A short-lived campaign to recall Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago seemed to fizzle this week after Miami-Dade County’s Elections Department said the group had failed to get the required number of signatures to put it on a ballot.

It may not be dead. Both Maria Cruz, the longtime Gables activist who started the recall, and attorney David Winker, representing her political action committee End The Corruption, have said the petitions that were deemed ineligible may have been planted by Lago lackeys in an attempt to thwart the effort. Especially since there was more than one petition purportedly signed by Cruz, who only signed one petition.

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But the amendments petitions may be on target

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The first Coral Gables commission meeting Tuesday after the required recall petitions for Mayor Vince Lago were submitted last week was long and a bit awkward for everybody. Ladra cringed a few times.

Lago said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the recall effort and accused the new three amigos — Commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and Kirk Menendez — of plotting against him to help the recall, which is being led by his old friend and the trio’s ally, activist Maria Cruz. He crowed about the internal purchace-card audit that, he said, showed no real inappropriate purchases, as Fernandez had asserted. And he said he wanted a forensic audit to finally lay rest to the claims of widespread corruption.

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Mayor uses city email to campaign in his defense

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Vince Lago PAC has much more interest money

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No, it’s not a resignation letter. A missive sent to Coral Gables residents by Mayor Vince Lago Thursday starts like he might be announcing his swan song.

“Before anything else,” it starts, “I want to thank you for everything you do to make The City Beautiful the greatest place in America.”

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