Incident is the latest in pattern of political harassment
Coral Gables Police have confirmed that Commissioner Ariel Fernandez was being followed Tuesday, while taking his son to school, by a private investigator who was a city police officer until 2014. A statement from the chief said that police don’t know why the PI was following the commissioner — nor who hired him.
Fernandez, who will have a press conference Wednesday to discuss this and other similarly creepy incidents, said it is definitely politically motivated.
“I have no doubt it’s political. I don’t have any enemies outside of politics,” Fernandez told Political Cortadito Tuesday.
He wouldn’t specifically name Mayor Vince Lago, who he has been at odds with since his election two years ago, as the suspect PI’s client. But he did remind Ladra that Lago has repeatedly said he was going to “destroy” him.
Read related: Three Coral Gables commissioners say they have been stalked, threatened
Fernandez thought there was something strange about the dark truck on his street Tuesday morning as he pulled out of his house to take his son to school. It was driving exceedingly slow. Cut-through traffic on the block usually goes by faster, he thought. Moments later, he saw the same truck again at an intersection. His stop. The driver waved him on, twice, then turned behind him and seemed to follow him a few blocks. Fernandez said he tried to get behind the truck to get a license plate, but was unable to.
After he dropped his son off, Fernandez said he approached an officer directing traffic at the school to let him know that he thought he was being followed. Around the same time, the vehicle drove by the school and possibly recorded the interaction between Fernandez and the police officer.
Ariel Fernandez, with wife Monica and son Stephen, as he is sworn in as commissioner two years ago.
“Another dad said, ‘Hey, that guy is taking photos of you,’” Fernandez said.
According to a statement from Chief Ed Hudak, which was released Tuesday afternoon, one of the officers then followed the truck.
“As one of the officers followed the suspect vehicle, the individual pulled off the roadway and flagged down the Coral Gables officer,” reads Hudak’s statement. “The person was identified as a licensed private investigator who was in fact surveilling and following Commissioner Fernandez. The person identified was retired Coral Gables Police Sergeant Alan Matas, who was working as a licensed private investigator for the company he owns. The individual who hired the Private Investigations Company was not disclosed to the responding officer.
“The private investigator was legally conducting surveillance. Therefore, no further action was taken by the officers at the scene,” the statement ended. “The Police Department is continuing to investigate this incident to ascertain if it is related to other incidents that have occurred in the past.”
Incidents in the past include the slashing of tires on both Commissioner Melissa Castro‘s vehicle, which was vandalized again last week, and the vehicle driven by the wife of Commissioner Kirk Menendez. There were also photographs of Commissoner Fernandez taken at the Belen Jesuit School Tombola last month and posted online with disparaging captions and comments.
They were posted by the same trolls who constantly take AI liberties with photographs of the three commissioners dubbed KFC (Kirk, Fernandez and Castro) by the Lago loyalists. These anonymous trolls — and there’s a new one every week — make derogatory and body-shaming remarks, accuse commissioners of drug use, sexual misconduct and pedophile. Some of the posts on Castro could be considered sexual harassment.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago attacks colleagues, manager in citywide email
And Lago, who is the common denominator follower of these trolls’ tiny accounts, knows about them because Ladra — who is also laughably targeted by these online stalkers — has texted him about it and sent him screenshots of some of the most inappropriate posts (I also contacted the Gables Police). The mayor has never had the courtesy to answer.
Fernandez wrote about these comments last month in an op-ed that appeared in Community Newspapers (before it shortly disappeared and then appeared again) called “The politics of intimidation have no place in Coral Gables.” In it, Fernandez accuses Lago of working tirelessly to try to “destroy” him with what he calls a campaign of harassment.
“Political committees usually spring into action during election season. But Mayor Lago’s Coral Gables First PC has functioned as a permanent smear machine,” Fernandez wrote. “Since my election, it has spent over $600,000—not on city improvements, not on community outreach, but on relentless attacks.
“Mailers, text messages, social media ads, and paid canvassers—their sole purpose? To divide our community and tear down those who dare to challenge the Mayor. Worse, Lago has amplified these attacks from his official city accounts, using taxpayer-funded resources to spread hate.
