South Miami is the only municipality taking it to court
Coral Gables might have been the first Miami-Dade city to enter into a formal agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as a 287g, that gives the local police the ability to stop and detain undocumented immigrants during the course of their jobs. But Hialeah followed. And then Doral. And then West Miami.
About 250 cities and counties across the state have entered into these agreements since January 20, when President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, which requires ICE to authorize state and local law enforcement officials to assist with deportations. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said it’s a mandate, not optional, because refusing to sign it would make a municipality a “sanctuary city” which are prohibited in Florida.
The City of Miami may be next to sign a 287g. City Commissioners were set to discuss it at Tuesday’s meeting. A note on the online agenda says it may be deferred. But city sources told Ladra that could just be a trick to stop any public comments or protests.
A group of community organizers, civil rights leaders and residents will gather at 8 a.m. in front of City Hall to urge the commission to reject the 287g contract, which they say erodes community trust, exposes the city to legal and financial risk and undermines public safety. Oh, and that the city has no legal obligation to perform federal immigration enforcement duties.
They cite Florida statute 908.11, which says that only a “sheriff or the chief correctional officer operating a county detention facility must enter into a written agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement to participate in the immigration program established under s. 287(g).”
Miami does not operate a county detention facility and is therefore not legally required to participate in the program, these community leaders say. And Miami-Dade, which does operate county detention facilities, is already holding immigrants with deportation orders for ICE and will consider a 287g agreement on June 26. 
Read related: Miami-Dade could go above and beyond to help ICE with local detainees
Even Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak admitted, when asked, that the agreement is not mandated. “Do we have to sign this? Legally? No,” Hudak said at a commission meeting earlier this year. But they did anyway.
Detractors say that deputizing local cops to carry out federal immigration duties would not only increase the financial burden on taxpayers and the city’s exposure to legal liability — can you imagine if they detain a citizen or legal resident, as has been done? — but also undermines public safety because, oops, there goes all the community policing progress made in the last two decades. Crimes will go unreported. People won’t want to cooperate as victims or witnesses.
You can’t have community policing when you are asking people for their papers.
“City of Miami officials need to prioritize their fiduciary duty to protect the financial interests and well-being of residents, and taxpayers should not foot the bill for these hostile enforcement practices that will inevitably lead to lawsuits, costing taxpayers even more money,” said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC).
“They must also remember that they were elected to protect their communities, not divide nor endanger them.”
Other organizations who are going to protest the measure Tuesday morning include the ACLU of Florida, the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), Community Justice Project and Black Men Build.
“The proposed 287(g) agreement is a reckless betrayal of the very people the City of Miami is supposed to protect,” said Paul Christian Namphy, policy director and lead organizer at FANM. “Turning local police into federal immigration agents will not make us safer—it will tear families apart, erode community trust, and expose the city to costly legal consequences.
“Miami is a city of immigrants. We cannot allow fear, profiling, and political games to replace compassion, justice, and common sense. This contract must be rejected,” Namphy said in a statement. “Let local law enforcement do its job!”
City of Miami officials could wait until the city of South Miami gets an answer to the lawsuit it filed against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in March and is asking a judge to rule on whether or not city cops are obligated to question and arrest illegals for the feds.
“The only safe harbor left for us is to go to court and ask a court to render an opinion on what the law is and what our obligations are. Not the merits of the policy,” South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez said at a meeting in March. “It’s a narrow question.”
“I think the answer is 100% clear,” Fernandez said Sunday on WPLG Local 10’s This Week In South Florida with Glenna Milberg. “This is an optional decision. It’s not a mandate.”
He said DeSantis has waged a campaign to force cities on board so he can boast having the toughest enforcement in the nation. Also, the city already cooperates with ICE as required under Chapter 908, a city spokesman said.
Read related: Video blasts U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez for silence on ending TPS, deportations
“We should live by the rule of law, and we’re trying to reshape the law to fit an agenda,” said Fernandez, an attorney, adding that the “commandeering” of the police department will hurt officer recruitment and exposes the city to liability. The agreement “does not offer any sort of indemnification,” he said.

Fernandez also echoed the warning that using local police as the “tip of the spear” on these federal immigration actions will change the relationship between cops and the community and said that all we have to do is look at the protests in Los Angeles.
