Miami Commission candidate Ralph Rosado — who is running in the special election June 3 to replace the late commissioner Manolo Reyes — may be a habitual liar.
Last week, Rosado blatantly told Ladra that Commissioner Joe Carollo was not at the park with him, directing his campaign video, on Thursday. But there is a candid phone recording that disputes that, showing Carollo guiding Rosado as he walks with his mother-in-law. Over the last week, Rosado has sent text messages saying he is a lifelong resident or longtime resident of the city of Miami — even though he can’t be both.
But that’s another lie. Rosado lived in Schenley Park, just west of Coral Gables, 3.6 miles outside the city of Miami limits, for at least five years. Records with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office show that he and his wife bought the home for $575,000 in October of 2004 and then sold it for a loss, $520,000 in October, 2009. He knows this. He was president of the Schenley Park Homeowners Association at one time.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
In 2008 he bought another house in Schenley Park for $223,000 and took another loss, selling it for $145,000 three years later, according to the county records. And there was another house he bought, under the company Rosado Investment Group, in 2006 for $320,000 and sold in 2010 for $450,000, at last making a profit.
Rosado still owns a home in Schenley Park, which is an unincorporated Miami-Dade community, through his family trust. It has a market value of $1.24 million. The subdivision is called “Rosado Estates.” He also owns three vacant lots valued at more than $1 million in the same neighborhood through a company called Rafael Rosado and Leocadia E. Rosado, LLC.
He used the Rosado Investment Group address in Schenley Park when he ran for state rep, losing the Republican primary in 2010 among a crowded field. The winner was Michael Bileca, who went on to beat Democrat Lisa Lesperance and win three re-elections after until he was termed out in 2018.
That’s not something you forget.
County records also show that Rosado and his wife Maria also owned a home in Tamiami that they sold in 2005 for $300K. They purchased their current 4-bedroom, 2-bath home in the Coral Gate neighborhood of Miami in 2014 for $180,000. What a steal! the house today has an assessed value of more than $560,000 and a market value of more than $900,000. That’s one hell of an investment.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
But it’s been just over 10 years, not 30 years, like he says in another text message. In a mail piece, Rosado says he’s been a district resident for nearly 25 years. His messages are conflicting: Is he a “lifelong District 4 resident,” or “someone who has lived in Miami for over 30 years” or in the district for “nearly 25 years?” Which is it?
The answer: Neither.
Rosado seems adverse to the truth. And that’s probably not what Miami voters want in a commissioner. Their other choice is Jose Regalado, who resigned his position as assistant building director to run after Reyes’ widow asked him to. Jose Regalado is the son of former Miami Mayor and now Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado. This is his first run for office.
In 2017, when Rosado ran against Manolo Reyes for the seat, he sent a mailer saying that he “spearheaded an initiative to hire 100 new officers.” Um, what? He wasn’t an incumbent. He spoke during public comments at commission meetings in favor of hiring more police officers, but he did not spearhead anything.
Read related: Candidate Ralph Rosado exaggerates ‘his’ police initiatives
A few days ago, he posted a photo of himself during a press conference about a park renovation — standing at a city of Miami podium as if he were an incumbent. It’s disingenuous.
Last month, he was caught in an outright lie after he got direction from Carollo while recording a video ad at a park. Rosado lied to Ladra and first told her Carollo was not there. “He was not directing. He wasn’t there,” Rosado said. When told that there was a candid camera video of him walking with his mother-in-law as Carollo walked backwards in front of them, with Marjory Carollo nearby holding a clipboard — is she always holding a clipboard? — he said, “I’ll get back to you.”
He has not. Rosado also did not return calls Wednesday, but he did text that he lived in the city of Miami from 1972 to 1984, from 1999 to 2002 and from 2010 to the present, including a few years at a home his wife owns while they worked on their home, Rosado told Ladra. But that is still not his whole life.
And we can’t believe what he says, anyway.
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In the race to replace the late Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes in District 4, Ralph Rosado has Joe Carollo on his side and Jose Regalado has Chacha Reyes, the late commissioner’s widow on his.
It’s no contest.
The voice of Chacha Reyes is on the radio practically every hour in Spanish, urging voters to support Regalado — son of former Mayor and now Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado — in the June 3 special election, like it was what Manolo would have wanted. And she should know. She was married to him for 56 years before the commissioner died last month at the age of 80.