“No social media post goes unnoticed by the Mayor’s network of anonymous trolls. They attack us for our weight, our appearances, and even our families. Commissioner Castro has endured repeated vile sexual harassment. Commissioner Menendez has been falsely and outrageously accused of being a pedophile.
“When we refused to be intimidated, the harassment escalated.
“It wasn’t enough to attack us. Now, they were coming after those closest to us. My wife, my son, my sister-in-law—even my grandfather, who passed away this summer—have all been targeted online. And in a chilling pattern, some of these anonymous accounts are followed by Mayor Lago himself….
“Sometimes, the threats are explicit. A message reading, “See you soon, face to face.” A photo of my car at City Hall posted online with the clear implication: We know where you are.
We’ve turned over all documentation to the State Attorney’s office, but Florida’s laws are still woefully inadequate when it comes to protecting elected officials and their families.”
He reminds us that last year, police had to escort Fernandez and the other two commissioners who are targets of these attacks to a meeting at City Hall after a credible threat.

“This is not the Coral Gables we all love. It is not the Coral Gables my colleagues and I swore an oath to serve,” Fernandez wrote in his op-ed. “Disagreements will always exist. But dissent should never lead to destruction. And leadership should never be weaponized to sow division and fear.
Fernandez told Political Cortadito Tuesday that he wanted to let people know that the intimidation was ongoing.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago: All the wrong people in all the wrong places
“The problem is nobody hears about it, so it’s like it doesn’t exist,” Fernandez said. “Residents have a right to know what their elected officials are going through.”
Meanwhile, the PI, Alan Matas, was a Gables cop and supervisor for more than 26 years, his LinkedIn profile says. He also served on the city’s employee retirement board. Records with the Florida Division of Corporations shows he owns A Matas & Associates LLC and has an address on Key Largo.
Matas was a sergeant in 2006 when he was suspended for 10 days and demoted to patrol for his role in overtime abuse and the illegal narcotics burn — small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and pills — at the Redland property of another Gables officer. The cases uncovered holes in policies that led the department to disband the special investigations unit, taking out half of its personnel at least temporarily until new procedures can be put in place.
The post Police question private investigator following Coral Gables commissioner appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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The race for the Coral Gables commission seat in Group 2, now occupied by Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, is as much a referendum on Mayor Vince Lago as it is a performance evaluation for the incumbent, who is facing her first re-election. The decision will likely come down to the difference between the anti-development vote and the list of Lago loyalists.
Residents in the anti-development base that helped Anderson secure her victory in a crowded field in 2021 had been disappointed — that’s the word heard the most — and turned against her even before they got a legitimate and uniquely qualified alternative in Felix Pardo, an architect who has been active on city boards and issues for more than three decades. Pardo currently serves on the Gables planning and zoning board where he has been a stalwart steward of the city’s zoning code.
Pardo has hammering down on the overdevelopment that has happened in the Gables under Anderson’s watch.
“Over the past decade, unwelcomed change has been chipping away at our great city. Seemingly, the city has been up for sale,” Pardo wrote in an email blast, using caps and bold letters that give it his voice. “Special interests have been given the keys to the city.
Read related: Each Coral Gables race in the April 8 election could end up in a runoff
“You see it in the unbridled and incompatible development, the choking traffic and the lack of resources to be able to fulfill our residents’ immediate needs. Some neighborhoods have become unrecognizable as part of Coral Gables. Awful decisions by some politicians have brought us to the brink of losing what has made this place special for one hundred years,” Pardo said, explaining why he decided to run. “I cannot continue to watch while our city disintegrates right before our eyes.
“I have chosen to seek elected office to correct the assault on our residents through the poor leadership of others,” he says, adding that Anderson “is responsible for many of the incompatible developments, misdirected priorities, negative impact on existing neighborhoods, and a lack of action in addressing residents’ concerns.”
