Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo may have won the special election in District 4 this week with his puppet candidate, but he lost in court on the same day when the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals basically laughed at his feeble attempt to get out of the $63.5 million jury award given to a pair of Little Havana businessmen in 2023 after they sued Carollo and the city for violating their First Amendment rights.
The court has not yet issued its ruling, but the reaction from the three panel judges at oral arguments Tuesday seem to indicate that they are going to flatly deny his appeal because, well, it’s ridiculous. They kept asking the same questions, which were never answered, and kept interrupting Carollo’s lawyers, who were making the same moot point over and over again. Hear the whole thing here.
This could be the end of the line for Carollo’s appeals. He could try to go to a full court hearing or the U.S. Supreme Court, but it’s doubtful that either will take the case after the ruling comes out, if the ruling reflects the oral arguments.
This is that Ball & Chain thing. The owners of the historic bar in Little Havana were targeted by Carollo shortly after he was elected in 2017 because his opponent, Alfie Leon — who lost by a scant 252 votes — had his watch party there. Carollo sicced code enforcement not only on the Calle Ocho watering hole but also on other businesses that were owned by William “Bill” Fuller and his partners and associates, or businesses that lease properties from them.
At one point, the city shut Ball & Chain and Taquerias El Mexicano down.
Read related: Jury says Miami’s Joe Carollo abused power to violate 1st Amendment rights
Fuller and one of his partners, Martin Pinilla, sued Carollo and the city in federal court in 2021 for violating their First Amendment rights. After 18 months, 24 days in court, and the testimony of many in the city’s senior staff — including the former city manager, two former police chiefs and two of Carollo’s former chiefs of staff — a jury found that Carollo had targeted these businesses for political retaliation.

The appeal was based on the fact that Zack Bush, one of Fuller’s partners, had gone into the same elevator with Juror #3 in the case and said something to the effect of him following her. Carollo’s attorneys argued it was a threat and that the court should reverse the ruling against the commissioner or call for a new trial because the lower court judge never talked to Bush.
The appeals court judges found that the encounter was “harmless,” and pointed out two things that seem important: (1) The juror didn’t feel threatened at all and said she could continue to be unbiased. And (2) One of Carollo’s attorneys in the case — and Ladra suspects it was Benjamin Kuehne — complimented the judge on the thoroughness of the investigation into the interaction, and even suggested that the judge talk to all the jurors and issue an instruction order, which the judge did.
“So why was it not enough? It has to be contact about a matter pending before the jury,” one judge said. “It wasn’t about the lawsuit.” The juror, she said, “didn’t seem to perceive it” as a threat. “Isn’t that the inquiry that matters?”
“The only reason it would be relevant would be to show us that it biased the jury,” another judge concurred. “That’s the part that I’m missing.”
Carollo’s attorney wanted the three-judge panel to make presumption of prejudice and said the lower court judge could not “analyze the influence” had on the juror without interviewing Bush.
One judge disagreed because even if there had been an attempt to rattle a juror, it didn’t work.”The only reason it would be relevant is if the jury was biased,” she said.
“Suppose Mr. Bush had been plotting for two months that he is going to run into a juror at the elevator and he is going to do all manner of things,” another judge added. “What we know is exactly what happened in that incident and how it affected the jury. What does it matter what Mr. Bush intended or planned or anything of the sort?”
Jeff Gutchess, the attorney for the Fuller et al, also said that Kuehne could have but never asked for that juror to be excused and for an alternate juror to be seated. And that the strength of the evidence caused the judge to write a scathing ruling that said Carollo “used his position of power to weaponize city government against plaintiffs because plaintiffs chose to exercise their first amendment rights by supporting defendant’s political opponent.
“He said that this weaponization continued long after the plaintiffs had filed suit,” Gutchess said, “and he said that during that time the weaponization was ‘continuous and unrelenting,’ and that’s a quote, and then he says, and it ‘specifically targeted the plaintiff’s financial vulnerabilities by attempting to shut down their tenants business.
“He called this intentional and malicious, reprehensible and a shock to the conscience,” Gutchess said. He basically reargued his case before the panel, saying that any elevator chat was “inconsequential in light of the avalanche of evidence we had against Mr. Carollo.” He brought up testimony about city staff meetings about targeting Fuller’s businesses and lists created to do so.
