On the heels of the court ruling last this week that the Miami election year change was unconstitutional because, well they skipped the pesky part about asking voters, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro has doubled down on her push to revisit the city commission decision in May to move their municipal election date the same way.
She has asked City Attorney Cristina Suarez to draft a repeal ordinance to reset the election to April of odd years, a resolution for the city to repeal its vote to join any lawsuit against the state on this issue and a resolution for a referendum and suggested ballot language, because, well she doesn’t want to leave that to the spin the city administration might put on it.
She also asked City Clerk Billy Urquia to call a special meeting so the city commission can (1) “reevaluate our election rescheduling in light of the court’s ruling,” (2) discuss “corrective measures” to return to the April 2027 schedule or place the matter before voters in a binding referendum and (3) “protect the city from avoidable legal exposure.”
Read related: Judge calls Miami election change unconstitutional; is Coral Gables next?
Within an hour, Urquia told her it’s not gonna happen. Only the mayor or the city manager can call a special meeting on their own. Castro’s request needed an okay from at least two more commissioners and Urquia said he couldn’t get them. Certainly the solid LAL faction — Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioners Rhonda Anderson and Richard Lara — weren’t gonna make themselves available.
“There’s already an item on the August 26 regular city commission agenda,” the city clerk told Political Cortadito. “There wasn’t a need for a special meeting.”
Castro, who was elected against Lago’s wishes in 2023, called it “a dereliction of duty,” and a blatant FU to the voters.
“Despite a clear and binding appellate court ruling that moving elections without voter approval is unconstitutional, Commissioners Lago, Anderson, and Lara have chosen to bury their heads in the sand, again,” Castro said. “They not only passed an illegal ordinance in May, stripping voters of their voice, but now they’ve refused to even hold a meeting to discuss fixing it.
“I warned that what they were doing violated the Florida Constitution and the County Charter. Now, the courts have confirmed it and they still refuse to act,” she said. “Their refusal to call a meeting is not just a dereliction of duty, it’s an assault on the rule of law. They are gambling with our democracy to protect their own political maneuvering.”
Ya think?
A little background for the newcomers: In May — at a special meeting called by Lago right after the runoff election won by Lara — the Gables commission voted 3–2 to end nearly 100 years of April elections and align city races with state and federal ones, starting in November 2026. Castro and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez were the no votes. From the beginning, they have said the decision belongs to the voters. The change was pitched by LALalalala as a way to boost voter turnout and save money, a trend that is happening across the state. But it also cut current term lengths by five months and, more importantly, skipped the part where voters are supposed to have a say.
Castro asked for an opinion from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier — who provided an opinion to Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela saying the change without the voters’ will was unconstitutional — and was literally censured by her own colleagues for it. Because she calls them out for dodging voters — again and again — they can’t miss an opportunity to try to embarrass or shame her. Remember Lago’s behavior at Carnaval de Barranquilla in April? That’s just one of the times that he has publicly belittled and bullied her.
Now, Castro has the courts backing her up. Not only did Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr rule that the city’s move was unconstitutional — a violation of both the city and the Miami-Dade County Home Rule charters — but the Florida Third District Court of Appeals upheld that decision in a 27-page “body-slam” opinion that said an ordinance is not a tweak of the code.
“It is, in truth, a charter amendment dressed in lesser clothes — fragrant in title but thorned with consequence,” the opinion reads.
The same likely applies to Coral Gables. The city charter states that “elections were to be held on the second Tuesday in April in odd numbered years.” Plain language. April. Odd-numbered years. The city also falls under the county’s Home Rule charter, which says electeds can’t willy nilly change the charter, or the timing of elections specifically, without voter approval. Doesn’t matter if it adds time or subtracts. The law is the law.
Read related: Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on
Suarez, the city attorney, has said that the Gables is granted the power to move the election without going to a vote with a state law. But four judges now have said that the city and county charters trump that state statute.
Meanwhile, the public? Split.
According to a recent online poll by the new, resurrected Coral Gables Gazette, 51% of the readers like the move for its efficiency and turnout bump. Only 48% of the 1,179 respondents said ‘hell no’ to the idea of cutting voters out of the process. This from a publication that L’Ego says is biased against him. But their poll suggests the readers want what he’s selling. Maybe not overwhelmingly, but by a slim majority, which is all the mayor would need in a public referendum.
So what now?
Well, the city’s next election is still set for November 2026. But it’s not over yet. Castro has hired renown election attorney JC Planas — a former state rep that should be our elections supervisor but lost in November to Alina Garcia — and is pressing on.
In an opinion Friday, Planas says the court’s ruling is correct.