Specifically, both he and the Coral Gables Neighborhood Association — which helped elect Anderson four years ago — have cited the 18-story Regency Parc building, which was granted more height in exchange for less density. Anderson calls it a win. Residents call it a “monstrosity” that “dwarfs the downtown post office and surrounding properties.”
Rhonda pushed for a “carve-out” in the city’s zoning code to allow the developer to build taller than the zoning code allows. To add insult to injury, the city repurposed a travel lane for pick-up and drop-off at the building, increasing traffic congestion.
“This was not in our zoning code, but Rhonda made it happen,” Pardo says in one of his super short YouTube videos, standing in front of the construction of the building. “If you vote for me, this will not happen again.”
Other short video feature damage at the historic water tower and the emergency, much needed renovations at historic City Hall, which is arguably an unsafe structure, as city commission meetings have been held in the Public Safety Building for the past recent months.
“There is a big difference between deferred maintenance and neglect,” Pardo says.
There was also some backlash to Anderson’s use of a photo from a meeting as purported evidence that residents approved the 2022nchange she sponsored. The problem? The photo is from a public meeting organized by the CGNA in 2021 to introduce the newly-elected commissioner to residents.
“Rhonda never mentioned her “concept” at that meeting or any meeting organized by the CGNA. If she had, she would have been booed out of the room,” a CGNA email says. “Her audacity to use this picture and say that ‘all residents approved…’ is a blatant example of Rhonda Anderson deceiving and lying to residents.”
CGNA President Sue Kawalerski told Political Cortadito that Anderson is misrepresenting herself.
“Rhonda Anderson lies,” Kawalerski told Ladra. “First, she took a picture from a meeting with residents that I organized four years ago and said it was a different meeting. She deceived the public with false representation.
“And, secondly, residents didn’t approve anything.”
Read related: A Coral Gables runoff between Claudia Miro and Tom Wells would be nice
Besides, Anderson sounds like Lago’s mouthpiece. Remember how she made that robocall for his chosen candidates in 2023 — and then later was named vice mayor? And when she booted Claudia Miro, now in her second run for office, off the planning and zoning board because she didn’t vote how the mayor wanted? It seems that Rhonda has tied her trailer to Lago’s horse.
Lately, she has taken to bashing every one of Commissioner Melissa Castro‘s ideas — even no-brainers like a residential parking rate pilot program and a expedited permitting review for residents — as if it were her assigned role. Notice how Lago has backed off Castro? Maybe he realized it looked like he was bullying her. Anderson sounds more and more like she’s doing his dirty work and that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Pardo’s drumbeat on overdevelopment — in addition to Anderson’s capitulation to Lago and her demeaning, know-it-all way of talking to residents — is what drove the CGNA to endorse him in this race. In an email, the group says that Lago and Anderson are “tied at the hip” and “due for replacement.” A third candidate in the Group 2 race, Laureano Cancio (no relation), is a very nice man who is going to do nothing more than, maybe, force a runoff. His campaign, which is the only one to include establishing the city’s own public school system, is just not reaching people like the other two are.
That could be because he is not doing a lot of campaign outside walking and knocking on doors. Cancio is self-funding his run, with almost $4,300 spent so far. Among his expenses are seven registrations for two 5K races and the Manhattan College Coral Gables dinner for $120. Pardo, meanwhile, has spent $9,786 of the $29.5K he has raised since the beginning of February (including a $5,000 loan from himself).
As the incumbent, it’s no surprise that Anderson has more campaign money, with $77,480 raised since January of last year. Campaign finance records indicate that she has spent $35,500, more than half of which have gone to consultant Emiliano Antuñez, of Dark Horse Strategies, for canvassing, consulting and a mailer. Antuñez also does work for Lago’s political action committee, Coral Gables First.
This might be a good time to remind readers that the two commission seats two years ago were won against better funded candidates who had the mayor’s unwavering support. Just sayin’.

Anderson is endorsed by Mayor L’Ego and has a pretty good website that doesn’t bash anyone but lays out her achievements — of course, the Salvatore dog park is in there, because she is the queen of dog parks — and her priorities. She also cites her experience lobbying in Tallahassee for legislators to lower future windstorm insurance costs.