Within six months of those meetings, Gutchess said, Ball & Chain and Taquerias El Mexicano were shut down.
Read related: Ball & Chain to reopen after years of city harassment by Joe Carollo’s hand
Fuller’s attorney also mentioned former Police Chief Art Acevedo‘s arrival to the city in 2021, when he was driven from the airport to the taqueria at 12:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday to watch live as the city manager oversaw a raid with “more than 12 officers” in bulletproof vests and helmets with guns — all to check for a permit.
The real reason? “Simply to terrorize Mr. Fuller.”
Gutchess also mentioned how Carollo is constantly calling Fuller a “corrupt mafioso” on Spanish-language radio, saying that the Little Havana booster takes money from the Venezuelan government, which actually is a safety hazard in that neighborhood. He said Fuller has lost tenants and business opportunities, bank financing and that Greenberg Traurig stopped representing them because they were afraid of Carollo’s wrath.
“And The Smithsonian Institution that had been committed to open up a museum on Cuban American history pulled out because of this harassment from Joe Carollo.”
That’s new information. Ladra didn’t know that.
An official ruling could take a few days or a few weeks to be written, but Ladra expects a sharp denial based on these oral arguments.
The next question is: Can the city now get reimbursed by Carollo for the legal fees that taxpayers have paid for his defense?
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The post Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo to lose appeal on $63.5 million judgement appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Proposed change of election year is part of the ruse
There’s a new political action committee in town. It was formed late last month, just in time to get involved at the last minute in the special election in Miami’s District 4 to replace the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes, which was won Tuesday by the PAC’s chosen candidate, Ralph Rosado.
But that might just be the beginning.
Floridians for Good Government filed paperwork with the Florida Division of Elections last month, naming Raul Diaz as its chairman and Jose “Pepe” Riesco as the treasurer. Diaz and Riesco also play the same roles at Miamians for Sensible Government, another PAC that has worked with Jesse Manzano , Rosado’s campaign manager, and gotten $35,000 from Miami For Everyone, which is the PAC for Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
So it’s safe to say that Floridians for Good Government is another Baby X PAC.

And it’s also likely that it will be used not just for the D4 campaign, but to fight against the referendum question that may be put on the ballot for the lifetime term limits, which would strengthen current term limits by prohibit electeds from skipping one term and coming right back.
Because Rosado’s support of the term limits and the ultimatum from Suarez to change the election date first are all part of the ruse.
Here’s how it goes:
Las malas lenguas say that Suarez threatened, through proxies, to veto the lifetime term limits unless the sponsor, Commissioner Damian Pardo — who looks like he is being fooled, maybe again — agrees to move the elections to even numbered years, which would extend everybody’s terms by a year and has already been threatened by legal action by at least two of the 2025 candidates (more on that later). Lo and behold, Pardo announced Wednesday morning — the day after newly-elected commissioner Rosado won his special election in District 4 — that he was going to put it on the agenda for the next meeting, June 12, at the same time as the term limits. He had said earlier they would be discussed at different meetings because they are not connected.
Bullshit.
Read related: Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election
The mayor wants another year to campaign for Florida governor or whatever is next, because he has no place to go right now. The anxiously expected ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia is seemingly not a thing, so he’ll hang out as a postalita, no-show mayor and benefit from his public role and documented side gigs as much as possible..
Carollo could get 12 more months of taxpayer paid legal representation on his multiple lawsuits and can always run for mayor next year — even though, this year, he could very well be the frontrunner with the current clown car of candidates.
Because, here’s the thing, they have no intention of letting lifetime term limits become reality. The change in the election can be done by ordinance, in the next month or so before qualifying in September. Rosado has already said he is in favor of it. He’s also said he is open to the idea of the lifetime term limits, but wants to hear from his new colleagues, which means he likes Chairwoman Christine King‘s idea of making former electeds wait two terms before they can run for the same office again.
Either way, any enhanced or expanded term limits — watered down or not — have to be approved by voters. And that is something that can be fought in the court of public opinion. The campaign consultants that work for Carollo — and Carollo himself, who makes money off every campaign — is banking on it.