South Miami City Spokesman Brandon Diaz said the lawsuit “seeks to determine whether signing the agreement is a legal obligation or if it can continue supporting ICE operations under existing state law, as it currently does.” State Attorney General James Uthmeier — who told Fort Meyers city officials that they were acting outside the state law when they outright refused to enter into a 287g agreement (they folded) — has responded by filing a motion to dismiss.
“In turn, the City intends to file an amended complaint seeking to have the substantive issue regarding the City’s obligations with respect to the 287(g) agreement determined by a court as expeditiously as possible,” Diaz told Ladra last week.
So, Miami commissioners have clear political cover. They can wait. They can defer it indefinitely. But will they?
Mayor Fernandez is a Democrat, a former state rep for two terms. It might just come naturally for him to challenge DeSantis. Three of the commissioners in Miami — Joe Carollo, Miguel Gabela and Ralph Rosado — are Republicans in non-partisan offices that are often turned partisan. And Carollo, who has threatened to run for mayor, has praised Donald Trump on the radio in his daily show on America Radio 1260 AM.
Ladra sees this vote possibly falling on partisan lines. However, Rosado, who was just elected earlier this month — and the vote on the 287g contract was deferred weeks ago after Manolo Reyes‘ death to wait for a replacement on the dais — is seen as a possible swing vote. He has been all over the board on this one. Some people think he’s a yes vote. Others say he may be a no.
The Miami commission meeting, and it’s a long one, starts at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be seen on the city’s website.
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Spotted at the Pollo Tropical on 57th Avenue and Northwest 7th Street Wednesday: Miami Commissioners Damian Pardo and Ralph Rosado, who was elected earlier this month to fill the vacant seat in District 4, chatting and bonding over maduros.
Pardo said it was just a chance encounter: Both men stopped for a bite to eat — separately and individually, he said — on the way to the grand opening of the newly-renovated Manolo Reyes Park, which was West End Park before it was renamed to honor the late commissioner, who died in April.
“It was nothing planned. It was totally spontaneous,” said Pardo, who had to be prodded to remember that he even met with Rosado, even though it was four days earlier, the day after Rosado was sworn in at City Hall. “Wednesday? No.” At Pollo Tropical, Ladra asked. “Oh, yes, yes, yes,” he said. It almost seems like he almost got caught lying — same as Rosado during the campaign.
Read related: Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election
Pardo told Political Cortadito that he was already at the popular fast food restaurant when Rosado walked in. And he invited the new commissioner to join him. Guess it was a bonding opportunity!

“We all just had a quick something and went to the park.”
The park ceremony was to start at 2 p.m. and the lunch was just about 1 p.m. so they talked for almost an hour.  What about? “Nothing to do with any city business, that’s for sure,” Pardo said. “We talked about the park, “it’s hot outside,” “what are you eating?”
Really? It wasn’t plainly obvious what everyone was eating?
They talked about the ceremony they were about to attend. “How long does it take to get done and when can we leave?” That kind of thing, he said.
Still, Commissioner Joe Carollo is going to be hurt when he learns that Rosado, who he helped get elected by pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars from his political action committee into the campaign, le pego los tarros. Carollo doesn’t have a heart to break, but he’s got more ego to make up for it.
And Rosado basically cheated on him with Pardo, who is one of Carollo’s enemies on the dais. Hey, at least it wasn’t Miguel Gabela. That would lead to divorce.
Read related: Miami Commission honors the late Manolo Reyes with park, honorary title
But the real issue here is what they talked about, of course. Because discussing anything on the agenda or that could be voted upon by the commission is a no-no. It’s a violation of Florida’s Government in the Sunshine laws, which provide that all electeds announce their meetings and allow the public to watch and listen if they want to. They’re not supposed to have a private lunch. It looks messy, even if it is just by chance.
For all of Pardo’s talk about small talk, there’s no way to know what they really discussed. And from the photos taken as they were leaving, it looks like it could have been business.
Pardo could have been making his case for the proposals this week to change the election date to 2026 and put lifetime term limits on the ballot. They could have been swapping votes. “You vote for my lifetime term limits and I’ll vote for the street closures in Silver Bluff.”
That’s a Carollo item but it looks like Rosado doesn’t have any items on the agenda for his first meeting and he’s generally considered a yes vote on the street closures pushed by Beba Sardiñas Mann, who was at his election watch party Tuesday.
Again, why invite another commissioner to your table? Why allow even the perception of something shady? Say hi and let him be on his way.
Perhaps they didn’t think anybody who knew them would see them at a Pollo Tropical.
