Meanwhile, partisan politics creep into county office
Have you been arrested and actually gone to prison for mortgage fraud? Have you been caught drinking and driving on the job, or cheating taxpayers by running errands on the public dime? No problem! You can apply for a job at the Miami-Dade Elections Department. They won’t care.
Four months after newly-elected Elections Supervisor Alina Garcia took office in November, she hired a new executive secretary: Jenny Nillo, who was fired from the city of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency after she was caught driving a city car to run private errands for former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the CRA chairman at the time, and stopping for cans of beer along the way. How she was not arrested for drinking and driving is a mystery.
But whatever. That’s in the past, Garcia said. So, apparently, is Nillo’s 2017 arrest for mortgage fraud and subsequent conviction and sentence of 36 months.
Garcia did not return calls and texts from Ladra. But she gave a statement to the Herald that said Nillo “has performed her responsibilities with excellence, integrity, and unwavering commitment.”
Surveillance video shots of Jenny Nillo playing hooky from her city of Miami job in 2021.
She really laid it on thick, calling Nillo “a dedicated professional and valued member of our team who has paid her dues to society and has demonstrated through her actions and work ethic that she is an outstanding individual fully committed to public service.
“Ms. Nillo is also a widow who, since the passing of her husband in 2017, has been the sole provider for her family — supporting both her 80-year-old mother and her 19-year-old son,” Garcia said. “Her strength, resilience, and professionalism reflect the values we uphold in our office.”
Really? What about her theft of taxpayer dollars and blatant disregard for the law or even common decency? Does that reflect the values you uphold in your office? Which, by the way, is really our office.
At least now, if Nillo works on a campaign during her work hours — like she did when Renier Diaz de la Portilla ran for county commission — she is still technically working in “elections.”
Read related: Jenny Nillo campaigned for Renier Diaz de la Portilla while on the public job
Nillo is making $45,000 a year, according to Tess Riski, who reported the scoop in The Miami Herald. That’s what she started at when ADLP forced her on the city’s Omni CRA in 2020 as a community liaison. She was making $53,000 when she was fired the next year after Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officers observed her drinking and driving and stopped her so she wouldn’t hurt anybody. But she was only fired from the CRA. Diaz de la Portilla hired her back to his district office, and she worked in the city even after his 2023 arrest in September on charges of bribery and money laundering, which were dropped last year.
Strangely enough, Ladra expected Nillo to be working with the ADLP campaign for Miami mayor. She has worked on all the Diaz de la Portilla campaigns for decades. And when Ladra asked the former commissioner, via text, if she would be joining him at City Hall should he be elected, he said she would. “Are you going to take Jenny with to the mayor’s office with you,” was the question. “Yes. Part of my team,” Diaz de la Portilla said Friday morning.
After reading about her new job, which the Herald reported started March 3, Ladra texted him again on Saturday. “I thought you said Jenny was part of your team.” His answer: “She is.”
That’s concerning because the Miami-Dade Elections Department is the one that is going to tally the votes for the city elections on Nov. 4. There should not be part of anyone’s “team” working there.

But then we have Garcia, a longtime Republican operative who is going to have a very difficult time putting her job before her party. It seems like she is still campaigning from her social media feed, going to events all over the county, mostly with other Republican officials. She was there last week to celebrate the swearing-in of interim Hialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garcia Roves, along with Hialeah’s former mayor and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo and Miami-Dade Commissioner and former state Senator Rene Garcia, who is allegedly running for mayor in the City of Progress, as well as a State Rep. Alex Rizo and a bunch of other electeds.
This is an election year in Hialeah, by the way. How is she going to remain objective? Ladra would be concerned if she was former Council Member Bryan Calvo. Looks like Calvo, who is also running for mayor, was left out of the group shot.
Read related: Meet our new Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia and her storied past
It’s kinda strange to see Garcia, the head of our county election, hobnobbing with electeds — mostly Republicans — in Tallahassee and at local events. It’s kinda strange to see her celebrating Women’s Month with the Republican Party of Miami Dade County, which had invited special guest, former Alaska Governor and one time VP candidate Sarah Palin. It’s kinda weird to see our elections chief in Washington D.C. at an inauguration ball for a president who still insists, to this day, that he won the 2020 election.
Garcia’s social media feeds look like she is still campaigning – and using election events to do so.
