In Coral Gables, it’s apparently looked down upon to ask questions.
The city commission last week censured Commissioner Melissa Castro for, get this, having the nerve to contact the Florida attorney general for an opinion on a controversial and politically-tainted decision in May to move the city elections from April of odd years to November of even years, to coincide with the midterm and general elections, without going to the public for a vote on the matter.
¡Que atrevida!
Castro asked Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier if moving the city’s general election from April to November, without a voter referendum, was, you know, legal. She believes it is a violation of the city charter and the county Home Rule, which states that these type of changes must be made by voter referendum. “Unethical and unconstitutional,” she said.
Uthmeier hasn’t written back. Probably too busy pushing that Alligator Alcatraz merch (more on that later). But he did provide an opinion to a Miami commissioner who asked practically the same question about that city’s move to change elections from odd years to even. He said they have to go to a public vote first.
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
The Gables commissioner believes that this opinion would also apply to the City Beautiful and presented an ordinance last week that would repeal the vote to change the election, effectively putting it back to April in odd years. The commission, with Commissioner Ariel Fernandez absent, did not second her motion and it died.
Then, they decided to censure her for asking.
Pero, por supuesto. Mayor Vince Lago and his new echo chamber Seguro Que Yes majority took advantage and took it a step further by voting to censure Castro for, well, asking a question. Nevermind that the AG is there precisely for that reason. Apparently, in Coral Gables, doing your homework without asking your classmates first is grounds for detention.
L’Ego — who was censured in 2023 by the old commissioners majority for disparaging and insulting the three members he opposed on radio and television appearances — called it “deeply troubling” that Castro didn’t first run her legal curiosity by him, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, or Commissioner Richard Lara. After all, nothing screams transparency like backroom consensus-building before seeking a legal opinion. Am I right?
Never one to skip the spin cycle, Lago read his prepared comments, which regurgitated all the axes he has to grind against Castro. He also cited some random (and questionable) polling that allegedly shows 75% support for the date change. But when his little grupito tried to gather actual signatures to change the election date via petition, they failed miserably. 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.
Is that sloppiness or fraud? We still don’t know.
Read related: Coral Gables changes city elections to November, cuts terms by 5 months
Always ready with a lectern-worthy lecture, the mayor also said that Castro’s letter sent a subliminal “horrific message” to Tallahassee that the commission was not united. First, it’s not. That’s not such a terrible thing to have checks and balances. She doesn’t represent Lago and the commission. She represents her constituents that voted for her.
Second, and more importantly, this shows that Lago’s real concern isn’t about violating Home Rule — it’s about hurting feelings in the capital. You see, according to the mayor, the state was already giving the Gables side-eye after past commission antics (like self-approved raises and the musical chairs of city managers). He says the past two years of infighting on the commission has cost the city millions in appropriations, which has not been independently verified.
Anderson, meanwhile, whipped out her go-to proverbial pearls and clutched them with theatrical flair to censure Castro. As always, she spent way too much time chastising Castro for offending her senses. Castro, she said, omitted critical facts in her letter and was “trying to sabotage” the commission by asking for the opinion from Uthmeier without checking in with them and without calling a special meeting to get their input.
“No member of this commission on the down side of a vote should reach out and try to overturn a decision of this commission without the advice and consent of this commission,” Anderson said, calling out Castro for a typo in her letter — she wrote “2027” instead of “2026” — and wielded that gaffe like a smoking gun. As if that indicated that Castro was trying to sneak in an extra year.
“Big typo,” Anderson snapped, trying to summon up all the gravitas of a courtroom drama.
But if typos are now grounds for political flogging, half of City Hall should be sentenced to a proofreading boot camp.
“In order to make it clear to you that this type of behavior is improper and should not be tolerated in the future, I move for your censure,” Anderson said.
Castro was unfazed.
“Though the mayor, and I want to make it extremely clear — I will not stand here while this commission tries to take away residents rights,” she said. “If I would have to reach out to the general attorney again, I would do it 1,000 times. I was trying to undo a wrong this commission made. If you want to go ahead and vote for the vice mayor to censure me for standing up for my people, for standing up for my residents, then go ahead.”
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
“I think there’s been, unfortunately,  so far too much attention put on you, Commissioner Castro,” Lara said, like a jealous mean girl friend.
Besides echoing Anderson and Lago, which is what Lara does best, the newly-elected commissioner — who keeps saying that this is what the voters elected him to do — also questioned Castro’s motives, suggesting that her request of a legal opinion was encouragement for the state to sue the city. Really? An attorney, Lara poo-poohed the legality of any legal opinion, hinting that it was merely a recommendation.
City Attorney Cristina Suarez had already written a “formal legal opinion” at Castro’s request, saying that the AG’s opinion was “non-binding and advisory only.”
Did Castro want to stop the election move? No. She simply wants to let voters decide. What a concept! And, at the same time, she said it would avoid a possible legal battle with the state, which has already stood on the side of voters.
“This is me throwing a lifeline to some of the commissioners here,” Castro said, after quoting Uthmeier’s letter to the city of Miami and reiterating that it would apply to any city in Miami-Dade County. She also cited a quote from former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas about the city’s potential legal risk.
“It’s me trying to help you guys. I don’t want us to go against the state,” she said.
“Just put it on the ballot,” Castro added, who presented a cute little power point that showed how residents were left out of the decision-making. “Let’s make it fair and transparent. It’s not a big deal. If you are sure that people are going to vote for November, what is the issue with putting it on the ballot?”
Apparently a very big deal for Lago and company — big enough to not only shut Castro down, but also throw in an unnecessary public shaming for good measure.
Resident activist Maria Cruz, a former Lago ally who has smelled the coffee, said it was just like Lago to dismiss the public: “Daddy knows best,” she said. “We know what”s best We don’t care what the people want or do not want. We don’t even want to hear it.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
On the other side, Claudia Miro, who lost her second election bid this past April, came in — as if on Lago’s cue these days — with her own reprimands, said she didn’t like to have Coral Gables compared to the city of Miami (where she used to work, btw) and said the City Beautiful’s election change was different because it would shorten terms, while Miami commissioners effectively extended their terms by a year. She said voters made it clear in April’s elections how they felt by supporting candidates who supported the move.