Read related: Miami lifetime term limits, election year change intertwined, like bait & switch
They weren’t the only ones there. Pardo’s chief of staff Anthony Balzebre and his sergeant at arms — an armed police officer who apparently was securing the parking lot as they walked out — were also at the lunch. So, they are witnesses.
This is something that the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust can easily figure out with subpoenas to those two staffers. Ask them what was discussed. Trust, but verify.
It’s especially important because of the timing. Tuesday’s commission meeting has a lot of things on the table. Ladra can’t wait to see how Rosado votes on the lifetime term limits and the election year change and how Pardo votes on the street closures.
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Miami City Commissioners could give themselves an extra year in office at their next regularly-scheduled commission meeting. Just like that. All it takes is three votes.
Maybe.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says they can’t do it without voter approval first.
“If the City of Miami is to amend its charter, either to move the date of municipal elections or to change the terms of office for elected officials, then the change may only proceed by a vote of the elector,” Uthmeier wrote in an opinion Wednesday (more on that later), which is a response to an inquiry from  the Commissioner Miguel Gabela.
But Commissioner Damian Pardo, the sponsor of the the ordinance to move the next election to November 2026, is not giving up. He is working with the city attorney to figure out some kind of go-around.
“We are in receipt of the Attorney General’s letter regarding our item on the City Commission agenda to change the dates of the City’s election from odd to even years,” Pardo said in a statement. “We have immense respect for the Office of the Attorney General; however, the stated opinion is not a mandatory precedence in the State of Florida and is regarded as persuasive.
“Fortunately, the Third District Court of Appeal, which is mandatory precedence, has issued a ruling which may fully address these issues.”
Fortunately? How invested is he in this change without taking it to voters?
Read related: Miami commissioners could extend terms, gain a year for themselves, mayor
Pardo said that several municipalities across the state have already made the change to even-year elections without going to a vote of the citizens and that the aim is to save millions of dollars over the years and quadruple participation.
“We are confident that this reform is both legal and necessary for the benefit of future generations of Miamian,” Pardo said.
This has been cast as a necessary sacrifice to not only get lifetime term limits for city electeds on the November ballot — to stop professional politicians who have already served two terms from running for that same seat again after a short break — but also to make the term limits stick if they are passed. There is some fear that if someone like, say, former Commissioner Frank Carollo or his big bro Commissioner Joe Carollo are elected this year — in District 3 and the mayor’s race, respectively — they could challenge the charter amendment because it was on the same ballot and, an argument can be made that it would disenfranchise voters to remove the newly again elected individual they put in office.
Pardo is sponsoring both measures — the lifetime term limits and the election year change — and once said they had nothing to do with each other. Now, they are on the same agenda and Pardo says that one explains the other. He says both proposals aim to strengthen voter participation, transparency, accountability and to restore public trust.
“These reforms are about creating a government that works for everyone, not just those already in power or those seeking to return to power,” Pardo said in a statement last week. “We must set clear, enforceable guardrails that invite new voices and ideas. Miami’s residents deserve leadership that reflects its dynamic neighborhoods and evolving priorities.”
Currently, the Miami mayor and commissioners are termed out after two terms, but can run again after sitting just one term. This amendment would make electeds permanently ineligible after two terms. It would apply retroactively, mirrored on term limits in the city of Miami Beach, where it was upheld by the courts when former Commissioner Michael Gongóra wanted to run again for commission in 2021. A judge didn’t allow him, citing a 2014 voter referendum that limits commissioners to two complete terms.
Pardo says that’s a strong legal precedent.
But it’s not a sure thing. Commission Chairwoman Christine King spoke against it when originally introduced in April. She said she doesn’t want to limit voters’ choices, but most observers in the know say she is protecting the future interests of Miami-Dade Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who was a Miami commissioner and could want to return when his eight years gig is up at the county. King did say she might feel differently if the ordinance expanded the limitation to sitting out two terms rather than one. Which perfectly serves Hardemon. And Frank Carollo, too.
When Pardo saw he didn’t have the voters in April, he deferred the item.
According to the notice from Pardo’s office, “The charter amendment would take effect immediately upon voter approval, applying to all candidates in the 2025 election.”
Except Pardo doesn’t want there to be a 2025 election.