“It is evident the move was unlawful,” he wrote Friday to Castro, in an opinion she said she paid out of her own pocket. “The Coral Gables City Charter is clear in its subservience on multiple issues to the Miami-Dade County Charter. Your Charter specifically states in its foreword: “Consequently, while the City has broad home rule powers, it is constrained or pre-empted in certain areas by the Dade County Home Rule Amendment and the Dade County Home Rule Charter that was adopted pursuant to such Amendment.”
In other words: The city’s own charter admits it is answerable to the county charter. Especially since the Gables charter has no language to authorize other forms of charter amendments, it must comply with the county charter requirement of a referendum.
The May ordinance to move the election was “an unconstitutional amendment,” Planas said, adding that there has never been a charter amendment in the Gables without going to referendum first.
“This is specifically because such amendments were prohibited by the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter,” Planas wrote in his opinion. “While the City of Miami tried to get around this issue by NOT amending their Charter when changing their election date, the Third District Court of Appeal quoted Shakespear and stated that regardless of what Miami called the change, their change of election dates was still an unconstitutional Charter Amendment.
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
“In the case of Coral Gables, they blatantly amended their City Charter through an ordinance in violation of the County Charter and the Florida Constitution,” Planas continued. “As the City of Coral Gables is now in blatant violation of the Miami-Dade Charter and the Florida Constitution, it MUST immediately repeal the ordinance.
“Should the City refuse to do so, it can be subject to costly litigation by its residents who were denied the ability to vote on such a change. Such litigation would also involve Miami-Dade County that has historically fought to protect the integrity of its Charter, including in the most recent Gonzalez matter,” he said, referring former Miami City Manager and Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez, who sued the city to get the election back on in November.
So, repeal, referendum or lawsuit — this isn’t going away. Too bad for L’Ego and his echo chamber that Commissioner Castro is not the type to sit down and shut up, like they want her to.
“While they hide behind power, I will stand with the people. Coral Gables deserves better and I intend to deliver it.”
Let’s see if voters get the last word. Or if the other commissioners finally look up from their same ol’ talking points long enough to read the charter and the court rulings.

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The post Coral Gables: Melissa Castro shut down again on election change challenge appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Three judge panel slaps city with a civics lesson
Miami’s power-hungry politicos just got benched by the grown-ups.
The Florida Third District Court of Appeal on Thursday handed a stinging, unanimous ruling that the City of Miami’s sneaky little move to cancel the scheduled November 2025 election and push it to 2026 was unconstitutional. Shocker, right?
Not really. Ladra could tell by the way the three judges practically rolled their eyes during oral arguments, that they were not buying the city’s sob story about having the right by state law. There was already a lower court ruling in favor of former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who wants to run for mayor this year and not next. The DCA just confirmed it.
The city should not appeal this again, throwing good money after bad. Outside counsel Dwyane Robinson — and how much is this costing taxpayers? — said the city is “exploring further appellate options.” Mayor Francis Suarez said so, too, but he may not have the votes from the dais to continue to pursue it. City Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored and fiercely defended the election-cancelling ordinance, indicated he was ready to let it go. This was originally passed with a 3-2 vote, so if Pardo turns, it’s dead.
“We congratulate those who fought hard for their point of view and prevailed in the court today,” Pardo said in a statement, even though the term “point of view” seems like a dig. “We remain committed to increasing voter representation and decreasing electoral costs in the City of Miami and plan to introduce legislation to place moving the elections to even years on the ballot as soon as possible.”
What a concept! Imagine all the pain and suffering he could have avoided if they had just done this in the first place.
Read related: Third DCA seems skeptical of Miami city election change, cancellation
This all started when the City Commission in June passed an ordinance to postpone the election — essentially giving themselves an extra year in office without asking any voters if they were cool with that. Spoiler: They weren’t. Neither were several candidates who had already been campaigning for this year’s race for months already. But Gonzalez was the only one who legally challenged it. The argument was that the city charter and the county’s Home Rule charter both prohibit the city commission from changing the date or year of the municipal election without going to the voters with a referendum first.
And now two courts have agreed.
“The Ordinance is unconstitutional,” wrote the panel of judges in their ruling, which upheld the decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr. They weren’t buying the city’s argument that they were just “tweaking” the code — not the charter. Nah, fam. The judges saw right through that fig leaf.
“It is, in truth, a charter amendment dressed in lesser clothes — fragrant in title but thorned with consequence,” the opinion reads, so poetically. Ladra gives that line a standing ovation.
The charter clearly states: Elections “shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in odd-numbered years.” There’s no ambiguity. Any change to that? Gotta go to the voters. This commission thought they could skip that pesky little detail.