“This is Chacha Reyes speaking to you,” the 30-second spot starts. “My family and I are going through very difficult times because of the loss of Manolo. But, despite that, we are very concerned about who is going to occupy his seat and continue to serve the residents of District 4.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
“And we have decided, thinking of you, that the one who can do it is Jose Francisco Regalado, because of his integrity, his knowledge of the city of Miami, and the example he had in Manolo and his father, Tomas Regalado. We ask that on June 3, you vote for Jose Francisco Regalado,” she says in the ad.
Chacha Reyes never recorded a radio commercial for her husband, even though spousal support is a pretty common campaign commodity in Miami politics. “I’m not political,” she told Political Cortadito. “I supported Manolo, but invisibly.”
She felt strong enough about this race, however, that she had to voice her concerns. She is the one who called Regalado and urged him to run, after all. So, she’s taken a keen interest in his success.
“Jose worked with Manolo. He knows what Manolo thought, what Manolo wanted,” Chacha Reyes said Wednesday in a short telephone interview. “I am the one who called him. He never thought about running for office. He said he would do it first, in memory of Manolo, and second, ‘because you are asking me,’” she said, quoting Regalado, who she calls one of her adopted sons.
“I know he is going to continue Manolo’s legacy,” Chacha Reyes said, adding that there are park renovations and other projects that have been started but not finished. “He wants to do it in Manolo’s memory. He is not going to take credit for what Manolo did.
“He has a lot of experience and has worked for the city a long time. He knows what is going on in the city,” she said. “He would start the first hour working, not learning.”
The late Miami commissioner Manolo Reyes with his wife Chacha and their family.
She still cries every day over the loss. Especially when she goes out and, invariably, people come up to her to say what a great public servant Manolo was or how funny he was or how he helped them with this or that situation. “I’m proud every day of everything he left behind, the mark he left on the community,” Chacha Reyes said.
Read related: Miami Commission honors the late Manolo Reyes with park, honorary title
“And God hope the next politicians learn from him and stop this discord,” she said.
And Ladra thinks that’s the radio ad she should record next.
Meanwhile, Rosado is getting help from Commissioner Carollo, who everyone knows uses the city’s resources to retaliate against his real or perceived political enemies, having been found guilty by a jury of violating the first amendment rights of two Little Havana businessmen in a case where they awarded $63.5 million to the plaintiffs. Carollo also had his mayoral campaign fundraising kick-off last month the same day as Reyes was buried. Tasteless.
Last month, Rosado was caught getting direction from Carollo while recording a video ad at a park. Rosado lied to Ladra and first told her Carollo was not there. “He was not there. He was not directing,” he said. When told that there was a candid camera video of him walking with his mother-in-law as Carollo walked backwards in front of them, with Marjory Carollo nearby holding a clipboard — is she always holding a clipboard? — Rosado said, “I’ll get back to you.”
He has not. On Wednesday, he left Ladra hanging again when she wanted to follow up on that and the misleading campaign text messages going out in which he says he’s a lifetime resident, when he’s not (more on that later). Regalado is.
There’s really no contest there either.
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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.
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Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo is having a Mother’s Day event this Friday — but it’s not in his district for his own constituents. It’s in District 4, where there is a special election next month to fill the vacancy caused when Manolo Reyes died.
Ya think Crazy Joe could be thinking to take D4 candidate Ralph Rosado, the lobbyist that Carollo is openly supporting in the race? That election is June 3 and there’s not a lot of time to do the meet and greets — or to get people to request their absentee or vote-by-mail ballots.
Even if Carollo doesn’t take Rosado (now that he is busted), it looks like an official city event. That means he is using District 3 funds and staff for an event at the the gallery at Smathers Plaza in District 4, an affordable housing community for seniors with 182 units, the same year that he is threatening to run for mayor citywide. Smathers is a beehive of super voters on 30th Avenue, about eight blocks out of District 3. And Carollo needs some help in District 4 if he wants to beat the boatload of other candidates that are signing up for the mayor’s race in November.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
Why not a Mother’s Day event? He or Rosado can bring roses with the pastelitos. The ladies will go nuts.
Who cares if he’s campaigning on city time and the city’s dime? It’s not like he needs it. Carollo has more than $1.7 million on hand in his political action committee, Miami First. But Ladra bets he has other events planned outside District 3.