Pardo’s homepage boasts the endorsements from all the city employees, though the fire union, the police union and the Teamsters local, which represents the general employees. The police and fire union sent out an email blast last week blasting Anderson and (and Lago) for making “false claims” during their campaigning. In Rhonda’s Report email, the vice mayor says there were 700 applications for police receive and 17 new officers hired since last June. The police union president says that the 17 new hires has been offset by 12 officers leaving for one reason or another and that the department is still 30 officers short (more on that later).
In an email blast just days ago, Pardo lists a slew of longtime, active Gables residents who support him. “As someone who was born and raised in Coral Gables and worked as a professional in the city for over 40 years, I have witnessed many commissioners and mayors who have served our city.  I proudly endorse Felix Pardo, who unequivocally is the most knowledgeable, qualified, honest, and decent candidate to ever run for a city commission seat,” said Gordon Solokoff, a well-known dentist.
“Coral Gables will benefit greatly by having Felix Pardo as our next commissioner.”
Read related: Absentee ballots land in Coral Gables mailboxes — and so do the hit pieces
Former City Manager Jack Eads is also quoted as saying that he was pleased to learn that Felix decided to run. “His continuous outstanding record of service to the City is exemplary. Residents of Coral Gables deserve the quality of service Felix can provide.”
Pardo also has the support of some solid waste employees — probably because Anderson insulted them. She said “None of the current sanitation workers have the aspiration,” according to an email from Pardo. Eddie Coard Jr., a solid waste operator II, took it to heart. A 12-year employee, he said he has always felt appreciated by residents.

“Our team works day in and day out, on holidays, weekends if we need to, in the hot sun, in the rain, no matter what, we are here doing our part to keep Coral Gables Beautiful,” Coard says in the email blast. “When I heard those comments made about me and my team during that Commission meeting, I was hurt. How could someone put us down by saying we have no aspirations?
“We can’t have someone on the Commission that talks about us like that,” the email states. “Today, I am asking you to stand up for your solid waste team by supporting someone who has always treated us with respect and has never talked down to us like Rhonda did.”
It’s not just you, Mr. Coard. Anderson talks down to everyone. She still has the monotone energy of a cardboard box, which is what Ladra thought four years ago when she first ran. But now it’s a box that thinks it’s better than you.
Whether overdevelopment is an issue for them or not, voters should remind Anderson that she is not better than them.
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The post Felix Pardo nabs anti-development base from Rhonda Anderson in Coral Gables appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Almost one week before the end of the Coral Gables city elections for mayor and two commissioners April 8, and each of the races is looking more like a tight, nail-biting contest that could go either way. The smart money is on runoffs for all three.
Even if fat chance mayoral candidate Michael Abbott, who is suing the city and claims the police violated his rights, only gets 5% of the vote — the people who don’t like incumbent Mayor Vince Lago or just want a change and think that Commissioner Kirk Menendez is not serious enough, so there’s an alternative — there could be a runoff. Some observers who spoke to Ladra say that Menendez — who performed well at the Gables Good Government forum, but was not smart enough to record it — isn’t campaigning hard enough. That he’s counting on the anti-Lago vote to get him over the top. That might not be enough.
He’s killing it at public appearances, by all accounts, but needs to get his message out to more voters.
Meanwhile, “muscle headed” Lago — that’s a term a voter actually used — is “angry all the time,” and boring people with his same ol’, same ol’ schtick about the salaries and the city managers and moving the election to November, blah, blah, blah. These are the three things on which he has failed to lead, frankly. Even his petition drive failed miserably, with thousands of invalid signatures (more on that later). This is his agenda, not the people’s. But no matter what the question is, Lago pivots to one of these things because they are campaign red meat and because it distracts from his arrogant, demeaning behavior, conflicts of interest and public temper tantrums.