The judges said it also violated the county’s constitution. “The City’s chosen method to effectuate a change of its elections substantively alters the City’s own Charter in a manner that conflicts with the ‘exclusive’ method provided for in the County Home Rule Charter for amending municipal charters,” the judges wrote in the 27-page opinion.
This is also a major political loss for Suarez, who’s been working behind the scenes to make this election delay happen and maybe buy himself more time in power, but not for his papi, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor and wants to return to that post.
The senior Suarez tried to take credit for the lower court win, saying he had provided Gonzalez with legal advice. He ran to the news mics after oral arguments Tuesday to get some free publicity. But everybody wants to ride Emilio’s coattails. He has just become the de facto frontrunner in the race because he is cast as the hero that saved an election.
Read related: Miami-Dade Judge: Miami Commission can’t cancel election without public vote
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, perhaps Gonzalez’s biggest foe and another potential mayoral candidate had gone so far as to try to insert himself in the case. The judges denied him time to speak at oral arguments. Se salvaron.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who has also announced that she is running for Miami mayor, might send out a fundraising text about it, like she did after Manno Schurr’s ruling.
“Our judicial system has once again reaffirmed that the rule of law in fact must be followed and voters will ultimately have the final word in deciding key changes, including when the city holds elections,” Higgins said in a statement that could be misinterpreted as a victory lap she doesn’t deserve. “Upholding the lower court’s ruling to maintain our November 2025 election is a win for democracy and fairness.”
Where were you all this time, chica? Gonzalez didn’t only sue for the city, he sued to defend the county Home Rule charter.
“If we want to move elections to even-numbered years to increase participation, let’s do it the right way: through voter approval. As Mayor, I’ll propose shortening the next ayor’s term and putting the question on the 2026 ballot to modernize our democracy without undermining it,” Higgins said.
Imagine that — a politician willing to give up time in office for the sake of democracy and progress. Miami might not be ready.
Gonzalez and other candidates have also said that they are willing to shorten their terms if the voters choose a new election year.
“This is a victory for every voter in Miami,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “A corrupt group of politicians tried to cancel your right to vote so they could cling to power. They failed.”
The retired U.S. Army colonel spent 22 years “helping to build and defend democracies around the world—and I will never sit back and watch one be dismantled in my own backyard,” Gonzalez said. His attorneys, led by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson, had argued that this is the kind of authoritarian move many Miami residents had fled from in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
“They tried to silence the public. They tried to rewrite the rules mid-game. They lied about turnout, lied about cost, and ignored our city’s Constitution. And they did it all for themselves,” Gonzalez said. “The courts saw through it. The rule of law held. And now, the people will decide who leads this city—not a backroom vote, not a legal loophole, not a rubber stamp from corrupt politicians.
“Let this be a warning to every politician in Miami: the days of corruption without consequence are over.”
Former City Commissioner Ken Russell, who has also been campaigning for mayor, is the only one of the viable candidates who actively tried to dissuade the city commission from cancelling the election. At the podium during public comment and in social media, Russell warned the city that they were about to do something illegal.
“This was never about good government,” Russell told Political Cortadito, adding that it was always about the self-interests of certain politicians.
He also said it was highly “dysfunctional” to watch the city argue against Home Rule, which municipalities have been fighting for years to prioritize in Tallahassee. Just ask the Miami-Dade League of Cities.
Russell, who called the ruling a “body-slam” was also gracious enough to thank Gonzalez for doing what none of the other candidates did.
“Credit to Emilio Gonzalez gor stepping up and filing the lawsuit,” Russell said. “The other candidates benefitted from it — and so will the voters of Miami.”
Why? Because they will get an election this year.
The post Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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15-member committee has lobbyists, contractors
Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Anthony “A-Rod” Rodriguez is now leading the charge to strip away inefficiencies in the county’s bloated and Byzantine procurement system.
Yes, you read that right. The same Anthony Rodriguez who helped build the maze — and recently came under fire for awarding millions to a shady charity to put on an event in his district — has promised to guide us out of this mess with something he’s calling the “Special Task Force to Reduce Inefficiencies in Procurement,” or STRIP.
Because why not add a gimmicky acronym to a government boondoggle?
Read related: Shady charity with political ties gets $450K from Miami-Dade Commission
The legislation establishing the STRIP passed unanimously May 6 and Rodriguez says, with a straight face, that the new task force will “overhaul the county’s procurement system to better serve taxpayers and encourage broader participation from vendors, including small businesses.
“Our current procurement process is bogged down by over 200 pieces of legislation and an average of 100 individual steps per request,” Rodriguez said in a statement after the legislation passed May 6. “For contracts exceeding $1 million, it takes over 349 days to procure. This inefficiency not only drives up costs but also creates an uneven playing field, favoring only those who can afford to navigate the delays.”