In February, members of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade toured the Doral office, where Chief Executive Officer Christina White discussed voter registration, vote-by-mail ballots, and the procedures involved in managing a county-wide election, while Garcia stood near the back of the room with Kevin J. Cooper, the newly elected Chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, like they were conspiring or something.
Ladra has not seen photos posted of a tour for the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.

This Jenny Nillo hire has to be a favor for somebody, right? Because a fair, competitive process in this economy would have drawn better candidates, for sure. But Nillo is a DLP loyalist lackey, a member of “my team,” as he says. And Garcia is self-proclaimed “Joe Carollo girl.” She worked with the Miami commissioner before she ran for the state senate before she ran for elections chief. Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla are both allegedly running for mayor of Miami against each other in another election this year that Garcia will oversee.
So, this favor of a hire only makes sense if what las malas lenguas say is true about a deal struck by Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla, for the latter to switch to the county commission District 5 race if, indeed, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins runs for mayor, after all.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is investigated on ghost city employee at Omni CRA
That’s one hypothesis, anyway.
Meanwhile, Ladra has some questions.
Does this mean Nillo, who worked at the county a long time ago, gets a third public pension?
Will she get to handle ballots in the Miami election?
What’s in the green gift bags that the Republican Party guests got at the tour?
Who is Garcia going to hire next? Perhaps former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, who she also used to work for?
Artiles is appealing his November conviction and sentence — 60 days in jail and five years probation — in an election conspiracy case after orchestrating the sham candidate that thwarted the 2020 state senate race in District 37, tilting it for Republican Ileana Garcia and against Democrat incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez.
So, he has election experience.
The post Miami-Dade elections supervisor hires no-show Miami employee Jenny Nillo appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

More farmland in the Redland went poof last week when the Miami-Dade Commission approved an application so developers can build Bluenest at Krome: 700 townhomes on 91 acres zoned for 223 single family, detached homes.
The change in zoning from “estate density residential,” to “low-medium density” was approved at the Community Development Master Plan meeting Tuesday with a unanimous vote.
There was overwhelming community support for the project, even if many decided to simply wave to show they were in favor, and even if some seemed to be reading from a script or repeating talking points. Only a few people spoke against it. Supporters focused on how it would provide workforce housing in the area. “I see it as next generation housing,” said Ken Forbes, adding that the developer had reached out and met with the community.
But the reality is that only 20% of the units will be sold to people who make 140% of the area median income, which in Miami-Dade County is $79,400, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And 140% of $79,400 is $111,160. If that’s who qualifies for affordable or workforce housing, the university students who were there hoping to be residents are going to have to think again.
Read related: Kendall residents oppose early talks for development of waste transfer facility
It also means 80% will be “sold for maximum profit,” said Vanessa McDonald, a Redland resident who spoke against it. “It’s lower than most prices, yes, but is it really affordable?”
Most of the opposition was about the density — and the encroachment of development into what is a mostly rural area.

“This project is an affront to our agricultural community. It does not fit in everything surrounding it,” McDonald said, adding that it would put a strain on schools, hospitals, landfills, water supply, fire rescue response times and other county services.
Natalie Grant, a lifelong resident of Southwest Dade and a black farmer, said she found herself “at the intersection of both hope and despair.” She said the project could completely transform the neighborhood, but negatively.
Miami-based Bluenest Development filed land use amendment applications last year for three separate properties in Southwest Dade that could add up to almost 1,100 new homes. Bluenest at Krome would be the largest, with 700 homes, including at least 140 townhomes, plus 148,104 square feet of retail and food stores, at the southeast corner of Krome Avenue and Southwest 272nd Street. The company already owns about 29 acres of the property and has the rest under contract.
The county encourages a mix of housing types on large developments, said Bluenest lobbyist Pedro Gassant, who’s fast-talking and fast-thinking presentation stole the show and made Ladra feel for a minute like she was watching a Showtime series. He is a rising star. Learn his name, because we will hear more from him.
Gassant began by confidently asking everyone in favor of the project to stand. Most of the audience in commission chambers at County Hall stood up. “This is such a great visual, I could just say this is my presentation,” he said.
But he did not. He did, however, turn what could have been a 25-minute presentation into a 8-minute one. And that surely scored points with some commissioners.