Miro also accused Castro of “the height of hypocrisy” because Castro didn’t call for voter input when she and Fernandez and former Commissioner Kirk Menendez increased their salaries in 2023. Which is a bit like arguing that someone who jaywalked once doesn’t have the moral ground to call the police when they see a hit and run.
The commission voted May 20 to move the elections from April in odd years to November in even years, which effectively shortens everyone’s terms by five months. The reasons are, on paper, to increase voter participation and save $200,000 a year in election costs. Opponents say it would give developers and special interests (read: big money) an advantage.
But it’s very interesting that the mayor and his majority don’t care about “voter participation” on this issue.
Castro also pointed out the city spent $244,000 defending its plastic ban and another $185,000 fighting residents over the plans for a Wawa across from an elementary school, which were eventually abandoned. And now, the city wants to risk another six-figure legal battle to save $200,000 by moving an election?
That’s not fiscal responsibility — that’s the civic version of clipping coupons while leasing, um, er, a Maserati.
In the end, Castro’s “lifeline” to her fellow commissioners was met with cement shoes. And the Commission keeps sailing full speed ahead into a potential legal storm, hoping the Tallahassee gods won’t strike the with a bolt of thunder.
So much for Home Rule. In Coral Gables, it’s “Lago’s rules.” And if you dare to question them, without permission, bring an umbrella, a flak jacket — and spellcheck.
The post Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro censured — for asking a question appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

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.