You could literally get pregnant, deliver a baby, and go back to work before the county finishes a big contract.
Unless, of course, you’re one of the usual suspects who already knows which back door to use.
Like A3 Foundation, a nonprofit with no track record, led by his close friend and former aide, Alexander P. Anthony, was awarded a no-bid, $8 million workforce contract. No paperwork. No competition. No transparency. Just one juicy, backroom-deal contract handed out like a candy bar at Halloween.
It doesn’t look like commission district funding for non-profits is on the list, however. According to the resolution passed in May, the STRIP is established “for the purpose of reviewing existing laws, codes, and procedures relating to the County’s procurement (including the procurement of goods and services, professional services agreements (including agreements for architectural and engineering services), public works and construction contracts, P3 agreements, leases, and concessions) and providing recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners for needed changes or improvements to such laws, codes, or procedures.”
And they have a lot of homework in order to dig deep into every clogged pipe in the procurement plumbing. They’re looking at everything. The endless delays. The “delegated authority” that lets the mayor’s office greenlight contracts without commission votes. The red tape that keeps small businesses locked out. Even the local preference policies that sound good but might be costing more than they save.
They’ll be asking whether procurement should work differently for buying toilet paper vs. building transit stations (spoiler: it probably should). They’ll check if the County’s online procurement portal is a relic of the dial-up era (also: yes). And someone even dropped the A.I. buzzword in there — because of course they did.
The task force’s objectives align with ongoing efforts to improve government efficiency, such as the Government Efficiency and Transparency Ad Hoc Committee, have already begun identifying areas for improvement across various departments, Rodriguez explained. STRIP “represents a focused approach to tackling one of the most critical aspects of county operations.”
Read related: Another procurement battle for traffic signals looms at Miami-Dade County
Rodriguez emphasized that the reform is not about adding complexity but about removing unnecessary layers that hinder progress. “By stripping away red tape, we can ensure that our procurement process works for the people, providing better value and fostering a more competitive environment,” he stated.
Oh, and this is Miami-Dade, so accountability for contractors is also on the menu. Which makes Ladra wonder: Will the task force have the teeth to actually bite someone, or is this going to be another toothless commission-approved chew toy?
Well, let’s take a look at the 15 members, who were all handpicked by Rodriguez himself. Commissioners were allowed to submit up to three names, but ultimately, A-Rod got the final say.
The group is supposed to reflect Miami-Dade’s glorious cultural flavor — you know, the political rainbow — and include people who know a thing or two about how contracts are actually handed out in Florida. In other words: Insiders. They won’t be paid, so of course it’s only for people with time, independent wealth, connections or ulterior motives.
The lucky winners are literally stakeholders:

Al Dotson Jr., a prominent lobbyist and managing partner, Bilzin Sumberg, Miami who has been named one of Florida Trend’s “500 Most Influential Leaders” in the state. He is the oldest of four siblings.
Aldo M. Leiva, an attorney specializing in information technology, data security and privacy, data breach notification and other data protection compliance. As a Cuba law/policy analyst, he has also briefed the U.S. State Department, lawmakers and presidential candidates provided analysis of Cuban trends to multiple universities. He also served as a board member of the Miami Downtown Development Authority.
Diana Mendez, a lobbyist and partner at Bilzin Sumberg where she represents clients “through all phases of the government procurement process, from identifying government contracting opportunities to bid protest litigation.” According to her LinkedIn profile, Mendez helps clients “navigate the legal and public policy landscape surrounding procurement opportunities.” She specializes in identifying government contract opportunities and holds clients hands through the bidding process. And she is the STRIP chair.
Erin Hendrix, a lobbyist and partner at LSN Partners, she leads the firm’s aviation practice. Does that mean she knows about the mess at Miami International Airport?
Jina Braynon, an international business consultant and managing director at Accenture, where she leads “innovative transformations partnering with state and local governments to execute comprehensive operational improvements that bolster efficiency and enhance organization sustainability.” Whatever that is. She is also the daughter of former State Sen. Oscar Braynon.
John Elizabeth Aleman, client account manager at Jacobs, a consulting firm that provides professional architecture and engineering services for the airport and seaport, was also a Miami Beach city commissioner from 2015 to 2019. She currently serves on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee for the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. And she gets props from Ladra for resigning from the Miami Downtown Development Authority in 2020 after a power shift at City Hall, when it became clear that “working within the current political climate is untenable.”
Josenrique Cueto, the former deputy director and “chief project delivery officer” at the county’s Department of Transit and Public Works, now vice president of Real Estate Development at UniCapital Asset Management Group, a real estate development firm specializing in mixed-use projects.
