Add yet another big endorsement to Ralph Cabrera‘s bid to return to the Coral Gables city commission: Former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas endorsed the former commissioner in a web video released Wednesday.
“As mayor of Miami-Dade County, I had the pleasure of working side by side with Ralph and I always found him to be a forward-thinking commissioner, someone who always had creative ideas for the city of Coral Gables,” Penelas says in the 38-second message posted on Facebook.
“For example, we worked together to bring a lot of the trolleys that you see now in Coral Gables because he knew that the residents, visitors and people who work in Coral Gables, they needed that first and last mile option,” he said.
“That’s the kind of leader Ralph was then, and I know he is going to be that kind of leader again now.”
Penelas brings big points on Cabrera’s endorsement scorecard, so let’s take another look at the comparisons between his support and the backing for the other candidate in the runoff, Jorge L. Fors, Jr.
Read related: The war of endorsements is on in Coral Gables commission runoff
Cabrera now has Penelas, City Commissioners Vince Lago and Pat Keon, ormer Commissioner and Mayor Dorothy Thomson, former Commissioner Maria Anderson, former Mayor Don Slesnick, the Miami Herald, the police, the firefighters and the gays (SAVE). He also has support, in the form of maximum $1,000 contributions, from Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez and former State Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla.
It’s a nice mix of Dems, Republicans and even an Independent.
Fors, who has never served a day on a city board or committee, has former Mayor Jim Cason, former interim city manager Carmen Olazabal and Commissioner Frank Quesada, who has better things to do than run for re-election, and former City Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers, who lost his own comeback bid and doesn’t want Cabrera to get one. Sour grapes.
Quite literally, cuatro gatos.
Wonder if the same lopsided results will come out of Tuesday’s runoff.

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State Rep. Jose Oliva, the Speaker of the House holding the firefighter cancer bill back all session, reversed his earlier decision and said Tuesday that he would bring HB857 — or something very similar to it — to the floor in the near future.
The legislation, four years in the making, aims to address healthcare shortfalls for firefighters who, because they are exposed to toxic burning substances, are diagnosed with cancer at a rate 9% higher than the rest of us and die of cancer at a 14% rate higher than the rest of us.
It has 82 sponsors from both sides of the aisle, more than any other measure possibly in history, and is certain to pass.
But Oliva wouldn’t let it go to committee. He released a statement weeks ago about this being better handled at the local level and not wanting to take control away from municipalities. But there are other bills moving through the House — including a bill that allows pet stores to sell puppy mill breeds — that would take local control away from cities and towns that want to ban those sales (more on that later).
Read related: Jose Oliva holds firefighter cancer bill hostage for political payback
He not only held the cancer bill back, Oliva also refused to respond to firefighters or the relatives of sick and fallen firefighters. He did not return their calls and emails. He did not respond to hand-delivered letters.
Only after Ladra exposed that the real motive behind the hold-up of the bill was political retaliation — and published his cellphone number so he could no longer hide from people — did Oliva say he changed his mind.
See? A Coral Gables firefighter named David Perez ran for senate last year in the open seat left by Rene Garcia. Former State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr., who is an Oliva-made yes-man, also ran for the seat. And this gave the firefighters an opportunity to endorse one of their own.
That irked Oliva and his buddy, former State Rep. Frank Artiles, a staple in the Capitol this session even though he is not allowed to lobby for another three or four days. Artiles — who had been forced to resign after he made some racist remarks in a drunken rant — even wrote a comment on a David Perez Facebook post threatening to hold up this very cancer presumption bill as political payback.
This is not “according to” Ladra or Political Cortadito, like The Miami Herald and the Tallahassee Democrat stated. Ladra posted a screen save of the comment. Everyone can see it for themselves. It is posted here again.
And only after that political vendetta was exposed in Political Cortadito did Oliva change course, announcing it in another statement Tuesday.