The stated purpose or scope of Floridians For Good Government is “to support or oppose candidate and ballot.” It looks like the word “question” was left off at the end of that sentence.
Ladra is 99% certain that this PAC is going to be used to push a no vote on the lifetime term limits. Sources have said that Suarez and Carollo are both making calls to raise money for it. With enough dollars, they can define the charter change as an unnecessary communist move to limit voters’ choices — or something like that. And an obvious sure thing gets completely muddied and instantly becomes a wedge issue.
The PAC is also affiliating itself with President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” slogan. The D4 special election mail had the slogan matched with Rosado’s name and “Make District 4 Great Again.” This works with a lot of Miami voters and is likely to be the tone of several campaigns this year — or next.
Read related: Miami commissioners could extend terms, gain a year for themselves, mayor
Once the lifetime term limits are rejected by voters, it’s too late to change the election back. That boat will have sailed. So Pardo’s concept of sacrifice — that it’s worth another year of Carollo to get rid of him for good — might not really be worth the risk. Because it may not work out that way.
Floridians For Good Government will have to file two campaign finance reports between now and the November election, where the lifetime term limits could be on the ballot. One is in July and the other is in October, for the second and third quarter of the year.
Ladra will be on top of that to shine a light on who is backing, and who could benefit, from extending the current electeds’ terms by a year.
It is more important than ever to be all over the Miami city commission like black on beans. Like green on grass. Like bees on sweet. Like government money on a bad idea. Help Ladra stay on top of the commission’s moves and antics with a donation today to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!
The post New PAC forms for Miami D4 election and, likely, vs. lifetime term limits appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Evil triumphed over good on Tuesday in the rushed, special election for Miami commission in District 4, to replace the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes., who must be rolling in his grave.
Ralph “Rafael” Rosado, an urban planning consultant and compulsive liar whose campaign was run and funded by Commissioner Joe Carollo, beat Jose Francisco Regalado, who left a really good job at the city’s building department at the request of Reyes’ family to follow his own family’s footsteps into public office.
Which means that Carollo will now get his third vote for the majority and will wield that baton with the same penchant for level-headed justice and service to others that he always has shown. Okay, stop laughing. Because it is not funny that it will be the exact opposite — political retaliation and personal benefit all the way.
Read related: Miami District 4 race is a referendum on Joe Carollo and his abuse of power
The election wasn’t even close, really. Rosado got 55% of the vote to Regalado’s 45%. With less than 11.5% of the 46,500 eligible voters in District 4, Rosado (or, better said, Carollo) won across the board — absentee or vote-by-mail ballots, early voting and Election Day votes, though by a larger margin with the ABs.
The negative tone of a relentless campaign against Regalado and his family waged by Carollo in mailers, TV ads and on the radio — could have turned people off and suppressed turnout, which was also dampened by the rain on Election Day.

Carollo likely spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from his Miami First political action committee to get Rosado elected. We won’t know how much until July, because PACs only have to report quarterly not every month. But some longtime political observers have said it could be up to or more than $1 million.
Regalado raised and spent more transparent money from his campaign, with almost $191,000 compared to $79,500 raised by Rosado, reported through May 29, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Rosado reported raising absolutely nothing in one recent report. Because he didn’t have to raise money. Carollo was pouring money from his PAC into Rosado’s campaign, mostly attacking Regalado and his family, which includes his father, former Miami Mayor and Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, sister Raquel Regalado a Miami-Dade Commission and former Miami-Dade School Board member, and brother Tomas N. “Tommy” Regalado, a journalist who ran for the commission seat in District 3 in 2017 and lost.
They weren’t just bashed on the dynasty thing, que ya cae mal. They were called communists and drug dealers and professional campaigners, which is funny because that’s exactly what Carollo is. Crazy Joe, who has a history as a wife beater, also got personal on his daily morning radio show, attacking Raquel Regalado’s son, who despite having autism is a data processor and works, like a lot of autistic individuals, and Tomas Regalado’s supposed romantic dalliances. It was very ugly.