Menendez has been direct and far more factual about the salaries, which were raised for the first time in decades to $65,000. Lago didn’t get to hear when Menendez explained it at the GGG event because the mayor left right after he spoke. Maybe Lago’s campaign manager, Jesse Manzano — hanging out in the back of the room “like a stalker” — told him about it afterwards.
Everyone who spoke with Ladra agrees that Lago must have taken a Xanax, or he was given one or two by his handlers, because of how calm and even-headed he was, given several opportunities to fly off his sensitive handle. “It was surreal, unsettling knowing how amped up he’s been,” a voter said.
It’s incredibly sad that nobody recorded it for so many reasons.
Also, none of the 118 people on the Zoom meet-and-greet last week hosted by the Coral Gables Neighbors Association with their chosen candidates asked about the salaries or the changes of city managers. Not one. Because who cares?

The CGNA has endorsed, along with Menendez: Tom Wells, who is running in the commission race to fill Kirk’s seat, and architect Felix Pardo, who is running against Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, a Lago loyalist who has lost her anti-development base and must count on the Lago vote to win her first re-election. Good luck with that.
In Anderson’s Group 2 race, Laureano Cancio is also running, so he’s the reason there could be a runoff, but he won’t be in it. Not because he’s not a good guy with good ideas. He is. He just doesn’t have the community presence of the other two.
Pardo and Menendez also have the the endorsement from the fire union and the police union. While Wells is getting help from the Coral Gables Democratic Club against Richard Lara, the Republican mayor’s handpicked Seguro Que Yes vote, and FreeBee transit lobbyist Claudia Miro — officially vice president of business development –who once worked with former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. Miro has already lost one commission race, to Anderson in 2021.
Interestingly, her campaign manager is Tania Cruz Gimenez, who also ran in that same 2021 race and last year helped newly-elected Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz win that historic race. Wells is being helped by the Coral Gables Democratic Club. Members had volunteered to canvass for Wells in North Gables Sunday afternoon.
Ladra suspects that Miro, who has the Miami Herald endorsement, is going to be in the runoff, the question is with who.
So, it’s very possible that the April 8 election is just practice for the real thing, which would then be April 22. But the first round of early voting is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, this weekend.
The post Each Coral Gables race in the April 8 election could end up in a runoff appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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The commission race in Coral Gables Group 3 could — an open seat after Commissioner Kirk Menendez moved to the mayor’s race — offer voters a great choice between two good potential leaders who have proven their commitment to the City Beautiful.
But that’s only after attorney Richard Lara, the mayor’s handpicked candidate who hasn’t voted in the Gables since 1999, loses the first round and the others, Freebee transit lobbyist Claudia Miro and attorney Thomas “Tom” Wells make the runoff.
This is clearly the best case scenario for Gables residents, who would not make a bad choice either way.
Lara isn’t really interested in the job. He hasn’t voted in the Gables in 25 years, and misleads people about his longtime residency and activism. He doesn’t have either. And maybe he should stick to his real job as general counsel at Spanish Broadcasting System, though records show he’s not a star there either, even though his business acumen, ahem, is part of his campaign schtick.
Since becoming employed by SBS in 2016, the stock price has plummeted, going from $3.62 per share that year, through an all time low of 13 cents per share earlier this month before going back up where it is currently trading at $.30 per share. Meanwhile, Lara’s compensation for 2018 and 2019 was $580,594 and $589,742, respectively. We don’t know what he made after that because SBS stopped being an SEC reporting company in 2020, three years after it was suspended from trading on NASDAQ in 2017, less than six months after Lara came on board.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Richard Lara has not voted in the city since 1999
No, Lara doesn’t really want to do this. Mayor Vince Lago wants him to do this. Lago needs him to do this.
Lago threw Lara into the race last year when he was trying to unseat Commissioner Menendez and regain his majority rule. Lara is a Seguro Que Yes vote for the mayor. Menendez later switched to the mayoral race to challenge Lago and bring back real transparency and civility to City Hall. That’s when Wells, the commissioner’s appointment to the city’s charter review committee, decided to run. Miro, who ran in a crowded race for an open seat in 2021 against current Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, threw her hat in a bit later.