“The debate this year, as in past years, was never against firefighters, nor was it political. It was the legislature that supported the funding to establish the proper need to begin with. Unfortunately, the debate became about whether we support our firefighter — of course we do. And it became about whether it was political — of  course it wasn’t. Still, the environment has become too toxic to debate the true original disagreement. As such, we will move legislation forward more so as the differences are not so great as to invite the assumptions now being made.”
First off, there was never an intention to “debate the true original disagreement,” as he says. If there was, it would have gone to committee for said debate. Instead, it was shelved so nobody could discuss it. He never had any intention to debate it in Tallahassee because he said it was a local issue.
Secondly, he said he would move legislation forward, not the legislation, which means he is still holding up the House bill and plans to present something different, perhaps the Senate Bill, as he indicated to Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban, who sent an email about the conversation to his ranks.
Thirdly, if “the differences are not so great as to invite the assumptions now being made,” then why hold it up in the first place.
Lastly, the word “assumptions” is wrong. It should read conclusions. Because there was absolutely no other reason to hold back legislation that has more support than it had ever gotten in four years — including two thirds of the House as co-sponsors — and that was similar to bills passed in 40-some states.
And because, true to his form, Artiles couldn’t hold his ire back and posted a comment on this very blog admitting to the political retaliation against the firefighters and their union, giving #thanksfrank — a social media hashtag used by his political action committee’s barely dressed consultants — new life.
Read related: GOP gets desperate in Hialeah senate race against David Perez
“MDFD local with union President Omar Blanco is responsible for choosing and backing Gillum for Governor, Ring for CFO, Shawn Shaw attorney general, David Perez (Senate candidate), Ascencio ( your friend which I called a one termer), and many local Democrats over Republicans,” he posted in a rant with so much bad grammar that he likely had a couple of drinks in ‘im.
“My brothers that I served with in the Marines are firefighters, I support firefighters and their families… However, elections have consequences and the MDFD fire Union needs to clean house!”
So, the holding back of the bill was the consequences of the firefighters union supporting Perez and other Democrat candidates. That’s not an assumption of political retaliation, Mr. Speaker. That’s a confession.
Still, thank you for changing your mind. It is the right thing to do and Ladra doesn’t really care how you got there.
Betcha he changes his cellphone number next.

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It is a fact that firefighters get cancer and die of cancer at a higher rate than the rest of us — 14% higher. Study after study shows that job-related cancer is the number one killer of firefighters.
It is a fact that no fewer than 45 states have addressed this issue by passing laws that provide additional cancer coverage or health benefits for them.
It is a fact that a bill to extend cancer coverage for firefighters has sailed through and is certain to pass in the Florida Senate and has a whopping 82 sponsors in the House. That’s two thirds of the membership — more bipartisan support than any other bill this year, or perhaps any year ever, practically guaranteeing passage.
But Rep. Jose Oliva, as the Republican Speaker of the House, is holding the bill hostage, refusing to send it to committee or take it to the floor. And it’s not because he is too busy trying to arm teachers in our schools. Or because he is concerned about the potential impact to municipal government budgets. This legislature is not shy about passing unfunded mandates.
Oliva gave some lame excuse about home rule. “This is an issue best dealt with at the county level as each department faces varying levels of danger and exposure and counties are best equipped to tailor benefits to need within available resources,” he said in a statement.
But that is BS. There is no difference in levels of danger from municipality to municipality, which, by the way, have multi-agency agreements to work together. There is no difference in levels of danger from state to state.
“This is something that didn’t discriminate along county lines,” said Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor in the Senate.
Read related: GOP gets desperate in Hialeah senate race against David Perez
The fact is Oliva won’t move the House bill to punish firefighters statewide for supporting one of their own, Coral Gables Firefighter David Perez, against former State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr. in the 2018 senatorial race that Diaz eventually won.
Former State Rep. Frank Artiles — who is close to Oliva and has been a staple in his office even before he gets the green light to lobby next week — basically threatened as much on Facebook during the campaign.