This 43-day election cycle made way for one of the nastiest Miami campaigns Ladra has seen. And that’s saying a lot.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
Rosado tried to distance himself from Carollo and has told everyone that he is going to prove he is independent, even though it appears he owes his victory to Crazy Joe, who was at the newly-elected commissioner’s watch party at El Atlacatl, a Salvadoran restaurant on Calle Ocho.
So was former City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez, Rosado’s BFF, who was fired last year after several controversies — including her family’s involvement in basically stealing homes from elderly residents and flipping them for huge profits.
So was Beba Sardiñas Mann, the president of the Crazy Joe Pollo Carollo Fan Club, who said she had an unbiased “forum” for candidates (it was really an ambush), and who will now be able to get her illegal street closures in Silver Bluff, the ones that were forcibly removed by the county after a court fight in 2023 (more on that later).
Also there: Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, Brickell Homeowners Association President Ernesto Cuesta, Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, who has been accused of aligning with Carollo against Pardo, who was also there along with Commission Chairwoman Christine King.
Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who actively helped Regalado during the campaign, was also there. But he didn’t look as happy as Pardo did.
While there were promises of being congenial and working with all the commissioners, Carollo already lashed out at Gabela on Univision 23 Miami, and Ladra feels Mike will be on the losing side of the vote for the near future.
Rosado will have his first chance to show his supposed independence next week at the June 12 commission meeting, which promises to be a doozy after the last commission meeting ended abruptly in chaos when Carollo and Gabela went after each other verbally. But not with the lifetime term limits ballot question which is on the agenda. That’s a ruse (more on that later).
There are other things to watch where he is going to be Carollo’s puppet pocket swing vote, like the street closures at 22 locations in Silver Bluff, which is also on this Tuesday’s agenda.
Other items on the agenda include the sale and development of condos and a waterfront park on Watson Island, a no-bid concession agreement for Miami Marine Stadium and a presentation by the Miami Downtown Development Authority, which has come under fire recently for some of the six figure checks they give to billion dollar brands and which some residents want to abolish, trying to justify its existence.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
The term limits, which is proposed by Commissioner Damian Pardo, would prohibit anyone who has served the maximum terms as commissioner or mayor to run for that seat again in the future. Right now, an elected can skip a term or two and run again, like former Commissioner Frank Carollo, Crazy Joe’s bro, is doing this year in District 3.
If voters pass the lifetime limits, which seems easy enough, it could stop Carollo from running for mayor, as he has threatened to do this year, because he already served the maximum terms. There’s also a controversial proposal coming to move the election to even years, extending current terms by a year, which is also on the agenda, just not this agenda for next week (more on that later). This is being proposed under the guise of avoiding a legal challenge if either of the Carollos are elected this year at the same time the charter amendment on lifetime term limits are approved.
Carollo and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who also supported Rosado, have both come out against the lifetime term limits. Suarez would also be barred from running for mayor or for commissioner, since he served the maximum terms in both posts.
Rosado has publicly said that he generally likes the idea of the lifetime term limits. But he has also waffled on it and said he wants to hear the debate from his colleagues — as if they haven’t talked about it enough. More likely, he will support the watered down version that King has floated about forcing electeds to wait out two terms instead of just one before running again.
Because he knows that his buddies Carollo and Suarez — another unlikely pair of strange political bedfellows — are already raising money to fight it and push a no vote (more on that next).
It is more important as ever to be all over the Miami city commission like black on beans. Like green on grass. Like bees on sweet. Like government money on a bad idea. Help Ladra stay on top of the commission’s moves and antics with a donation today to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!

The post Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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And the voters’ decision could mark the city’s future
The fate of Miami over the next decade is in the hands of a tiny number of people.
There are 46,730 registered voters in city commission District 4. Of those, only 3,632 have voted via absentee or vote-by-mail ballot (2,298) and the three days of early voting (1,334) that ended Sunday. Turnout is not expected to be very much above 10%, if it reaches that. If 5,000 people vote, that means that .01 percent of the population of the city of Miami will decide the victor.
And while it’s just a D4 race — for voters from Flagami, Coral Gate, Shenandoah and other neighborhoods — whoever wins Tuesday will decide the future of the whole city — with immediate votes on lifetime term limits, moving the election to even years and whether or not to continue an investigation into the improper and possibly illegal expenditures of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
It could also decide whether or not Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was the chair of the Trust and is the subject of the investigation and a lawsuit for wrongful termination, stays in power for eight more years.