Read Full Story

Out of nowhere, and more than a year after getting it, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Joseph Perkins last week recused himself from the defamation lawsuit brought by Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago against Actualidad Radio for a 2023 broadcast about an ethics investigation into his signing of an intentionally misleading affidavit, dramatically signed at a public commission meeting, denying his brothers documented business ties with the largest property owner in Little Gables.
Perkins didn’t give a reason for his sudden self recusal on May 19 in what looks like a form letter. “The undersigned Circuit Court Judge hereby recuses himself/herself from further consideration of this case,” it says. “This case shall be reassigned to another section of the Circuit Civil Division in accordance with established procedures.”
No reason. No details. Not even any certainty about how Perkins identifies. This is nearly 18 months after Perkins first got the case, which was filed in December of 2023.
Read related: Vince Lago revenge tour includes witch hunt for critics, confidential sources
There have already been depositions taken and rulings made. There have been case management hearings, motions on discovery. There are 132 dockets on file with the Miami-Dade Clerk’s office (enter “Lago, Vince,” and check the “I am not a robot” box).
This is weird.
Perkins was elected to the 11th Circuit Court in 2020. He mostly self funded his campaign with at least $100,000 in “loans” and another $93,000 or more in “in-kind” contributions, according to his campaign report filed with the Florida Division of Elections. He’s up for re-election next year and filed on April 25, almost a month before he recused himself from this Lago case.
Many political observers wonder if someone threatened to run a candidate against Perkins. A Hispanic candidate. This is not so shocking to anybody who knows anything about the history of judicial races in Miami-Dade. Las malas lenguas say old school political consultant Armando Gutierrez would threaten to run a candidate against you if you didn’t hire him to run your campaign.
This is the same thing: A threat against justice. In this case, it wouldn’t be about using political influence to affect an election. It would be about using political influence to affect a particular civil case.
Read related: Judge dismisses Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago’s defamation lawsuit
Perkins wasn’t necessarily a friendly judge to Lago. He already dismissed the case last August, finding that Lago’s claims were “legally insufficient.” Duh. A public figure cannot bring a defamation case against a journalist or radio station for discussion a very real and pertinent investigation about a statement made at a public meeting, no matter what the mayor wants to call it. The ruling was a response to Actualidad’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit based on the anti-SLAPP provision, which “prohibits lawsuits brought against individuals for exercising their right of free speech in connection with a public issue,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Lago’s attorneys baselessly claim that Actualidad’s 4-minute broadcast in February of 2023 was orchestrated by Coral Gables Commissioner Ariel Fernandez and former morning show host Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera to damage his reputation. Tellingly, neither of the two are named in the lawsuit. Because it’s simply an attempt to silence his critics, which include the presidents of the firefighters unions, the publisher of the Miami Herald and Ladra herself, all of whom have been subpoenaed to tell his attorneys who told us about the investigation.
Good luck with that.
There is no case because Lago is a public figure who answers to a constituency and, more importantly, there was, indeed, an investigation, or inquiry, or review into whether or not he knowingly misled the public when he dramatically signed an affidavit at a public meeting swearing that none of his immediate family had any personal or financial interests in Little Gables, which was being considered for annexation, by intentionally leaving “siblings” out of the definition of family. His brother, attorney Carlos Lago, was registered as a lobbyist at the time for the owner of the largest property in Little Gables, which is the trailer park.
The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust did get a complaint and did conduct an investigation, which they call a “matter under initial review,” but is handled the same way, according to the testimony of investigator Karl Ross, whose deposition was taken in March. The investigation basically ended after they found that Lago may have thought that he used the current definition, because it was changed at some point.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may have conflict of interest in Little Gables
Whatever. If he used the definition of the time, then he took advantage of it because he never had to sign an affidavit in the first place. It was like he was protesting too much.
But when Perkins dismissed the case in August, he left room for Lago’s attorneys to amend the complaint, which they did. And so the lawsuit rages on. But the judge’s sudden exit may lead to some questions of concern. And maybe some opportunity for the Actualidad Radio attorneys.
The new judge who has been assigned the case is Circuit Court Judge Javier Enriquez, who once ran for State Rep. against Jose Javier Rodriguez, and lost, just like Alex Diaz de la Portilla did. He was appointed in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis and sits on the family court bench in the domestic violence division. One can’t help but wonder if he’s been politically influenced.
At the very least, it’s going to take him some time to get up to speed on the case. As stated, there have been a lot of filings already. But there are subpoenas being served all the time now and the next deposition is scheduled for July. So Enriquez better bone up.
The post Judge in Vince Lago’s ‘defamation’ lawsuit suddenly recuses himself appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