The commissioner’s second proposal would move city elections from odd to even years, to coincide with the national and state and county elections. That would effectively cancel the 2025 city election and reschedule them to 2026. The stated goal, same as other municipalities that have made the change, is to save money — about $1 million in this case — and increase voter participation. Turnout at municipal elections hovers in the low double digits. The June 3 special election in District 4 barely got 11%. While elections in odd years see a 65% to 70% turnout.
But in Coral Gables, where the commission recently moved the election from April of odd years to November of even years — for the same reasons, savings and turnout — the commission voted to shorten their terms by five months. They did not extend them.
Read related: Coral Gables changes city elections to November, cuts terms by 5 months
Moving the city of Miami’s election to 2026 would “prevent legal challenges potentially arising from having a term limited candidate win a seat at the same time as the lifetime term limit ballot initiative passes,” Pardo’s press release reads.
But there is no guarantee that the lifetime term limits would pass and already Carollo and Mayor Francis Suarez have formed a political action committee to fight a yes vote.
The change in election year is something the commission can and intends to do without going to a voter referendum for the public’s approval — and would have already happened should the public reject the term limits.
Maybe these two things should be on separate ballots.
They could take it to the people. But they don’t have to. Because, deep down, they don’t care what you think.
The city of Miami commission meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall. The meeting can also be viewed on the city’s website. Click here for the full agenda. It’s a lot.
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Miami doesn’t have Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera anymore on weekday morning radio to let us know what’s really happening at the county, the different municipalities, the state and the country. But, hey, we have Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo every day at 10 a.m. on America Radio Miami 1260 AM to feed us lies.
As if he didn’t already drone on — on and on and on — during commission meetings.
Carollo, who is threatening to run for Miami mayor, gets an hour Monday through Friday to blast his enemies and support his friends — including recently elected Miami Commissioner Ralph “Rafael” Rosado, whose campaign Carollo coordinated — in a show he calls Miami Al Dia. The program sits in between the three-hour programs of Emmy Award winning journalists Sandra Peebles, before, and Carines Moncada, after.
They must be livid.
How is it okay for a politician to have an hourly morning radio show to use for electioneering and political retaliation? It’s basically an hour long ad and there’s no disclaimer. His communications director, Karen Caballero, who is paid $115,043 a year from city taxes, sits there in the radio studio with him, though it’s hard to figure out why, since this is not part of his city job or her city job. Caballero — the same staffer who tricked Ladra into coming to the district office to get served with a subpoena as a witness in a case brought by the mayor of a neighboring city — is the blonde on the bottom left corner in the photo below.
Neither of them responded to several calls and texts for comment.

Remember, this is the same guy who was found by a jury to have violated the First Amendment rights of two Little Havana businessmen by weaponizing the city’s code enforcement against them. He lost and was ordered to pay a $63.5 million. One could say he is now weaponizing the airwaves.
Carollo used the space and time to attack Jose Regalado — who ran against his puppet candidate, Rosado — and the whole Regalado family (including the candidate’s sister, Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, and their father, former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, now the county property appraiser). He made scurrilous and baseless allegations about every single one of them, calling them communists and associates of drug traffickers.
The commissioner has also used the airtime to blast other candidates who are or are threatening to run for Miami mayor, including Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who has filed paperwork, and former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is just bluffing. He called Portilla’s campaign stunt — handing out fruit to high priority elderly voters — Operation Mamey and called Higgins a Marxist Johnny Come Lately pandering to Hispanic voters (same ol’, same ol’).
Read related: Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election
“They learned Spanish with JustiLanguage. And all of a sudden they want to be mayor,” he said, referring to what is actually an English instruction school in Westchester. He could have been including former City Commissioner Ken Russell, who has also filed paperwork and has shown pretty fluent and locally nuanced Español on recent interviews and social media posts.
Carollo also calls former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who served in the U.S. Army for 26 years, including a stint as a military attache with the Defense Intelligence Agency and who has also filed paperwork, “Coronel Chiringa” (or Col. Smallshit in English), and former Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina, who keeps getting mentioned in polls, a liar.
Gonzalez said it’s not the first time Carollo nicknames him and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t listen to the show. I don’t think anybody does,” Gonzalez told Political Cortadito.
The station’s program director told Ladra that they are between Nielsen contracts and are not currently measuring their ratings with listeners. How convenient. However, one of the recordings last week has 68 views on YouTube — and that’s over five days.
Colina lives in Miami Lakes and, as such, is not running for mayor, despite being named in some polls. He also doesn’t listen to Carollo’s propaganda and doesn’t care. “It would be concerning to me if it was a more respectable person,” Colina told Ladra. “A vast majority of the people know who Carollo is and know that the majority of the things that come out of his mouth are inaccurate or biased or just self-serving.”