If Lago were to win next week, or in a runoff two weeks later, he would still need Lara to get his majority. Neither of the other two are likely to be controlled by him.
Wells has been a vocal critic of the mayor’s policies and proposals, most notably Lago’s advocacy last year to cut the tax rate by a tiny bit, which would really benefit developers and owners of the large projects, and his efforts to move the city election to a November date, which he says would result in a fat ballot with the Gables issues and candidates at the end, increased campaign cost to compete with federal, state and county elections and voter fatigue.
“The increased November election campaign cost for a candidate prevents self-funded campaigns to ensure that you are hearing the candidate’s message rather than the message of $1,000 campaign donors,” Wells says on his website. But he also supports a referendum to allow voters to decide.
And Miro is certainly not going to be super friendly. She was on the city’s planning and zoning committee, until Anderson, who appointed her, removed her for “lack of attendance.” Coincidentally, it was after Lago blasted Miro in a series of text messages for voting against his interests in the naming of a new committee member so he could stack the board. So, while there’s a whisper campaign that Lago is hedging his bets with silent support to Miro, or that she herself is a plantidate, that seems far fetched.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago blasted Claudia Miro via text after P&Z vote
She swears she is independent and not aligned with any of the commissioners on the dais. She told Political Cortadito that she hopes that independence from either camp sets her apart.
There are definitely two slates. The very intentional slate of Lago, Anderson and Lara, and the defacto slate, through endorsements and associations, of Menendez, architect Felix Pardo against Anderson, and Tom Wells in this race. Miro says she’s nobody’s darling, but she did get the endorsement from the Miami Herald, which said the candidate “demonstrated a grasp of the big picture but also displayed granular knowledge of the city’s issues.”
In addition to the city’s P&Z board, Miro has also served on the Miami Herald Community Advisory and the Miami-Dade County Interfaith Board. She also boasts a strong background in public policy and communications, a master’s degree in public administration and her experience working with other cities and lobbying in Tallahassee.
“I’m actually doing the job,” Miro told Political Cortadito. “I’m the only one of the candidates who can draw upon work experience and education from the dais.”
Miro, who is officially vice president of business development at Freebee, an on-demand micro transit service, has the same baggage as she did four years ago, namely that she once worked with former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. But this time, she has a secret weapon of sorts: Her campaign manager is Tania Cruz Gimenez, a relentless workaholic who also ran in that same 2021 race and last year helped newly-elected Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz win that historic race.
Wells is the wild card. Let’s just face it. It’s a name thing. Both Miro and Lara end in vowels and that still resonates in the Gables, especially “Old Gables,” which tends to be a large voting chunk. Wells does have the support of the active Coral Gables Neighborhood Association — which helped elect Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez in 2023 — and also the Coral Gables Democratic Club, which has done canvassing for him in North Gables.
But Wells has pointed out that he is not their guaranteed vote, either. He has spoken at city commission meetings against issues that the two and Menendez, as a majority voting bloc, have supported. One good example is the hiring of the new city manager, in which Wells wanted to have a search and a selection committee. He was also against the firing of former City Manager Peter Iglesias because of the $105,000 paid in severance and is against “wasting” $2.6 million on Lago’s proposed mobility hub.
He’s been to the city commission 14 times in the last 18 months and has advocated for Birdie’s Bistro, Fritz and Frantz and more pickleball courts.
He is also self-funding his campaign, paying for signs, events and a postcard as needed, out of pocket. As of March 25, Wells had spent about $16,500 of his own money, according to the campaign finance reports  filed with the city. Wells says that ensures that he is not beholden to anybody. Miro says it puts Wells on par with Lara, who is not self funding but has a fat $129,280 in his campaign account since March of last year. Almost half of Lara’s 269 individual contributors are from outside Coral Gables and many of his donors — lobbyists and development interests — mirror Lago’s.
Read related: Town hall on tiny tax cut in Coral Gables shows residents don’t want it
“Both my opponents have mansions on Coral Way,” Miro told Ladra. “It makes it seem as if in order to run for office in this town, you have to be rich and have $20,000 in disposable income. The hardest part of running for office is doing the fundraising and seeing who is willing to stand behind you.”