The party Friday gets started at 3 p.m. and there will be music, food, entertainment, “gifts and more,” according to the poster that was spotted on a wall in one of the towers.
And, just maybe, there will be absentee ballot requests.

 
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Flowers sat on the dais Thursday in the space where Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes usually sat as his colleagues voted to hold a special election June 3 to replace him. The 80-year-old District 4 commissioner died last week after being hospitalized. There was a lovely public tribute Wednesday in front of City Hall before he was laid to rest.
The city commission could have voted Thursday to appoint someone to the seat until the November election — which many thought would happen with the justification of an estimated $180,000 to $380,000 in the estimated cost of a special election —  or to hold a special election for the vacancy, and a term that would end in 2027.
Read related: Miami Commission will meet to try to replace Manolo Reyes, who died at 80
“We are not kingmakers,” said Commission Chair Christine King, adding that an appointed commissioner would have an advantage in the November election. She would have supported appointing someone who didn’t live in District 4 and who couldn’t eventually run as a de facto incumbent. “So we wouldn’t be tipping the scales,” she said. “Six months in office is a lifetime.” It would actually be seven months. But appointing someone outside the district is not allowed — nor should it ever be.
Commissioners Miguel Gabela and Damian Pardo — who is the product of a special election — made it clear that they were not in favor of an appointment.
“At the end of the day, let the best man or woman win,” Gabela said, adding that candidates were already campaigning anyway for the November election and that it would avoid “finger pointing” about special interests and favoritism.
Pardo questioned the $380,000 quoted by City Clerk Todd Hannon — $350K for the election and $30K for notices — and learned that the real cost of the 2023 special election was much higher than the $176,657 that was actually billed by Miami-Dade County.
Qualification will begin April 21 and end on April 25 at 6 p.m. Hannon will reach out to the county to see if early voting can be scheduled for May 30, May 31 and June 1 at the Shenandoah and West Flagler library branches.
Among the candidates expected to jump in is Ralph Rosado, who was at the meeting Thursday and might have thought he would be appointed. Lots of people thought that — Commissioner Joe Carollo even said on his morning radio show that Rosado would be his choice — but las malas lenguas say it would have been a split 2/2 vote and forced a special election anyway.
Rosado, who got a parade of residents to endorse his appointment, expressed his condolences to the commission and Reyes’ family. “He was an exceptional public servant,” he said.
Read related: Miami remembers Manolo Reyes while Joe Carollo kicks off mayoral campaign
But then he quickly went into his pitch.
“It would be the honor of a lifetime to serve with each of you and represent a community that I love so much,” Rosado said, citing his experience as former city manager of North Bay Village (2019-2024), where he prepared the budget, oversaw the police and ran a municipal post office. “I’m ready to hit the ground running,” he told the commissioners.

He’s also the president of Rosado & Associates, which proves “urban planning and neighborhood revitalization strategic services to select local governments, nonprofits, and private clients,” according to his LinkedIn profile. Sounds like a conflict of interest waiting to happen. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mention it at the meeting.
Rosado, who lives in Coral Gate, did talk about his experience on the Miami’s citizen oversight board for the $400 million bond, which has included work on housing, flooding, and parks. He was appointed to the board by Reyes, who beat him in the 2017 election (Rosado got 36%).  He knew better than to challenge Reyes last year. But he’s been campaigning ever since anyway.
“For the last seven years, I have been able to express a deep commitment to this community,” Rosado said, and he told the commissioners about 200 or so trees he’s helped plant in the district, the decontamination of Douglas Park that he advocated for and negotiations he has had with the developers of the old Sears store site to lower the number of residences they plan to build under the exemptions of the Live Local Act. He said these talks were successful. We’ll have to get more on the later.
Read related: 2025 Miami Commission contests could be battles between some known names
He has also reportedly been knocking on doors already in preparation for a race later this year if Reyes had jumped into the mayoral contest, as he had announced he would last year (but before his health took a turn). So he has an advantage in a special election because of his name rec from 2017 and his door knocking this year — and the $268,000 or so he has put away in his political action committee, Citizens for Ethics in Government since November (that includes $100K of his own money, btw).
Rosado supporters said that the city did not have to incur the cost of a special election, which one resident said usually draws a poorer turnout, when they had a qualified and experienced person who could be a “stop gap” until November.
But other people — people who would not benefit from a de facto incumbency like Rosado would — urged for a special election.