In his recently-accelerated revenge tour, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is going after his perceived enemies. Like this was Cuba or Venezuela and he can just trample on everyone’s rights.
His baseless defamation lawsuit against Actualidad Radio — for a February, 2023, broadcast about a complaint to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust — is just a witch hunt to find and harass as many of his critics as he can.
Lago says he wants to know just who complained about his lack of truthfulness to the ethics commission, which then launched an investigation into his possible violation of the truth in government provision because he signed an affidavit swearing nobody in his immediate family had financial interests in the Little Gables annexation into the City Beautiful, which was a lie because his brother was, at the time, listed as the lobbyist for the largest property owner in the unincorporated Miami-Dade enclave, which is the trailer park.
The mayor  just conveniently left the word “siblings” out of the affidavit. That’s not a coincidence. So the investigation sorta bloomed into that: Whether or not there was really a conflict of interest in his desperate push to annex Little Gables.
The complaint was technically a “matter under initial review,” but that’s an investigation, just using other words. This is the crux of Lago’s defamation lawsuit against Actualidad, filed in late 2023, ten months after the broadcast. Lago and his attorneys say it wasn’t technically an investigation and want to know who leaked the investigation, which wasn’t  an investigation, to the radio host, Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera, who then talked about it on his morning radio show.
Lago’s attorneys filed a motion to compel Ethics Commission Investigator Karl Ross to divulge the names of the “three concerned citizens” that made the complaint about the fake affidavit. They already very obviously have their suspicions. In the March deposition taken of Ross, Lago’s attorney asks him if he knows three people, and only these three people: Miami-Dade Firefighters Local 1403 President William “Billy” McAllister, Coral Gables firefighters union president David Perez, y esta que está aquí. But they spelled my name wrong. Phonetically, I guess.
Read related: Judge dismisses Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago’s defamation lawsuit
McAllister was subpoenaed and is scheduled to give his deposition July 2. Ladra, who has also been subpoenaed, can’t wait to read that one.
This is just a fishing expedition. Take note of the long list of perceived enemies on the subpoena to McClatchy. Lago’s attorneys want the publisher of the Miami Herald to produce any documents and communications involving ethics commission proceedings from January 2016 to December 2024 (that’s eight years!) that were copied to:

Democratic political consultant Christian Ulvert
Former or current staff members of the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s office
Former or current officials of AFSCME Local for City and County Employees
Former or current chairpersons of a political party
Former and/or current members of the Miami-Dade Commission, City of Miami Commission, and/or former and/or staff and/or personnel of those members
Former and/or current state prosecutors
Members and/or representatives of the Miami-Dade Fire Union
Members and/or representatives of the Coral Gables Fire Union
William “Billy” McAllister IV
David Perez
Former Miami Herald Writer Sarah Blaskey
Miami Herald super writer Jay Weaver

Furthermore, for the last three years, they want all documents and communications, including text messages and emails sent to or received by the Miami Herald that “discuss, refer to, insinuate, report, and/or allege that Vince Lago was engaged in a bad act, abuse of power, and/or ethical impropriety.” They are listed:

Read Full Story

Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo stood Ladra up Wednesday. Or, rather, set me up.
It was awfully suspicious that Carollo would agree to grant Political Cortadito an interview after the hostilities he’s expressed, the names he’s called me, even saying from the dais that Ladra was paid to attack him. For the record, I do it for free because it’s so easy and fun and important.
But if one is a serious political blogger, one cannot turn down an opportunity to interview Carollo face to face. There were so many questions to ask that I made a list. The easy, “friendly,” questions would come first, and get increasingly — er, pointe? Difficult? Hostile? — before he would toss me out. That’s how I envisioned it. Was Ladra nervous? Yes. But I was more excited.
And, apparently, naive.
Ladra should have known it was a ruse, but it wasn’t Carollo himself who invited Political Cortadito to his district office Wednesday. It was his communications director, Karen Caballero, who I thought was a respected journalist herself at one point. Ladra found out about the commissioner’s Monday press conference too late to attend. So, I called and texted Caballero to get the documents he had distributed to the press. She didn’t answer. I texted again on Tuesday, after someone spotted her sitting next to Carollo in the audience in commission chambers during Commissioner Miguel Gabela‘s emergency Bayfront Park Management Trust meeting.
A few hours later, she texted back.
“Good afternoon Ms. de Valle. I hope this message finds you well,” she wrote. “The commissioner mentioned that he will make time to meet with you at the district office. Please let me know if you are available to come by today or tomorrow. Thank you.”
Could this really be serious? Ladra thought to herself.
We arranged for a time and Caballero gave me the address. And Ladra nearly jumped out of her gaming chair (which is the best desk chair I’ve ever had; try it!)
Read related: Miami Commission clash: Miguel Gabela vs Joe Carollo war heats up
On Wednesday, an hour before the fake meeting, as I prepared to get into the car and make my way from Kendall to Little Havana , I called Caballero and spoke to her on the phone. To confirm the meeting was still going to happen. She said the meeting was still on, but she would not be there. The commissioner will be there? Yes, she said. I imagined with other staffers, not alone.
When I arrived at the district office, which used to be the Little Havana Neighborhood Enhancement Team branch, it was locked. Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange to have a public building locked on a weekday afternoon? I rang the bell and announced myself. I sure did have an appointment!
Then this guy comes from around the corner, asking who I was. He looked familiar and carried some papers in his hand. Immediately, I knew. I was duped. Carollo wasn’t going to meet with me. This was the purpose of the “meeting” all along.
The process server’s name is Jose Mejia and he was awfully nice. (You can watch our interaction on Political Cortadito’s new TikTok platform.) They all have been, really. He said they had been trying to serve me but couldn’t. That is weird since I’ve been served at my home, twice in recent months. We gave the last guy a cold can of Coke. So, I thought, finally, Carollo is serving me with some cease and desist or defamation motion.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo served with court summons in meeting
It happens. Corrupt politicians don’t like to be called out and try to silence their critics using the courts. It never sticks.
Anyway, guess what? It wasn’t Carollo’s subpoena. It was one from Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, calling me as a witness  in his lawsuit against Actualidad, in which he is trying to go after all his critics (more on that later). Basically, he wants all my communications with anyone regarding the story in Political Cortadito about his false affidavit on not having any family members involved in the Little Gables annexation interests.
But what’s really important here isn’t that Ladra got tricked into going to a meeting that was a ruse all along by an elected official and one of his public payroll staffers. While that is sorta rude, my readers will understand that I had no choice and are likely to find it funny. I did.
No, the important thing is that Carollo and a staffer, his press secretary, knowingly lured a journalist to a public building, which belongs to the taxpayers Ladra informs, in order to dramatically serve a subpoena — they could have come to my home — from a mayor in a neighboring city. How is that ethical?
What kind of deal did Carollo — who was at Lago’s election night victory party at Wolfe’s Wine Shoppe on Miracle Mile last month — make to be the lead in this con? What has Lago promised in return?
They do share an attorney. Mason Portnoy, who is former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff‘s litigation lapdog (Marc can’t litigate but he can get business, because he knows a lot of shady people; Mason can’t get business but he can litigate), represents Carollo in some matters and was at Tuesday’s Bayfront Trust meeting to try to stop it from happening (more on that later). Maybe Caballero showed him my texts and the scheme was born. Portnoy also represents Lago in the threatened lawsuit against Ladra that never materialized after I refused to take down to post or write a retraction.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago and chief of staff threaten to sue Ladra
Ladra has called both Carollo and Caballero five or six times each since Wednesday. I’ve left specific messages asking them what happened. I texted Caballero specifically asking her about her role in the whole scam. There has been no answer. Silence.
First, they stood me up. Now they are ghosting me. Typical Miami relationship.
The post Joe Carollo and staff set Ladra up to serve Vince Lago’s newest subpoena appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