Miro has raised more than $35,000 just since January for her campaign bank account, but a whopping 49 of the 62 individual contributions come from outside the Gables. Those people can stand behind her, but they can’t vote for her. And voters won’t know how much she raised in her political action committee, Your Voice, Your Gables, until after the election.
Also among her contributors, Sarnoff and attorney Mason Pertnoy, who has represented both Lago and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo.
Wells says he is self funding because he is committed to the city. “I care about this because it’s my money,” Wells told Political Cortadito.
He also says that Miro has a conflict of interest in that city has a contract with Freebee for its services.
None of the employee unions have endorsed anybody in this race, but they are all pretty much ABL — Anybody But Lara. Because even they know it would be good for everyone if the election were really just between Wells and Miro.
The post A Coral Gables runoff between Claudia Miro and Thomas Wells would be nice appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Former Councilman Bryan Calvo blasts Bovo’s last acts
As expected, Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo is leaving the city for a job as a lobbyist in Washington, DC. The Miami Herald, which first broke the news about the rumored move in January, reported earlier this month that he is following his wife, Viviana Bovo, who has been a longtime right hand for Marco Rubio, from the Florida House to the Senate and now the State Department.
Bovo’s office said he would be stepping down from Hialeah’s top post in April. Las malas lenguas say he’s going to be making more than $190,000 in salary and paid expenses.
But it’s never enough.
One of Bovo’s last acts as mayor was to make sure he got a cushy “deferred compensation plan,” which is a fancy, legal way to get around saying pension, retroactively, for himself and other Hialeah electeds. He got it passed unanimously by the still Seguro Que Yes council earlier this month.
Read related: Steve Bovo’s parting gift: Retirement benefits for himself, Hialeah electeds
Bovo has also suggested he would support Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia in the November election. Garcia, who did not return calls and texts from Ladra, has said in the past that he would not speculate about stepping down to run for Hialeah mayor until Bovo announced his departure officially. Wellllll?
Former Council Member Bryan Calvo — who filed to run in February, immediately after the rumors were first reported — blasted Bovo in an email to voters titled “Hialeah deserves better than corrupt politicians who take care of themselves while raising your taxes.” Calvo says the calculated vote for the taxpayer-funded pension was deliberately timed by Bovo with full knowledge he would be leaving.

“Now, he’s cashing out and heading to Washington, D.C., to take a lobbying job. Yes, the same Steve Bovo who raised your taxes and increased your water bill is now walking away with your money in his pocket,” the email says.
Calvo also suggests that Garcia will “protect Bovo’s pension and continue covering up years of wasteful spending.” He cites a “shady $150,000 consulting contract handed to a close friend with zero transparency.”
This is a $50,000 a year contract for three years — actually $49,992, for a total of $149,976 — approved the same day as the pensions for a lobbyist named Terrence “TC” Wolfe, Garcia’s “close friend,”and his firm, New Century Government Affairs. The services provided are basically to rub elbows with electeds and push the city’s federal legislative priorities. With an office in DC, Wolfe lobbied the U.S. House and Senate in 2023 on behalf of the Association of Builders and Contractors’ Florida East Coast Chapter.
Wolfe is also president at H.O.P.E. Mission Inc., the same non-profit resources referral agency (reported $138,000 in revenue in 2023, according to ProPublica) founded by Commissioner Garcia, who has served as chair and treasurer, and who has remained involved with the organization through book bag giveaways and food distributions, along with other events. Last December (photo, left), HOPE Mission had a reception and awards event.
Miami Lakes’ newly elected Mayor Josh Dieguez, a longtime Garcia ally, is listed as a director in public records with the Florida Department of Corporations.
“This is how they do business — taking care of themselves while Hialeah families struggle to make ends meet,” Calvo boldly writes in the email. “Hialeah is being looted in broad daylight, and these career politicians think they can get away with it.