Kenneth Naylor, president of development at Atlantic|Pacific Companies, a fifth-generation, vertical integrated real estate company with expertise in acquisitions, development, property management and investments.
Maira Suarez, senior vice president of Lemartec Corporation, which is a MasTec company — they have a ton of county contracts — who also used to work for Munilla Construction Management, which also has won a ton of county contracts and was involved in the building of the FIU bridge that fatally collapsed in 2018, killing six people.
Miguel De Grandy, a lobbyist and former state rep who did the hugely inappropriate and invalid redistricting for the city, later found by a court to be racially gerrymandered to keep the incumbents in office. De Grandy also admitted to intentionally putting Joe Carollo‘s house into District 3 and intentionally cutting Commissioner Miguel Gabela‘s home out of District 1 as a favor to former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla.
Rey Melendi, Chief Operating Officer and partner at 13th Floor Investments, a leading opportunistic real estate private equity firm in Florida. He oversees the development, construction, and operational asset management of the company’s investments. He is also former president of the Builders Association of South Florida.
Rudy Ortiz, founder and chief executive officer of CES companies, which specialize in construction management and program management of fast-track and large-scale capital projects and programs.
Victor Herrera, senior vice president of BCC Engineering, which helps clients connect resources to plan, deploy, and manage infrastructure projects. “It’s all city and county business,” Herrera openly admitted at the introduction meeting June 25. According to the BCC website, “his focus is on the expansion of the firm’s municipal market presence.”
Willy Bermello, one of the founding partners of Bermello Ajamil and Associates, a renowned and award-winning architectural and engineering firm, which has also won lots of big facility bids from the county. He is the task force’s vice chairman.
Carolina Vester, who rose through the ranks in the city of Coral Gables from lifeguard at Venetian Pool to deputy city manager, a position she was promoted to in February from parks and recreation, where she was deputy director since 2016.

Can you spot the many conflicts of interests? One of the participants even said “I think it’s developer corner over here,” at the first meeting after he introduced himself.
These are all very capable, qualified people. Okay, there are some qualified, capable people here. And certainly — the odds are there — some of them are well intentioned. But how do we know they are all going to do what’s best for the taxpayer’s wallet and not what’s best for their next bid on a multi-million dollar terminal project at the airport?
Read related: Miami-Dade could give design of $270 mil MIA project without a second look
Why do we need a fancy named task force to identify efficiencies in procurement anyway? Wasn’t this something that Commissioners Raquel Regalado and Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez, chairman of the Government Transparency and Efficiency Ad Hoc Committee, were already working to fix? Isn’t this what we elected them for?
And what is the difference between STRIP and GTEAHC, except that the Bermudez committee doesn’t have a nifty acronym?
Rodriguez claims STRIP is about helping the little guy — small vendors who can’t afford to wait a year for a yes or no. But the track record and the stakeholders suggest that STRIP might just stand for Slick Tactics Rewarding Inside Players. “I wanted this to be driven by the folks who do business with the county every single day,” Rodriguez said. In other words: the usual suspects.
“The idea here is not just to help the private sector and business, which is all of you guys,” Rodriguez said in his welcome statements at the first meeting. “But it also helps residents.
And let’s not forget the timing. With the 2026 budget hearings around the corner and rumors swirling about bigger ambitions for Rodriguez, this little reform parade might just be a campaign commercial dressed up as policy.
Still, the measure passed unanimously at the May 6 commission meeting, probably because nobody wants to be on record against stripping red tape. And maybe, just maybe, something good comes of putting a magnifying glass on what is a county swamp.
If anyone is actually looking. So far, there have been at least three Zoom meetings — June 25, July 2 and July 15. The task force’s first report is due 60 days after it was established, so mid August. Ladra will believe the reform when we see it.
This task force can be more than a STRIP show if it actually addresses the real problems in procurement, which is apparently not access.
The post STRIP show: Miami-Dade’s Anthony Rodriguez wants to fix procurement appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Is Congressman Carlos Gimenez really thinking of jumping ship in D.C. because he didn’t get a fancy committee chair? That’s what the queen of conspiracy, Laura Loomer, says. And while Loomer has made a career out of conspiracy theories, stunts, and playing the victim every time someone dares to call out her nonsense, for once, Ladra has to admit, the chisme kinda tracks.
This might not be one of her regular tinfoil-hat chats.
Loomer has been banned from more platforms than Ladra has cafecitos in a day — and that’s saying something. Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Lyft, PayPal — even GoFundMe had banned her at one time because of her hate speech. But she’s back on Twitter, where she posted Wednesday that she allegedly got a scoop about Gimenez licking his wounds after losing out on the Homeland Security Committee chairmanship and is now seriously considering a run for City of Miami mayor in 2025.