Current colleagues also mentioned. Carollo is all aglow about Rosado, going on and on Wednesday about his “illustrious” swearing in on Tuesday. But two of them are regularly skewered: Commissioners Damian Pardo and Miguel Gabela. Carollo has gone so far as to call Gabela’s wife “La Llorona” — or the crybaby — after the woman showed up to a commission meeting and emotionally testified about being harassed and watched by Carollo and his goons. He also played a song by the same name.
It seems a bit childish at times. Like a high schooler podcasting in his garage.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo to lose appeal on $63.5 million judgement
The commissioner DJ also sometimes fills the space with this-day-in-history anecdotes. One recent Thursday, it was the anniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run and also the release of both the movie Dancing with Wolves and the album The Joshua Tree. He played a little U2 that day, but he daily airs what must be theme songs of old western TV shows, like Bonanza.
He once played the theme to The Godfather on the day Marlon Brando was born. But he just had to mention how former Police Chief Art Acevedo — another regular target of Carollo’s — called the commission a mafia. He marked the birthdays of actor Doris Day, and singer Miguel Bose (he played “Amante Bandido”) and wishes people a Happy Feast Day on occasion.
On the day that Richard Nixon died, Carollo talked about meeting him and getting a campaign check for one of his campaigns. “It’s part of the memory I lived that nobody can take away from me.”
But he always has time for the rants. And when there’s not an election that he’s trying to influence, Carollo is always “reporting” on the undercover activity of the hidden Sandinistas and Chavistas in our midst, alleging that anyone who crosses him is laundering money for the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela. He also constantly rages against the leftist Democrats trying to gain control of the city and hails President Donald Trump, trying to position himself as the Trump candidate in the mayoral election (But so is Diaz de la Portilla, who can’t stop campaigning on the “injustice” of the public corruption charges against him in 2023).
Carollo says on his show that the attempt to move the elections to November of next year is a scheme by “extreme leftist Democrats who want to get control of the city of Miami… by creating Biden districts.” He says any proposal to increase the number of districts is also a Democrat plot. And the lifetime term limits are an attempt to stop him from exposing the real corruption in the city.
In other words, Miami Al Dia is a lot like Carollo himself: There’s a conspiracy everywhere.
Ladra hates to admit this, but it makes for good radio. It’s very entertaining when Carollo gets all hot and bothered and starts to raise his voice in what definitely sounds like practiced outrage. His prolonged silences are just as dramatic. It’s radio theater from the golden age of radio. But it’s bad for you. Like drugs. Ladra might need an intervention.
It’s not the most responsible broadcast.
Luis Gutierrez, the program director for America Noticias Radio Miami, said that Carollo is not paid for his time nor does he pay for the hour himself. Gutierrez says that the commercials he brings pay for the hour and that if Ladra can secure $1,400 per show, or $20K a month, she could have one, too (which is a great idea Mr. Mike Fernandez! Let’s dare them to do it!)
Other sources, and just plain common sense, indicate that this is a quid pro quo for the $150,000 that Carollo had the city paid America TeVe, which was affiliated with America Radio Miami, to cover the New Year’s Eve bash at Bayfront Park. The money came out of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, where there is already an investigation into the commissioner’s alleged misspending of public funds for his private or political gain (same thing).
Read related: Miami paid $150K for one long Joe Carollo commercial on New Year’s Eve
In addition, the commissioner’s wife, Marjorie Carollo, is reportedly the “agent” who buys the air time, meaning she gets a commission, which is usually 15%. That means that if Carollo’s political action committee spent $500,000 on radio ads on the show, which could be a conservative guess, the couple got $75,000 in commission 0ver the 43-day election cycle for the special election that ended June 3. Nice little gig, right?
Gutierrez said he did run it through legal and Carollo’s airtime doesn’t violate any federal rules, “as long as he’s off he air by September,” which is when and if Carollo qualifies for the mayor’s race. If the commission doesn’t move it to 2026 (more on that later).
In the meantime, “If an opposing candidate wants equal time, we’ll take the money. I don’t have a problem with that,” Gutierrez told Political Cortadito. “This is straight business for me. I’m not on the right. I’m not on the left. I’m bipartisan — as long as the money keeps coming in.”