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
“As your former councilman, I fought against corruption. I fought to lower your taxes, fix our water problems without raising your bill, and make our city safer. Now, I’m running for mayor to clean up the mess these insiders have made and put Hialeah back in the hands of its people.
“This election is about one simple question: Do you want more of the same corrupt, backroom deals? Or do you want a mayor who fights for YOU? This November, it’s time to take our city back.
“Let’s drain the Hialeah swamp and restore integrity to City Hall.”
With a swamp that deep and wide, he’s going to have to do more than win just one race.
The post Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’ appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Village leaders and worried residents in Palmetto Bay sounded the alarm last year when Miami-Dade County chose Magnum Construction Management to build the controversial bridge that crosses over a canal that breaks up 87th Avenue at 164th Street. After all, MCM (former Munilla Construction Management) was one of the contractors involved in the awful Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse over Southwest 8th Street in 2018, which killed six and left an indelible mark on the rest of us forever.
“This is a direct threat to the safety of our families and our community,” wrote Mayor Karyn Cunningham in a mass text to residents, informing them of a special meeting she had called. “As your mayor, I’m fighting to stop this dangerous project,” Cunningham’s text read.
Lots of people thought she was exaggerating and playing politics as a fierce critic of the bridge.
Read related: Miami-Dade picks FIU bridge builder for 87th Avenue bridge project
But this week, a man was found dead under the 66-foot expanse under construction at connecting 164th Street and 87th, the victim of what authorities say was an “industrial accident.” No foul play is expected. NBC6 Local News reported that the man was found in a pool of water with his shirt off on the construction site.
Without having the full information yet, Cunningham issued a statement Friday that doubled down on her position and asks the county to halt the project in mid construction.
“I’m writing to express concern over the incident that occurred on March 25 at the location where the SW 87th Avenue Bridge is being built over the C-100 canal, here in Palmetto Bay,” she wrote on a message posted on the village website.
“As we previously reported on our social media, a fatality occurred that day at the construction site. So far, we have learned that deputies from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene shortly after 1 pm to find an unresponsive adult male beneath the bridge area. The person was pronounced deceased on scene. An investigation ensued and is currently underway. According to the Sheriff’s Office, preliminary findings point to an industrial accident and no foul play is suspected. A final determination on the manner and cause of death will be made by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner.
“Our Village Council has been concerned about the safety of this project for quite some time. On August 8, 2024, we called a Special Council Meeting shortly after learning that the contractor selected by Miami-Dade County to build the bridge was the same company whose subcontractor was found to be responsible for the 2018 FIU bridge collapse that took the lives of six people.  The purpose of the public meeting was to discuss safety concerns and issues surrounding the project, which were then voiced in a comprehensive letter sent to the Inspector General and county officials. That letter addressed potential misconduct, ethical breaches, and violations of state and county law that we felt constituted genuine safety concerns for our residents and our community. We asked county officials to consider pausing the project until these concerns were addressed, but despite our best efforts, construction of the bridge was allowed to proceed.
“After the death of the worker at the construction site, we feel that our concerns for public safety were justly warranted. Our Village Council and staff join the community in mourning the worker who lost his life, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family. And, as the investigation into his death continues, we once again urge the county to consider a comprehensive assessment of the project, evaluating all associated safety concerns that pose a potential risk not only to other workers on the site, but possibly to our residents as well.
“Given the magnitude of this project, we feel that no amount of oversight is too great to ensure the public wellbeing.”
Of course, Cunningham never wanted the bridge to begin with.
Read related: Danielle Cohen Higgins earns distrust with surprise revisit to 87th Ave bridge
The construction of the bridge was approved by a majority of the county commissioners, against the village’s official wishes, in 2021, after hearing from more than 130 people at a county TPO meeting. Mostly those north of the bridge were against it and those who live south were in favor. The county’s Department of Transportation and Public works began the process last year. But residents have continued to protest along the way.
Ladra reached out to the office of Miami-Dade District 8 Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, who started championing the bridge soon after her appointment to the board, but Political Cortadito has not been able to connect with her staff at the time of this late Friday posting.
Check this space for updates.
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