Read related: Will he or won’t he? Congressman Carlos Gimenez for Miami mayor?
And that started a Twitter beef with Gimenez, who struck back.
“Once again, Loomer doesn’t have the faintest idea of what she’s talking about. She doesn’t like that I stand with the Venezuelan people in their fight for freedom,” Gimenez posted. “Instead, she would rather funnel millions into the pockets of the leaders of the Cartel de los Soles — a criminal narco-terrorist regime headed by none other than Nicolas Maduro and an officially designated global terrorist organization by President Trump.”
As one could imagine, Loomer responded with long screeds about false accusations and Gimenez being a RINO who didn’t deny he’s leaving congress — and he did not — and who has promised his son, onetime Trump lobbyist Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, his District 28 seat.
No, Laura. It would be his daughter-in-law, Tania Cruz Gimenez, who would run for congress. Cruz Gimenez, who ran the successful campaign of the newly-elected Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz, is a Republican now and made a big deal out of switching from the Democratic Party with a totally unnecessary swearing-in ceremony, pledging her loyalty to the GOP, officiated by none other than House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The photos will make for great campaign mailers.
Ladra’s been hearing about a possible run for months. The rumors started circulating long before the chairmanship opened up and a new the Homeland Security chair was named last week. But maybe that was el colmo ya.
Gimenez, who was mayor of Miami-Dade from 2011 to 2020, was the first Republican to launch a bid to chair the powerful committee after U.S. Rep. Mark Green stepped down earlier this month. In a letter announcing his candidacy, Gimenez highlighted his background in public safety, executive leadership, and crisis management as qualifications for the position.
But the gavel went to Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York instead, and reportedly that didn’t sit well with Carlos. Word is, he’s stewing in his district during August recess, plotting a potential homecoming.
Loomer frames it like a betrayal of Trump and the House GOP — which is hilarious, considering Gimenez has been the political equivalent of a wind sock when it comes to Trump. Don’t forget: he voted for Hillary in 2016, only climbed aboard the Trump Train after it was already barreling down the tracks, and got booed at a Miami Trump rally like he walked onstage wearing a Fauci T-shirt and handing out vaccine cards.
There is some room for doubt because Gimenez loves the national spotlight. He is on every cable news show he can And he is still chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Transportation and Maritime Security subcommittee as well as a member of its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection subcommittee. He is also a member of the Readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and Chinese Communist Party, which sounds made up but it’s not.
Also, the idea of a former county mayor parachuting into a city mayor’s race is classic Gimenez. He started his career as a firefighter in Miami and has always loved the idea of saving people. This gives him the chance to pitch his campaign as a hero coming home to save us from Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is also threatening a run for mayor.
Gimenez also likes being a big fish in a small putrid pond more than being a small fish in a big, dark swamp. And he might be sick of taking the hits for Trump’s chaotic and cruel immigration policy and mass deportation fiesta, which is affecting his own constituents more than Gimenez would like.
Read related: Video blasts U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez for silence on ending TPS, deportations
And if he does resign his congressional seat, it could trigger a special election in a swingy district — exactly the kind of opening Democrats are dying for as they try to flip the House. They only need three seats. Gimenez, who has been included in a number of mayoral election polls, has until September 20 to qualify in the Miami mayoral race. So he can still mull it over for a while.
He would be entering a crowded clown car clusterbunch race, but that might help him stand out and become the frontrunner right away.
“If Gimenez does, in fact, resign from Congress to run for Mayor of the City of Miami, he would be abandoning President Trump’s agenda and would set his congressional seat up for a special election, which could be disastrous for the Republicans as they fight to keep the House majority in 2026,” Loomer wrote in her Twitter post. 
Disastrous? Sure, the right Democrat could seize the opportunity and take that seat. But it seems a safely red district that State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez can just slide into without breaking a sweat. Other potential wannabes include Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who is ultra-right and has been super active on the dais lately, since he won the veto overturn on removing the fluoride in the water.
You know the type. They get one little win — maybe a headline, a hashtag, a handshake from someone with a title — and suddenly they think they’re the second coming of Lincoln. Or at least the next savior of South Florida.
Ladra calls it “getting drunk on their own press clippings.” One sip of success and they’re already measuring the drapes at City Hall, forgetting that local voters are not as easy to charm as the three people liking their Facebook post.
So is Laura Loomer suddenly a reliable source? No, she’s more like a performance artist — and not even a good one. More like bad improv at a MAGA open mic event.
But if The Simpsons is prophetic and a broken clock is right twice a day, then why can’t Loomer be onto something?