If Carollo’s candidate, urban planner and former Bay Harbor Islands manager Ralph Rosado — who was forced to resign before he got fired — beats former Miami Assistant Building Director Jose Regalado, the son and brother of two famous Miami-Dade electeds, then Carollo will have the third vote, the majority he needs to move his agenda along.
And to retaliate against those who cross him.
Read related: Ralph Rosado is a fraud, liar, puppet trying to become Miami commissioner
He will ditch Commissioner Miguel Gabela‘s chairmanship of the Bayfront Trust and put himself back in charge before the forensic audit and investigation finds any more of his abuse of the public funds, and possible criminal conduct. He will kill the lifetime term limits, which would block him from running for mayor again. And also kill the moving of the elections to even years, because he has a much better chance against the current clown car of candidates than he would in 2026 (more on that later).
Carollo will wreak havoc on the commission with the majority, which he could maintain if he becomes mayor. ¡Solavaya!
But if Regalado wins, then he will likely side with Gabela and Commissioner Damian Pardo on the lifetime term limits and moving the elections and a number of other reformist issues — like limiting outside legal counsel costs for commissioners (read: Carollo) — that would drive Crazy Joe more loco. In fact, it could be fun to watch Carollo get thwarted and repeated frustrated by a lack of majority (read: power) to do anything on the commission. Karma in action.
This is why the race has turned into a referendum on Carollo. Three other potential mayoral candidates — Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and former Miami city manager Emilio Gonzalez — have been supporting Regalado (more on that later).
Read related: Commissioner Miguel Gabela set to expose more Bayfront Park Trust issues
Higgins went on Actualidad 1260 AM morning radio last week to endorse Regalado. Gonzalez has been campaigning in District 4 more than anywhere else and spreading Regalado’s platform as well as his own. And ADLP — who has also been campaigning in District 4 and was at early voting every day —  even has a mailer or handout that tells voters to pick Regalado, paid for by his political action committee. He was seen by many hanging out with the Regalado team — including Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado and Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado — at early voting Sunday at the Shenandoah branch library.
It seems that in this race, you are with Team Regalado or Team Carollo, who has been directing Rosado’s campaign and using his own political action committee to pay for mailers and TV ads.
There is a reason why Carollo is spending hundreds of thousands — some observers say up to a million — to push Rosado’s election. There is a reason why he attacks the whole Regalado family and campaigns passionately and aggressively for Rosado in every morning radio show he hosts (more on that later). It is in his own best interest. Rosado has already come out against moving the elections, which would extend the current terms a year and against term limits, so that Carollo can run next year instead.
Meanwhile, he’ll get the Bayfront Trust back and its millions to misspend and giveaway to his cronies for another year.
In other words, Carollo’s very existence depends on Rosado’s election Tuesday.
For more city of Miami campaign and government news, support your local political watchdog by making a contribution today to Political Cordito. Thank you for your encouragement!
The post Miami District 4 race is a referendum on Joe Carollo and his abuse of power appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Politics makes for strange bedfellows. And never has that saying been so spot on about local politics than it is now, with the sides lining up behind Jose Regalado or behind Ralph Rosado in the nasty, negative District 4 Miami Commission race to replace Manolo Reyes.
The saying is really an abstract of a literary quotation — “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” — from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (written in 1611). It is a proverbial phrase from the mid 19th century used to express when “political alliances in a common cause may bring together those of widely differing views.”
Yeah, that’s what’s happening.
Read related: Manolo Reyes’ widow comes out strong for Jose Regalado in D4 special election
That’s why former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez was at early voting hyping up Rosado, who will vote for changing the elections to even years, which is what his son, Mayor Francis Suarez wants, to extend his term a year. It is also what Commissioner Joe Carollo — who has been running and funding Rosado’s campaign — secretly wants, so he can get the city to keep paying his mounting legal bills.

That’s why former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — whose charges on public corruption were dropped not even a year ago — was spotted chatting up Team Regalado during early voting, including the candidate’s sister, Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, and their papi, Miami-Dade Tomas Regalado. ADLP has threatened to run for Miami mayor against a clown car of candidates that includes Carollo, who needs Rosado’s third puppet vote on the commission.