“It’s important to let voters decide,” said Brenda Betancourt, who is running for commissioner in District 3. “We have plenty of other ways to save money.” She also reminded the commission that many people probably didn’t know about the special meeting.
Ariel Trueba, the chair of the LGTBQ+ Advisory Board — and Reyes’ appointment to that board — did know about both the meeting and what the city should do.
“As someone born and raised in District 4, I would like to elect my commissioner,” Trueba said.
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There’s not a lot of surprise in the Miami election that ended Tuesday. Everybody knew we would have Mayor Francis “The Future”  Suarez in charge with some ridiculous support against two nobodies (86%) and that there would be a runoff in the race for District 3 to replace him between former Mayor Joe Carollo and someone else.
That someone else may turn out to be surprise dark horse Alfie Leon, the former policy advisor for termed out Commissioner Frank Carollo. He may be the one who will now face his former boss’s estranged brother in round 2 on Nov. 21.
Zoraida Barreiro, who flew sorta under the radar in an ugly race that focused on Carollo and Tommy Regalado, the namesake son of the current Mayor Tomas Regalado, came crazy close to going head to head with Crazy Joe. But in the end, Leon edged her out with 17 votes between them at nearly 20% each.
Provisional ballots counted in the next couple of days may change that. Barreiro may ask for a recount. It’s that close.
Read related story: Denise Galvez (Turros) fights for her full name — except when she’s DUI
But in the other race, we finally have Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who has waited almost 30 years to hear those words.
Reyes solidly Ralph Rosado, who was hoping for a runoff, and won outright with 57% percent of the vote to Rosado’s 36%. Latinas for Trump co-founder Denise Galvez (Turros) can now officially be called Denise “Single Digits” Galvez, with less than 8%, but you just know she is going to blame Ladra for exposing her old theft and DUI arrests.
Commissioner Reyes, let’s say it often, is a sweet win. He’s like everybody’s abuelo and won votes with his common sense and longtime activism in the city. People know him. They have to. He has walked the district six times already.
“This is fantastic. It’s a dream come true,” Reyes told Ladra as he walked into his victory party at Renaissance Banquet Hall on 32nd Avenue, where he was quickly surrounded by friends and supporters with hugs. “At last, I have the opportunity to serve my people.”
He said he was especially happy that voters so soundly rejected the negative campaigning by his main opponent. “It’s about time these campaigns stop and candidates respect the intelligence of the people,” Reyes said.
Rosado went so negative that he had hit piece palm cards at the polls — something Ladra has never seen before. They didn’t say to vote for Rosado. They didn’t have his punch number. They just said to reject Reyes based on a mailer that a non-profit sent on Reyes’ behalf with a bad photo of Ralph Rosado.
Read related story: Finally! Manolo Reyes looks real good in Miami commission race
That’s a hoot. Because Rosado is the one whose campaign went negative months ago, first with TV ads and mailers calling Reyes a career beaurocrat — though he has worked in both the public and private sector — and then suggesing that he was falling asleep at a debate with a photo of the candidate with his eyes closed.
Rosado’s campaign got so personal that Reyes got help from outgoing Mayor Regalado, who went on the radio with ads and recorded a robocall urging voters in his old commission district to support Reyes. He accused Rosado of waging “attacks and lies.”
But that was not the race with the most attacks and lies. No, that would belong to the District 3 race and the crown belongs to Carollo’s campaign, or the part of it designed by former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla. The attacks calling the Regalados communists and putting a caricature of Tommy Regalado in diapers, the allegations they took Chavista money — all of that may have backfired because Carollo was positioned to take more than 35%, according to all the polls.
Read related story: Crazy Joe Carollo adds twist to crazy Miami race
Instead, he got 30% and is now headed into a runoff against Alfie Leon, commissioner Frank Carollo‘s former policy advisor, who came in number two with just over 20% (unless Barreiro turns it around in provisionals).
But Tommy may have been hurt by some of the negative campaigning — there was a lot of it. One reason why it would have been better to have Barreiro in the second round is it would have been harder for Carollo (read: ADLP) to attack a woman. That could double backfire. But Ladra expects to hear pestes about Leon now.
Popular political theory says all the support behind Tommy and Barreiro and the other candidates for the other candidates, will now go Leon’s way. Will it be enough to keep Crazy Joe out of office?
That’s the question everyone is going to be asking themselves on Wednesday.

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