The post Laura Loomer: Carlos Gimenez to ‘abandon’ Trump, run for Miami mayor appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Melissa Castro suggests ballot language for referendum
The city of Miami’s court battle to move municipal elections from odd to even years — effectively cancelling this year’s mayoral and commission races and extending electeds’ terms by a year — may have reverberations in Coral Gables, where the commission voted to move the elections from April of odd years to November of even years.
Same sin. Different direction.
Miami-Dade Judge Valerie Manno Schurr — in a lawsuit brought by former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who is running for Miami mayor — already ruled last week that the city violated its own charter and the county charter when commissioners approved an ordinance changing the election date. The city appealed, but the reaction to oral arguments heard Tuesday indicate that they are going to lose that, too.
Read related: Third DCA seems skeptical of Miami city election change, cancellation
Manno Schurr’s ruling hinged on one self-evident truth: You don’t mess with the lengths of electeds’ terms without going to the people who put them in office in the first place. Period. Whether you’re adding months or shaving them off, it’s not up to mayors and commissioners with itchy calendar fingers. It’s up to the voters.
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, and Commissioners Ariel Fernandez and Richard Lara voted in May to move the next municipal election from April 2027 to November 2026 — skipping a referendum entirely, just like Miami did. Except now Miami’s in legal hot water, maybe The City Beautiful should reconsider.
Nope, they doubled down, instead. Lago, Anderson and Lara, did anyway. While Fernandez was away for health reasons, the commission last month discussed joining with other cities to rebuff any legal challenges from the state.
City Attorney Cristina Suarez has issued a formal legal opinion stating that the change is “legally sufficient in accordance with applicable law.” But it is a non-binding and advisory opinion only. Is that her way of saying it won’t hold up in court?
Read related: Miami-Dade Judge: Miami Commission can’t cancel election without public vote
Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro, the lone holdout on the vote to change the election — the same one who got censured by her “colleagues” for having the independent gumption to ask the Florida Attorney General about it (how dare she!) — wants the commission to reconsider. She told Political Cortadito she was not going to back down.
“Elected officials just deciding on their own that they are going to serve a year more or a year less? What is that? That’s a very dangerous precedent, that’s what it is,” Castro said.
“People — not politicians — have the sole right to decide when elections are held,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “It was the voters who put officials in office, and it is the voters alone who must decide if and when election dates change. Bypassing the people and moving elections without their approval is not only unethical, it’s illegal and unconstitutional under the Miami-Dade County Charter and Florida Constitution.
“I will fight tirelessly to defend your right to vote and ensure your voice is never silenced by political maneuvering,” she said, referring to the censure, which is like a slap on the wrist from elected colleagues. Unenforceable, but meant to chill dissent.
“Democracy belongs to the people, and I will never back down from protecting it,” Castro said.
She asked the city attorney on Tuesday to a draft a resolution for the first August meeting directing that a ballot question be presented to the electorate, asking whether they prefer Coral Gables municipal elections to continue being held in April, as has been the tradition for nearly 100 years, or be moved to November.
“The question must be binding, and the result should determine the city’s future election schedule,” Castro wrote in an email. And in order to make it super easy and trnsparent, she wants the ballot language to be simple: Under the title “Selection of Municipal Election Date,” voters will be asked to check a box for when they want to have future municipal elections — in April “dedicated local election focused on city issues” or November “combined with national and state elections.”
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
And what if someone blocks her or censures her again? Well, she might just take it to Gov. DeSantis.
“I won’t hesitate to take it further,” Castro wrote in an email to Gables residents last week. “I will continue siding firmly on the side of the law, transparency and, most importantly, the people.”
But let’s be real: Coral Gables doesn’t need Tallahassee swooping in to clean up its mess. What it needs is a little bit of spine and a whole lot of common sense.
Because even if the reasons for the change — higher turnout, lower costs, civic alignment — are legit, process still matters. Democracy doesn’t get waived for convenience. And a 4-1 commission vote deciding for 46,000 Gables voters when their elections happen? That’s not leadership. That’s laziness.
Gables commissioners have a choice. They can dig in their heels and go into a losing legal battle. Or they can put their trust in the people who elected them and let the voters decide, in a way that they know their next elected is going to serve a shorter term.
Ladra knows which one smells more like sunshine and less like naranja agria. Does Mayor Lago?
Because if the commission doesn’t do it now, a judge might do it later — and by then, it could be messier. And costlier.
Just ask the folks at Miami City Hall. (Assuming they’re not too busy appealing everything.)