Ladra asked him if she could have an hour of time some mornings if Political Cortadito got enough commercial sponsors to pay $20,000 a month. That’s apparently the value of the “freebie” time Carollo is getting on the air. Could it be considered an “in-kind” donation to his campaign?
Gutierrez said he would have to ask Carlos Vasallo, the owner of the station, who is really good pals with Carollo, if they would put me on the air.
“I run the station but I don’t set the rules. And I would have to filter that through him,” Gutierrez said.
There will be an update when he gets back to me. But Ladra is not holding her breath.
Would you like to hear Ladra on the air? Give equal time to the truth and help unmask these liars on the air and in elected office? Help with a contribution to Political Cortadito. All funds will go to amplify the content here in every way possible. Thank you for your support!
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UPDATED: This item will be heard before the full commission on June 26.
Miami-Dade County is already cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials by holding anyone they arrest that has a deportation order or is wanted by ICE. Now, the county might help the federal government disappear these people.
A proposal in front of the county commission would basically remove information about any detainees whose information has been provided to ICE from the county’s portal or records custodian. It means family members would no longer know if their loved one is still here, moved to a facility in Arizona or Texas, or already deported.
So, more of our rights — this time to public information protected under Florida’s Sunshine Laws — are going to be eroded. This is only to help ICE disappear the people they have in custody. There is no other reason for it.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez event blurs church-state line
Whose brilliant idea is this? Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, arguably the most conservative right-wing elected on the county dais — remember, God told him to run for office — is sponsoring the measure. He posted something on social media last week that sounded so Trumpian and Ladra is sure he’s going to smile when he reads that.
“Miami-Dade is not and will not be a sanctuary county. I’m backing an item to formally approve our ICE agreement, already signed by the Mayor in March, as required by state law. We’ve honored detainers since 2019. This just ensures we get reimbursed,” Gonzalez wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Common sense is greater than politics.”
Like Charlie Cale in Poker Face would say: Bullshit.
The “basic ordering agreement” being considered makes “public disclosures” the purview of the federal government. Why does that have to be in there at all if it’s just about reimbursement?
Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava is apparently all for it. She’s already signed the agreement, though maybe it should have been signed by Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz? There’s a line drawn through her title.
Read related: Miami-Dade leaders react to Donald Trump’s new ‘xenophobic’ travel ban
Was it the $50 per day reimbursement per detainee? Is that going to help Levine Cava make up for the giant $400 million shortfall she is facing in next year’s budget. It’s a shameful revenue stream.
Besides, las malas lenguas say that the cost of holding a detainee is $180 a day.
Is this basically a modern-day 30 pieces of silver?
Commissioners should reject this further intrusion and erosion of our rights. This is not just about the detainee. It is about the residents — yes, even U.S. citizens, born or made — who have a right to the information about anyone who is being held in Miami-Dade corrections facilities.
We cannot condone living in a country where people disappear — physically or virtually.
The item was originally on the agenda for Monday’s Miami-Dade Policy Council, but that meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quorum. The commission meeting on June 26 can be viewed online here.
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As always, there are winners and losers in every election that go beyond the candidates. As tradition, Political Cortadito has analyzed the campaigns and results of the special election last week in Miami’s District 4 to replace the late Manolo Reyes.
Ralph “Rafael” Rosado, an urban planning consultant and fired city manager of North Bay Village, is a winner, simply because he got 55% of the vote. But he’s also a loser, because only 11% of the eligible voters in D4 cast ballots and because he is now going to have to be a puppet vote for Commissioner Joe Carollo, who bankrolled his candidacy and ran his campaign.
And Jose Regalado, the former assistant building director and son of former Miami Mayor and current Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, is a loser. He doesn’t win anything. Especially since he left a six-figure job as the number two at the city’s building department to run for office at the request of Reyes’ widow. Ouch.
And that brings Ladra to the list of other winners and losers.
The big winners are:
Topping this list, everyone agrees, is Carollo, whose horse made it across the finish line in first place. He bet big — some say he spent more than $800,000 through his political action committee — and is already gloating about the win. Está insoportable. And he’s going to have that third vote on so many things, including the Bayfront Park Management Trust, which he lost the chairmanship to Commissioner Miguel Gabela and which everyone expects Crazy Joe to take back, even though he is being investigated for misspending the agency’s funds. Carollo might even be able to go so far as stopping the investigation in its tracks.  This win also shows his strength in a potential run for mayor, which means he will get more money to replace what he spent.