Diaz de la Portilla doesn’t do anything without his own benefit in mind, so he’s also the surest sign that Regalado is doing well. ADLP has been focusing his campaign lately on District 4, delivering mameys to engaged voters and, apparently, gathering intel on the D4 special election. He wouldn’t be behind Regalado if he didn’t think Regalado was going to win.
That’s why he sent a mail piece to voters, paid for by his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County, calling Regalado “our future commissioner,” and saying that he “understands our values.”
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
“Unfounded attacks, on behalf of people with no positive history in our community, will never erase a public service history of transparency, honesty, effectiveness and success,” the mailer says in Spanish. “They attack Jose Regalado as if you haven’t been present in our City of Miami District 4 and didn’t know his history, as if you didn’t understand the difference between dedication and the scandals of those who defame him.”
Yeah, it’s a little extra.

Watch Diaz de la Portilla tell everyone Tuesday night that he got Regalado elected.
Either that or it’s a ruse. ADLP really should be a political pariah after his 2023 arrest on political corruption charges — including bribery and money laundering — in the scheme to give away a public park to the owners of a private school that had funneled more than $245,000 into his political action committee. Even though the charges were dropped last year by the Broward State Attorney’s office — because he is not elected by Miami-Dade voters — there is nothing to suggest that it didn’t happen. Why would his endorsement be positive?
In fact, it’s already been used by Team Rosado to take the heat off Carollo. I mean, ADLP has to be just as bad, right? It takes som pressure off the cooties Rosado gets from his Crazy Joe association. It’s almost like it’s intentional.
Then there is that meh mailer. Diaz de la Portilla spent good money on a positive piece about Regalado when he could have done a hit piece on Rosado’s myriad conflicts of interests or his blatant lying or about his getting fired from North Bay Village or being pally wally with former City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez. It seems like a waste of his talents.
The Regalado campaign told Political Cortadito that they are not accepting any endorsements, but welcome all well-wishers.
Former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who is also running for mayor, has also been walking and knocking in District 4 and, reportedly, pushing for Regalado as well as himself. Or maybe he’s also reading los caracoles and wants to be aligned with the winner. Another announced mayoral candidate, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins — who is not, like, besties with Raquel Regalado on their dais — endorsed Jose Regalado last week on Spanish language radio.
That’s just the anti-Joe sentiment. And it’s sorta normal.
Read related: In Miami D4 race, Jose Regalado strikes back at Ralph Rosado’s lies on air, mail
But it is weird for Ladra to see someone like Xavier Suarez aligned with Carollo. And he knows it.
“I think they’re both qualified. Maybe Rosado is a little bit more qualified,” said Suarez, who was elected the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami — and served from 1985 to 1993 and then again for a few months in 1997 and 1998, when that election was overturned after evidence of absentee ballot fraud — before he was county commissioner in District 7, preceding Raquel Regalado. (Yeah, we need a flow chart for this one.)
“He was responsive and the other guy wasn’t,” the elder Suarez told Political Cortadito, adding that he tried to reach Regalado about the proposed tree ordinance when the latter was assistant director of the city’s building department. “I couldn’t get a call back,” he said, adding that a friend gave him sage advice: “You can’t base your support on who else is supporting that person.
“If I knew it was based on some sort of deal, it would be different.”
It’s hard for Ladra to believe X is that naive, still. Because if it’s Carollo, it is based on some sort of deal.
The post Strange political bedfellows form from Miami’s ugly District 4 special election appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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For 100 years, the elections in Coral Gables have been in April. It is so written in the city’s charter, which is being celebrated this year for the City Beautiful’s centennial. But that history was erased this month.
The new city commission majority, formed in last month’s elections, voted last week to change the biannual election date from April to November on even years, to coincide with state and national elections. The change, which has been a priority of Mayor Vince Lago‘s for the last two years, is made by ordinance — the first reading was at a special commission meeting May 6.
The move also shortens all electeds’ terms by four months, and an argument could be made about disenfrachising voters, who are apparently not going to get an opportunity to weigh in on this.