“You know that we’re the epicenter of the housing crisis,” Gassant said. “We have to do more to address the unaffordable issues we are facing. We are facing a crucial shortage. We have a very low inventory.” That has driven the average price of homes to $665,000, he said, and, subsequently, rents have raised as well.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission to consider another agricultural zoning change
The market is only going to get worse, he said.
“The county has recognized that we have to accelerate development, and you know we have a limited land supply,” Gassant told them, adding that the townhouse component would help provide for the “missing middle.”
What does that mean?
“That means that with a $4,500 deposit, and $2,600 a month, you can own a home,” Gassant said, adding that a similar property as a nearby rental would require an $8,400 deposit for the first three months to move in. Over 30 years, a renter would pay over $280,ooo more, he added. “With no equity, no homeownership.”
The project also serves the entire community, which he said is a food desert, by having an on-site food market. And there isn’t going to an adverse traffic impact, Gassant added with a straight face. “The infrastructure there is enough to accommodate.”
Um, agree to disagree.
District 8 Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins said that she was pleased to see the number of people that spoke in favor. “It’s clear to me that you spent time in this community, speaking about this project,” Cohen Higgins said, adding that the support was from a diverse population of people.
That’s called good casting.
“What I heard from those who spoke were people saying we need affordable housing for sale, which is something that I have been trying to accomplish for my entirety as a commissioner,” Cohen Higgins said, adding that 99% of the time, affordable housing projects are for rent. “The American Dream is only achievable in this country for most with the ability to buy a home and pass that home on to” the next generation.
“At over $600,000, that ability is closed to so many in our community,” she said.
Cohen Higgins asked if the county could get more than 20% of the units earmarked for workforce housing, which is 140 units out of the 700, which would start at $341,000. She added that the United Teachers of Dade teachers union had sent a letter supporting the project because of the lack of housing that forces teachers to move to Broward.
She did not get a commitment from the developer, but was happy with it anyway. “It’s a big deal,” Cohen Higgins said. “We talk about our housing crisis all the time and I feel strongly that this is exactly the kind of project our community needs.”
Read related: Survey of Kendall residents shows they agree on Calusa, split on fluoride
Commissioner Raquel Regalado was interested in the infrastructure investment, which includes a regional pump station to meet the needs of the basin, that other developments can also use, so they don’t plant more septic sewers in the ground. “This is an area that does not have access to water and sewer and does not have the development required to get water and sewer,” Regalado said. “This is a community benefit.”
She also asked the developer to consider stormwater drainage when making their landscape choices and asked for a friendly amendment providing for that. The developer agreed.
Commissioner Kionne McGhee said he would support it because he would take them at their word on the traffic study, which was his major concern. “That traffic is horrendous between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. due to the increase of density in the area.”
Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez said he liked the farm style design on the homes and the fact that the single family homes were on the perimeter of the property — two things he believes would help the project fit into the neighborhood.
“Development is coming. This is something that we are expecting. It is coming and this project is within the UDB line,” Rodriguez said, referring to the Urban Development Boundary for which the commission needs a super majority to approve development. “Our staff, it is not a common theme for them to recommend projects like this and the fact that they recommend it speaks volumes to the work that you put into it,” he told the developers, who were in the audience.
A few commissioners said the project was “great” and spoke about the importance of mixed-use, live-work-play projects to bring jobs to outposts of the county and reduce traffic.
Bluenest Development is on a tear in Southwest Dade, planing two new communities. Bluenest Naranja would have 284 townhouses on 26.3 acres at 15335 SW 268th St. Bluenest Roatta would have 100 townhouses on 8 acres at the northwest corner of Southwest 226th Street and Southwest 129th Avenue. The both will have 20% of the homes earmarked for workforce housing.
“Redland is not known for townhomes. But all of a sudden it’s been overwhelmed with townhomes,” Mary Waters, a resident of the area, said at the meeting Tuesday. She also used the word “row houses” to describe the Bluenest at Krome project. “It’s known for agriculture. That’s why many of us came to Southwest Dade.
“The density of population being put in these areas is overwhelming.”
The post Miami-Dade Commission approves 700 homes on 90 acres of mostly farmland appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

What is Crown Castle hiding from everyone?
Opinion By Lissette Monzon, Kendale Lakes resident
Our community is being littered with unsupervised radiation-emitting equipment — and we’re being told to accept it without question.