The post Judge calls Miami election change unconstitutional; is Coral Gables next? appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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In what smells an awful lot like another scripted rubber-stamp moment, the City of Miami Commission last week passed the controversial Transit Station Neighborhood Development (TSND) ordinance, which gives developers the green light to drop a 12-story tower next to single family home within a one-mile radius of any Metrorail, Brightline or Tri-Rail, too. Existing or future.
So, basically, this new zoning category opens up nearly half the city — critics say up to 48% — to high-density, high-rise construction.
And it’s all under the guise of “affordable housing” and “transit-oriented planning.” But that’s the PR campaign. This has about as much to do with affordable housing or real transit policy as Commissioner Joe Carollo has to do with yoga and inner peace.
This new law is being sold as sustainable, equitable, and progressive. But critics see it as a Trojan condo (no, that is not a typo), filled with profits for developers, cloaked in buzzwords like “workforce housing” and “smart growth.” As Ladra has said before, it is an insult to everyone who worked for months and had many public meetings to establish the Miami 21 code.
Residents last Thursday asked — politely, persistently, and repeatedly — for the vote to be deferred. They didn’t ask the commission to kill it. Just to give them until the next meeting in September to digest and comprehend a law that rewrites the future of half the city. And maybe find improvements? Could that even be possible?
But the Commission said no. Too busy. Too urgent.
Read related: Critics say Miami’s new transit zoning ordinance = loophole for developers
However, an email from Commissioner Damian Pardo‘s office the afternoon before the meeting suggests that the change is being driven by a particular development. Pardo’s community liaison, Alejandra Alexieva, wrote that Pardo wanted to defer the item, and another on transit oriented districts, but that he was under the nail gun. Get it? Nail gun?
“He would have preferred to defer both items. However, there is a significant project requiring the creation of a rail station relying on some of these changes.  The commissioner’s concerns have been appropriately addressed by staff and, as such, he will be supportive of these items and seek to explain them further from the dais at the meeting,” Alexieva said.
There was not any further explanation at the meeting. Not once did Pardo address how this anticipated TriRail station on 79th Street and Northeast Second Ave is “relying” on this ordinance.
So now we know what’s really important — not the long-term impact on Miami’s neighborhoods or residents, but keeping one anonymous developer’s train dreams right on schedule.
In fact, this is custom made ordinance may also be tied to the development dreams of another prospector.
At least 37 independent parcels near St. Mary’s Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami at 7525 NW 2nd Ave have been snatched up since August of 2021 for a total of more than $82 million — way above the market rate — by the same entity, Chicago-based LRMF Owner LLC. They include vacant lots, industrial warehouses, multifamily buildings and at least one single family home which, together, totals more than 24 acres.
LRMF is an affiliate of Nashville, Tennessee-based Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners, and most of the properties were paid for in two deeds — one for $19.1 million and one for $56.3 million. The seller was Miami-based commercial real estate firm MVW Partners, through dozens of LLCs managed by co-founder Matthew Vander Werff.
Las malas lenguas say that developers are going to present at least one, but possibly two affordable housing projects on those aggregated properties. The AJ Capital website calls the Miami project“Little River.”

A common thread in the concern of residents is that the city’s own previous guidelines — including from another item on the same agenda — define a quarter-mile or half-mile radius from transit corridors as the appropriate area for density bonuses. These distances are standard in urban planning. Logical. Walkable. Scaled to people, not cranes.
But now? Suddenly, a full one-mile radius is the new benchmark for building big and building fast. That’s not walkability. That’s blanket overdevelopment. And nobody gets a blanket like that unless they’re screwing someone under them.
Read related: Miami-Dade and city of Miami to meet re zoning density along transit routes
Case in point: An internal memo obtained and published by the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a must read for fans of Miami government cosplay, shows that there were secret changes made to the legislation just two days before the vote. City Manager Art Noriega approved several amendments that expand the number of eligible properties, ignore minimum lot-size standards and allow developers to make modifications to large-scale projects without public notice or input, which was required under the city’s old rules.
This might give opponents of the change the opportunity to challenge the TSND ordinance in court. But that would mean hiring an attorney and residents are already fighting so many things at City Hall. The sale of the Olympia Theater should get legal attention, too.
Commission Chairwoman Christine King actually tried to shield historic districts from the fallout. She proposed an amendment to preserve neighborhoods with cultural and architectural value from the coming storm of 12-story shadows. At first, it didn’t look like the amendment was finished. But she was assured Thursday that it was there.
But who knows if it made it into the final draft. That’s how fluid this ordinance has been.
When nearly half the city gets rezoned in 36 days, without proper input, in the dead of summer — that’s not good urban planning. That’s a power move. And the people of Miami just got Brightlined.
The post Miami approves TSND zones to bring ‘affordable’ housing to transit hubs appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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