Former Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a lobbyist whose claws are still very deep into Miami government, just got another ally on the commission with Rosado’s election. Sarnoff was spotted at Rosado’s victory party Tuesday night. Will he get more taxpayer-paid contracts from the city? Ladra’s guess is yes.
Former City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez is celebrating Rosado’s victory. She is BFFs with Rosado’s wife, after all, and serves with him on their crooked Abuelo’s Foundation, which is a front to find homes to steal from vulnerable elderly residents to flip for a huge profit. Mendez, who could still be held liable for bad advice and other shenanigans at the city — and is representing Carollo anyway through a cushy job at the same law firm where Sarnoff works — just got additional protection for using the city for her real estate scam or any other shenanigans she may have pulled.
Read related: Lawsuit: Miami city attorney, husband ‘conspired,’ used city to flip property
Lying. Normally, Ladra does not include adjectives in the winners and losers circles post election, but this time it is different. Lying and scheming are also victors in this election because they will be seen as winning strategies that can be utilized again and again and again. Yes, it’s true that this may not be new. But it’s never been more blatant. Rosado lied to Ladra when he said that Carollo was “not there” and “not directing” a TV commercial he recorded a park. He couldn’t even admit to it after he was told that there was a video recording showing Carollo giving him instructions and Marjorie Carollo nearby holding a clipboard. He lied again when he said he was a lifetime resident of Miami (he used to live in Schenley Park) and then again when he said that he was independent and not being supported by any Miami commissioner. He’s a perpetual liar who is now a commissioner.
The big losers are:
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez thinks he’s won. But that’s because he’s a postalita without any calle. Suarez supported Rosado and got his dad, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, to hype up the Rosado team. Las malas lenguas say he wants pensions back on the table. But Baby X will soon find out — the hard way — that he stepped right into a trap. Carollo has him wrapped around his finger and will soon stab him in the back. Probably in public. Crazy Joe is famous for burning bridges with nuclear bombs. Remember the mayoral election in 1983 between Maurice Ferré and Xavier Suarez, when Carollo was set to endorse Ferré at a public event and then ranted against him instead, on the mics, accusing Ferré of being anti-Cuban (he was Puerto Rican).
Jose Regalado is not the only one in his family licking his wounds. The whole family is hurting. They are used to losses, of course. But Tomas Regalado is taking this one hard. It feels kinda personal to him. It is. Carollo went on the attack against the whole family, lashing out in very cruel and personal ways like only Joe Carollo can, or will. Raquel Regalado is more disappointed, but still laser focused on her county job. The day of the election she was at a county commission meeting and then a virtual Zoom update on the issues at the Coconut Grove Playhouse since part of it collapsed recently (more on that later). Tomas N. “Tommy” Regalado, who lost to Carollo in a crowded 2017 race, must be feeling a little deja vú.
The loss Tuesday must still be stinging the Reyes family, as well. They backed Regalado hard. Not only did Chacha Reyes, who was married to the late commissioner for decades but never recorded a commercial for him, do a radio spot urging voters to support Regalado, but her son, lobbyist Manny Reyes, helped Regalado raise money for his campaign. They made calls and walked. They may also feel party responsible for Jose Regalado’s sudden unemployment, because they were the ones who asked him to run and continue Manolo Reyes’ legacy.
Read related: Manolo Reyes’ widow comes out strong for Jose Regalado in D4 special election
Miguel Gabela is not sitting pretty. Did anybody see his face at the Rosado victory fete? He was not happy. Gabela supported Regalado and is the biggest thorn in Carollo’s side right now. He has had two special meetings to reach out and slap Carollo recently — one on the Bayfront Park Trust’s mismanagement and misspending and another on Carollo’s weaponization of government (more on that later). Ladra thinks he is going to be on the losing side of a lot of votes at the next meeting — and for the foreseeable future.
Miami voters citywide are also loser. This was a District 4 race but the ramifications will be felt by all Miamians in all corners. Pensions, lifetime term limits, the change of election year, the future of the Bayfront Park Trust and its moneys, the future of the city’s community redevelopment agencies, and particularly the Omni one, are in play. Residents from District 1, Gabela’s district, and District 2 — Carollo already hates Coconut Grove people — should be especially afraid.
That seems like a pretty complete list, but Ladra always forgets one or two. So, please feel free to add any winners and losers left out of this story in the comments below.
The post Political Cortadito’s Winners and Losers from Miami’s special District 4 election appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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