All across Kendall in Miami-Dade County, residents have been waking up to find 5G “small cell” towers built just inches from their property lines — without warning, consent, or clear answers. What began as a tech infrastructure rollout has spiraled into an accountability and transparency, public health and safety issue that local government is dodging at nearly every corner.
Read related: Kendall residents take fight against 5G towers to Miami-Dade commissioners
Here are the problems:
Public records withheld — Why?
In a troubling twist, Miami-Dade County has refused to release key public records related to financial transactions between Crown Castle, the private telecom infrastructure company behind the towers, and the county’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW). These records include payment details, permitting communications, and emails/texts—documents that legally belong to the public.
Lissette Monzon speaks to the Miami-Dade Commission about 5G towers last year.
An official records request for “all communication and financials from Crown Castle to the County from 2019 to date” was submitted in July 2024. The county then closed the request in January 2025 claiming they have “provided all they could” which was, in fact, only the permit and plan of the one tower in question (no financials or communication).
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was alerted to the issue and she graciously assigned staff to assist. Yet, still today, no documents have been located by this staff either.
Despite official requests, the county continues to block access, leaving constituents in the dark about who is benefiting financially and why public oversight is being circumvented. This lack of transparency speaks volumes. It raises major red flags around trust and suggests a deeper problem beneath the surface of this tower rollout.
No safety reports required — a dangerous conflict of interest
Sticker on a 5G tower box
Even more concerning, the county accepts $170,000 from Crown Castle to expedite these 5G small cell tower permits. In addition, the county does not require radiofrequency (RF) safety reports as part of the 5G tower application process — despite federal expectations of local authority being the first line of defense in ensuring RF safety for any tower permitted in their municipality. These reports are supposed to verify that the towers meet basic safety standards for human exposure to radiation.
This raises serious concern…is there a financial conflict of interest in the permitting department?
The Report Crown Castle Didn’t Want You to See
Radio Frequency Compliance Reports are encouraged to be shared in good faith with any resident who requests it. Yet, after nearly eight months of requesting the Radio Frequency Compliance Report from the county and Crown Castle, the Federal Communications Commission had to intervene and get the document from Crown Castle – this is highly unlikely.
What was found was alarming: The report made assumptions about the tower configuration that didn’t match what was built in the official engineering plans. It referenced a generic “scenario” but not the actual tower. It failed to account for the tilt and height actually used. Finally, all those mismatched details were input by Crown Castle, with no third party verification.
“Miami is not a testing ground for corporate shortcuts. My children are not tradeoffs in the race to 5G or infrastructure dollars.”
— Lissette Monzon

Now, numerous Kendall homeowners are putting in for these public records to see if this is an isolated issue or a systemic problem in the permitting department, which accepts $170,000 from Crown Castle to expedite these small cell permits. In any other regulatory space, such errors would prompt an immediate investigation. But in the race to digitize everything, even safety checks are being sacrificed.
Read related: Kendall residents worry re 5G towers that pop up suddenly by their homes
Residents deserve to know:

How much money Crown Castle is paying the county — and where that money is going
Why safety reports are not required for 5G tower approvals. This is not preempted by the state law, in case anyone tries to tell you it is.
If elected officials will implement an audit of the Kendall tower permits and not allow antennas to be activated until data is accurately reflected in the safety report and the engineering plans.

Read Full Story

You know who may not want Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia to be the next mayor of Hialeah? His longtime friend, lobbyist Terrence “TC” Wolfe. It could cost him $150,000.
Wolfe is president of the resource referral non-profit that Garcia founded, H.O.P.E. Mission, and a government consultant who works out of the same building as the commissioner’s district office — and has hundreds of thousands in municipal contracts.
That includes a $150,000 contract approved by the Hialeah Council in March with Wolfe’s firm, NCGA Inc., which stands for New Century Government Affairs (Garcia is vice president at a different firm called New Century Partnership). It is a $50,000-a-year contract for three years — actually $49,992, for a total of $149,976 — basically to rub elbows with electeds and push the city’s federal legislative priorities.
Isn’t that the mayor’s job? And wouldn’t it be a conflict of interest if Garcia became the mayor of the city that has a $150,000 with his BFF?