At the first reading, the deputy city attorney said there would be a public vote, anyway, “for affirmation,” at a special election to be determined at a later date. There is a whereas clause in the ordinance that calls for a future vote on the matter:

“WHEREAS, should this Ordinance be adopted by the City Commission, the City also wishes to send a question to the electors of the City for affirmation of this change during a special election to be held at a later date as determined by the City Commission;”

So, why wasn’t the motion to take it to the voters in the first place?
Read related: Coral Gables electeds to be sworn in, will push for November elections
And what happens if the voters decide at some future election, not to affirm any change of election date to November?
Coral Gables City Attorney Cristina Suarez
Ladra has asked these questions multiple times of City Attorney Cristina Suarez, Assistant City Attorney Stephanie Throckmorton and city spokeswoman Martha Pantin. The week after the special commission meeting, Suarez responded via email to say that the city has the right to make the change.
“The City Commission is authorized, under state law, to change the date of the election by ordinance, without a vote of the electors. The timing and language of a ballot question regarding the election date would have to be determined by the City Commission,” Suarez wrote on May 14.
But that really didn’t answer the questions, did it? So, Ladra asked again. And Pantin came back with some crazy story about the question in the whereas clause being about future elections.
“The question being put to voters is about future changes to elections. They are not being asked about changing the election. They are being asked if in the future should a City Commission want to move the election date, would they have to put the question to the voters ,” Pantin wrote in an email Tuesday. “If they vote yes, future Commissions will need to send the question to the voters. If they vote no, future Commissions could change by ordinance.”
When was that discussed? Because it is not what it says in the whereas clause. It is “for affirmation of this change.” This change.
If this is true, it seems more like an attempt to make it impossible for a future commission to change elections back to April.
And, also, Suarez said at the May 20 commission meeting that the question about putting future changes to voters was on another agenda item, not this one.
But further attempts to get clarification from the city attorney or any city official were completely unsuccessful. “Elections are changed to November, and this applies to future changes,” Pantin wrote in her last email Thursday. “Regarding what if scenarios, I am not going to speculate as to what the city commission might do should that occur.”
Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez, who said it should go to voters, voted against it.
“The people who have reached out to me, and I have the emails, are the people asking me, do not change our elections, leave our election in April,” Castro said. “This is really not about saving 200K this is really about drowning the voices of the people. this is about only letting well-funded candidates run city government.
“That’s very dishonest.”
Read related: Post-election Vince Lago revenge tour in Coral Gables = political retaliation
Activist Maria Cruz, who had led a petition drive to recall Lago 2024, questioned why the mayor and his allies bothered to petition for the change via referendum last year — a petition that failed miserably when more than 70% of the signatures were deemed invalid (more on that later) — if they could just do it at a commission meeting. According to a status report from the Miami-Dade Elections Department, the Lago group submitted 4,983 petitions on changing the election from April to November. Of those, 1,461 were valid and 3,522 were not valid.
“Here we are, trying to do what the residents, what the taxpayers, did not choose do to,” Cruz said at the first reading. “It is what I, the emperor wants, not necessarily what the people want.”
Claudia Miro, who lost the commission race in Group 3 in the first round and then endorsed Commissioner Richard Lara, spoke several times during the meeting — always in support of Lago’s arguments — and said that this was probably going to be decided by Tallahassee, anyway. It didn’t happen this year, but it will eventually, she said.
“I don’t think this is an issue we should continue to discuss and fight over at the city level because it is being addressed at the state level,” Miro said. “There are good arguments to be made on both sides of this issue, but right now there is a movement in Tallahassee. This is an area where the state can come and tell us how they want things done.”
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson said that this was a direction the district’s state representative also wanted to go in, aside from being one of her platform issues during this last campaign. “I think the voters have spoken by choosing the individuals that they have reelected and elected in Commissoner Lara into his seat, as this is a consistent issue among all three of us,” said Anderson, who has advocated for consensus among the members at the Florida League of Cities.
“Burt not all cities are the same. This is a large city,” Anderson said. “We’re not a snowbird city anymore.”
Ladra didn’t know that the Gables was ever a “snowbird city,” per se. And why was it so hard then to get the required signatures to put the question on the ballot.

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