 people.
After very little public comment, a pep talk about trust and courage from the mayor, a long and fiery homeland-type sales pitch from the developer, hours of haggling by Miami city commissioners and what looked like near fisticuffs between two of the electeds, the owners of the InterMiami soccer team got the green light to build the controversial Miami Freedom Park, a massive real estate complex disguised as a soccer stadium on the largest piece of public land in the city.
City Hall was packed mostly with attorneys and team boosters who seemed summoned to the meeting by the proponents, who called this an “unprecedented” deal. (And didn’t we hear that about the multiple Joe Robbie stadium proposals?) There were a few speakers opposed to the deal, but not in the numbers expected. The room erupted in cheers and applause after the agreement — modified “on the fly” — was approved 4-1, with Commissioner Manolo Reyes voting no.
Company tied to hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions
Everybody wants something.
While there may be a discussion Thursday, the Miami city commission vote on the Miami Freedom Park real estate giveaway is likely a ways off, as commissioners still have not had a chance yet to make their public asks (which are different from campaign contributions).