Garcia was pretty insulted when asked about the potential conflict of interest and told Political Cortadito that in 27 years in government — he began as a Hialeah councilman and was a house rep and a senator for eight years each — he has never been accused of any wrongdoing. Well, except for that paper bag he delivered to Hialeah boletera Deisy Cabrera after her 2012 arrest for collecting ballots for several candidates, which he said was a pan con bistec for the hungry old lady and not a cash payoff to keep her quiet.
Read related: Deisy Cabrera plea deal saves politicians tied to AB fraud
Furthermore, he intimated that perhaps Wolfe wouldn’t have that contract if Garcia were to be elected.
“I’m not the mayor of Hialeah now,” Garcia told Ladra. “If I were to become mayor, that could be revisited. We’re talking hypotheticals, but if you know me, you know I’m transparent.”
TC Wolfe and Rene Garcia last December at a H.O.P.E. Mission reception and awards event.
Wolfe also has a contract with Miami Lakes that won’t be at risk. The $5,000 monthly payment that expires next March was approved last month, with a bid waiver. But he’s been working for the town since 2023 and even helped Miami Lakes get its stand alone zip code — so it’s not confused with Hialeah — and at least $3 million in federal appropriations for the NW 59th Avenue project, Town Manager Edward Pidermann wrote in a memo April 15.
“NCGA has also assisted in the preparation of requests for new appropriations for the upcoming federal fiscal year,” Pidermann wrote, recommending an extension of the contract that would give Miami Lakes time to issue a request for proposals and open a competitive process, “while ensuring that the Town continues to receive the necessary federal support during this transition period without interruption.”
It’s probably just a coincidence that Miami Lakes’ newly elected Mayor Josh Dieguez, a longtime Garcia ally, is listed as a director of H.O.P.E. Mission in public records with the Florida Department of Corporations. (BTW: So is Jeanette Rubio, who Ladra thinks is Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s wife.)
Wolfe is a respected lobbyist that also has contracts with many school boards across the state. He advocates for education and real estate interests. With an office in DC, Wolfe lobbied the U.S. House and Senate in 2023 on behalf of the Association of Builders and Contractors’ Florida East Coast Chapter.
He is politically active, but just a little bit. According to multiple records, he has donated to a number of Republican campaigns across the state and to Maggie’s List, a federal political action committee founded in Florida in 2010 to get conservative women elected.
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’
There’s been a lot of attention lately to the $10 million in Medicaid settlement money that was diverted to (read: stolen by) The HOPE Florida Foundation, the non-profit which aims to get Floridians off public assistance, run by Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, who is still mulling a possible run to succeed him. Like this was a kingdom. Turns out that the non-profit then gave the money to two different political action committees that fought the legalization of marijuana last year.
Turns out, one of the PACs was run by James Uthmeier, who was also chief of staff to Ron DeSantis at the time and appointed earlier this year to attorney general.
It’s only natural to wonder if our local H.O.P.E. — it is a word used in a lot of non-profits — is also a conduit for funds to political committees or candidates. But it’s financial records show that it operates on a much smaller scale.
H.O.P.E. Mission reported almost $138,000 in revenue in 2023 and spent just over $52,000 in wages, according to ProPublica. According to an IRS filing of the 990 form, for tax-exempt organizations, the year before, in 2022, H.O.P.E. Mission reported a total of “contributions an grants” of $186,524 and wages of $45,767. The document expresses that the non-profit also had other expenses totaling $109,000 in 2022 and $85,790 in 2023, itemized as meals, rent, events (probably including backpacks and school supplies for distribution in August) and contracts.
Nothing reported to PACs.
Over the course of five years, from 2019 to 2023, H.O.P.E. Mission reported getting $648,846 in grants and contributions. Ladra was unable to find any IRS filings or financial reporting for 2024.
H.O.P.E. Mission’s address is in Hialeah, in the same building where Garcia has his District 13 office. Garcia also had his district state senate office in that building and Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who just stepped down as mayor of Hialeah to go lobby in D.C., had his office there when he was the county commissioner in that district.
It’s also the address for Wolfe’s consulting firm.
Cozy.
Former Hialeah Councilman Bryan Calvo has suggested that Garcia, if elected, will “continue covering up years of wasteful spending,” which he said includes this “shady $150,000 consulting contract handed to a close friend with zero transparency.