As expected and predicted in this very space, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has brought back former City Manager Peter Iglesias — who was fired last year by the old commission majority — to the top administrative job in the City Beautiful.
Lago, who was re-elected last month, campaigned on bringing Iglesias back and presented a resolution to name Iglesias manager at Tuesday’s commission meeting. Everyone knew this was coming after his remarks about the longtime public servant and engineer at the swearing-in ceremony where it seemed he was going to cry when he told Iglesias to stand and be recognized.
It was also expected to be a 3-2 vote with the new majority, all of whom won the April elections, voting in favor at Tuesday’s long commission meeting. So far, newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara — who made a big deal about being independent and not a handpicked Lago lackey pocket vote — has voted lockstep with the mayor and the vice mayor. It’s an echo chamber with the three repeating each other’s remarks in mutual admiration.
Iglesias, who wasn’t there at City Hall but was on Zoom during the meeting, will start Friday and make $295,000 a year. He will work for 20 months, which is right after the next election, which the commission also moved Tuesday to November 2026 (more on that later).
Read related: Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias
Lago — who is having trouble turning the page, as he said he would when sworn in — showed how butt hurt he still is about the firing of Iglesias after he lost the majority and the hiring of former City Manager Amos Rojas on the spot at a commission meeting. Kinda like what happened Tuesday. “The manner in which this was done was shameful,” Lago said, adding that lifeguards get more vetting than the manager got and that the decision “deeply demoralized our staff.”

But he also revealed the real reason he didn’t like it. “As a mayor, I wasn’t even granted the courtesy of getting his resumé,” L’Ego said. So, again, it seems that it was because it wasn’t his idea. He even mocked Commissioner Melissa Castro‘s comments at the time about Rojas’ LinkedIn profile, which was all she had to go on. Like googling him was a bad idea.
“I am in complete disgust with the hypocrisy of this body right now,” Castro said, and one doesn’t know if she is referring to the promises to go to a national search or the complaints about appointing a city manager as a surprise at a live meeting. Or both.
Castro said Iglesias might be a good guy and have achieved some things in the city, but after the election in 2023 — which she and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez against Lago’s wishes and well-funded handpicked candidates — the manager kept her in the dark. “He was favoring certain individuals on this commission and one of them was not me,” Castro said. She also said Iglesias had once told her “employees are lazy and don’t want to work,” when she would suggest ideas to streamline services.
“Employees do not like Peter,” Castro said. “You know who likes Peter? Department directors.”
Read related: Coral Gables skips search, hires new city manager Amos Rojas on the spot
Fernandez was the one who last year spearheaded the firing of Iglesias, who he said did not respond to residents and was insubordinate to him for 10 months after the was elected. But he really started trying to fire him the month after he was elected. He said Iglesias “was actively keeping us in the dark. To what end? Nobody knows.”
Iglesias had his own agenda, Fernandez said. That included the mobility hub that Lago was pushing and developing a city parking lot. “Those were his priorities while City hall feel apart and the gondola building collapsed.” He also blamed him for the delays in reopening what used to be Burger Bob’s.

“We need to have someone who respects our staff, works with all the commissioners,” Fernandez added. “Peter Iglesias is not a unifying voice.”
Lago, Anderson and Lara — who have replaced Castro, Fernandez and former Commissioner Kirk Menendez as the majority — said that Iglesias would bring stability back to City Hall at a time when it would be crucial to have his experience and leadership skills at the helm. The budget process is about to begin and the renovations of City Hall are ongoing.
Read related: Vince Lago scores with Richard Lara’s Coral Gables commission runoff win
Lara further said that it was something he campaigned on, as well, although he advocated for a national search, and that he first decided to run for office after the “unceremonious firing.” He also lashed out at Castro and said Iglesias may have been fired because “one commissioner didn’t feel she was getting enough attention.” He called the firing “improper” and “illicit.
“Simply because something can be done, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do,” Lara said.
But Anderson wasn’t listening. Later, when she voted for the mayor’s move to rescind a pilot permit expediting program that Castro had worked on for months to give residents and business owners the option to speed up their permitting process for a premium, she said basically the opposite. “The rules do allow the new board to undo an old board’s motion,” the vice mayor said.
To quote Lara: Simply because something can be done, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do.
The post Mayor Vince Lago brings Peter Iglesias back as Coral Gables city manager appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story