“This is how they do business — taking care of themselves while Hialeah families struggle to make ends meet,” Calvo wrote in an email to voters after Garcia announced.
But Garcia said Calvo is making baseless accusations because he has no track record to run on.
He said Calvo is “an immature child” who “has nothing on me,” so he has to make things up. Calvo’s claim to fame, suing the city to get the 911 records and claiming issues with response times, was a political stunt simply to go against Bovo, Garcia said. “Is narcissist behavior caused an unnecessary panic in the city of Hialeah.
“I have always been very clear and transparent about how I do my job, since I’ve been in the legislature,” Garcia said, sending hurt that it would even cross Ladra’s mind that he would grease the wheels to help a friend. He said he resigned from the H.O.P.E. board “for that reason, to avoid any conflict.
“You can never question my integrity,” Garcia said. “Everything I’ve done in the public arena is in the interest of the people who I serve.”
The post Miami-Dade’s Rene Garcia connected to lobbyist with $150,000 Hialeah contract appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Ralph Rosado, an urban planning consultant and longtime Miami resident who is running in the special election next month in District 4 to replace Manolo Reyes — who died unexpectedly at 80 after having a health setback — was spotted filming a campaign video at Douglas Park Thursday afternoon. Also spotted: Commissioner Joe Carollo, acting as director.
In a candid camera video provided to Political Cortadito late Thursday, Marjory Carollo is also on the set, holding a clipboard, as Rosado walks along with his mother-in-law, on Joe Carollo’s cue.
It’s not the first sign that Rosado is Carollo’s candidate for the June 3 special election. But it’s the most evident one that he is heavily involved in Rosado’s campaign. He needs that third vote now that Commission Chairwoman Christine King is going along with almost everything he says. Commissioners Miguel Gabela and Damian Pardo are pretty much lost to him.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
Carollo already talked Rosado up on his weekday morning radio show, saying the day of the special meeting where commissioners met to decide whether to appoint someone to the seat or go to a special election, that he thought Rosado was the best choice.
Crazy Joe was not at the kick-off for Rosado’s campaign at La Carreta on 8th Street Thursday night. Almost nobody was. It was a small crowd and did not seem too excited, judging by the video taken by community outreach strategist Nadir Perez and shared on his Instagram. Rosado told Ladra that “a lot of residents” went.
“I have not sought out the endorsement of anybody on the commission,” Rosado said, adding that Carollo may prefer him to Jose Regalado — son of former Mayor Tomas and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel — who is running against him and has the Reyes family’s endorsement. “He doesn’t love some of the other people on the other side. There’s some bad blood.”
Ya think?
Rosado, the former city manager at North Bay Village, also said he had been all over the city Thursday recording video for the campaign and denied that Carollo had been at the park with him. “No. He was not directing. He wasn’t there,” Rosado told Political Cortadito. When Ladra told him she had video of Carollo and his wife at the park with him and his mother-in-law, and asked if he wanted to change or stick to his answer, Rosado hesitated a little. Then he said, “I’ll get back to you.’”
Of course, he did not. And yeah, no, I wouldn’t want to own up to it either, Ralph. We get ya.
But it is very clear from this video taken from a car parked at the park that Carollo is directing here.

There’s been a rumor that former Commissoner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who has been walking and knocking on doors in his threatened run for mayor, is helping Regalado. It might even be a whisper campaign from Team Rosado to balance out the Carollo baggage. But that is nonsense. Regalado’s campaign team is sister Raquel Regalado, Alex Miranda doing digital and the like, Emiliano Antuñez doing canvassing and mailers, maybe. ADLP would not fit in.
Read related: Jose Regalado resigns city job to run for Miami commissioner in District 4
Maybe it’s just because everyone expects Diaz de la Portilla and Carollo to run against each other for mayor.
Or maybe it’s because the political action committee that is printing materials for Jose Regalado is called Proven Leadership for Miami, while ADLP’s is Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. Proven Leadership for Miami is chaired by Horacio Aguirre, who once ran against Diaz de la Portilla in District 1. The chairman of the Miami River Commission is very good friends with Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, whose campaign gave the PAC $2,880 this January in its last recorded contribution, according to campaign finance reports, which indicate it was used in the property appraiser’s race, as well.
Rosado’s PAC, meanwhile, is Citizens for Ethics in Government — I know, and he’s Carollo’s candidate! — which has raised $268,740 since November — $100K of which is his own — more than half of it in the first quarter this year, according to campaign finance reports. He has hired Brian Goldmeier as his professional fundraiser and Jesse Manzano as his campaign consultant, the same team that recently helped Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago get re-elected.
Both Manzano and Carollo served as consultants to former Miami-Dade Mayor now Congressman Carlos Gimenez on his 2016 re-election campaign.
The post Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who was first appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and then elected for the first time last year, will host the county’s first ever “Faith and Family Festival” Saturday on the Youth Fair grounds.
The free event will include fun activities for the whole family: live music, basketball tournaments, bounce houses, a talent show, face painting, a petting zoo, and a special guest speaker. There will also be a food distribution to 2,000 families in need and representatives from county and state agencies for assistance will be available, according to the press release.
“The event is open to people of all faiths,” says a press release from the District 11 office.
There goes separation of church and state.
“We’re about to do something that has never been done before,” Gonzalez says in an Instagram post last week. “Doesn’t matter what faith you have, c’mon down. We’re going to pray for Miami-Dade together.”
Roly Gonzalez of Share Your Heart and Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez talk about the Faith & Family Festival.
Um, there might be a reason it’s never been done before. It’s inappropriate and seems a clear violation of the separation of church and state that is one of the pillars of the U.S. democratic government system. Are we dismantling that, too?
A big fan of Donald Trump — as evident by his social media posts, which also include bible verses and quotes from the Old Testament — Gonzalez may not be a big fan of the constitution. He recently responded with an “amen” to Trump’s post about bringing religion back to America.
David Gonzalez, his communications chief, stressed that the event was open to everyone. “It’s about bringing folks together of all faiths,” he said. “It’s interfaith. It’s not just one faith pushing an agenda.”
Really? Because Ladra will bet you’ll be hard pressed to find a Muslim there.
Read related: Kendall residents oppose early talks for development of waste transfer facility
David Gonzalez, who is no relation to the commissioner, said there’s already some crossover of religion in county government.
“Isn’t it already there? We pray at the beginning of commission meetings,” he said.”There’s a seal above [the commission dais] that says ‘In God we Trust.’”
Gonzalez ran in 2022 for State House in District 119 because God told him to, he said then. But the Guatemalan-born personal injury attorney’s platform was more in hardline with the  GOP than it was with any heavenly body. He lost in the primary to Juan Carlos Porras, but raised $110,000 for the bid, according to his campaign reports, which is a lot for a newbie.
Two months after the loss, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the county commission to replace former Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was suspended after he was arrested on public corruption charges of conspiracy and unlawful compensation. Martinez was convicted in November, but his attorneys last month asked for a new trial (more on that later). Las malas lenguas say the appointment was a reward to then Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nuñez, now the president at Florida International University (I know!) and the campaign consultant she shared with Gonzalez, David “Disgustin’ Custin.”
Then, after serving as an appointment for two years, Gonzalez was elected for the first time last August with 57% of the vote against two lesser known candidates (but Bryan Paz-Hernandez got 26%, which is not bad for a newbie so we’ll hear from him again).
The festival was timed for the first Saturday after the National Day of Prayer May 1. There will be vendors and food trucks who pay for the privilege to be there, but all those proceeds, after expenses, will go to Share Your Heart, a non-profit program that is part of another non-profit, The Victory for Youth, that “recruits, trains, and screens caring adults who desire to serve their community in meaningful ways as a volunteer chaplain” and partners with government agencies and non-profit organizations to “respond to referrals for children, families, and vulnerable adults who have been identified as in crisis or distress,” according to the group’s website.
Read related: Miami-Dade taxpayers fund $1 mil move for Commissioner Rob Gonzalez
It’s not the same as Jar of Hearts, the non-profit that used to be represented by Gonzalez and then got a $10,000 county allocation two months after he was appointed. This is a different non-profit. Just sounds the same.
David Gonzalez likened the event to the Hometown Heroes Parade and Festival that Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins has in District 8 in the Fall or the annual CountryFest that Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez has at Tropical Park.
But it’s really not the same.
The Faith and Family Festival is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Miami-Dade Fair & Expo Center, 11201 SW 24th St. Don’t know what time is the prayer circle for Miami-Dade.

The post Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez event blurs church-state line appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story