“Good luck on your cancer presumption bill next year… I see a 4 stop bill in your near future,” wrote Artiles — who was forced to resign in 2017 after he made some very racist statements in a drunken rant — on a David Perez Facebook post.
If that’s not proof that this is political payback, Ladra doesn’t know what is.
Artiles has a grudge against firefighters. He basically ranted to Ladra about them during Dade Days in 2013.
And yes, he had a couple of drinks in him.
“Their jobs are ridiculous. They hardly fight fires. They work 24 hours on and 48 off,” he told Ladra outside a bar in Tallahassee. We were standing alongside then State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz and former State Rep. Robert Asencio, who was there in his pre-elected role as president of Florida Public Employees Partnership. When Asencio and Ladra asked for proof of his allegations, Artiles admitted his real reason for the hate: Firefighters unions had mailed six mailers against Central Florida Republicans that year. “They went after my boys,” he said.
Read related: Tales from Tallahassee — quick observations from Dade Days
House Bill 857 would require municipal governments to provide full cancer coverage, including disability and death benefits, to firefighters who meet a certain criteria, like being non-smokers and on the job for at least five years. Instead of workman’s comp, firefighters who are diagnosed with any of several specific cancers in the bill would get a lump sum one-time $25,000 payment, money that can help their families pay for the healthcare and keep their homes.
Again, 45 states have adopted similar laws. That’s 45 out of 50, indicating that it is the right way to go.
Supporters say the measure is necessary to account for the increased risk of cancer due to not only smoke inhalation but exposure to carcinogens and burning toxic substances in building materials, such as asbestos. All those boots on the state capitol steps are from firefighters who are sick or have died of cancer.
Critics, which include the League of Cities, say it forces an unfunded mandate on municipalities that are already stretched thin.
But the truth is the $5 million estimated impact it would statewide is a drop in the bucket in Florida, where, just last year, the legislature approved $147.5 million worth of budget turkeys, otherwise known as individual appropriations that circumvent the thorough and thoughtful committee and budget process, most of the time for legislator’s pet projects.
The truth is this bill’s blockage has nothing to do with the budget. This is nothing more than political payback. At its ugliest.
Oliva hasn’t even had the courtesy to respond to the firefighters who call him or the relatives that have traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for the bill. Juan Garcia, father of Ralf Garcia — a Miami Fire firefighter paramedic (photo, right) who died in 2015 of brain cancer at the age of 28 — wrote Oliva a personal letter that was hand-delivered by Omar Blanco, president of the Miami-Dade firefighters union two weeks ago. Y nada. ¡Que descaro!
All the firefighters and their families want is for the merits of the bill to be discussed by the members of the House and not decided upon by one man who has made himself God in this case.
“We just want an opportunity to present our situation,” said Claudine Buzzo, a Miami-Dade firefighter diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2016, who was out of work for four months to get treatment.
“He is not even allowing us to be heard and that’s what’s baffling,” Buzzo told CBS4’s Jim DeFede on Facing South Florida. “We don’t know what the reason is. He won’t even speak with us.”
Yeah, we know why.
Call Oliva today and demand that House Bill 857 be heard. Skip the office number. Call him on his cellphone at 305-761-6144. Text him. Tell him to put political payback aside and do the right thing.

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On the one side, you have a liar and an empty suit and a one-term commissioner abandoning his seat.
On the other, you have two sitting commissioners, a former 16-year public servant who served as both commissioner and the mayor, the police, the firefighters and, for good measure, SAVE.
“Ralph Cabrera and I have many things in common: We both were elected to the city commission, have a proven record of service to our residents and support the renovation of historic Coral Gables High School,” Thomson says in a Cabrera email.
Read related: Coral Gables voters return Raul Valdes-Fauli, send two to runoff
“But most of all, we both have a strong love for our City Beautiful. I know that, as he has in the past, Ralph will work to preserve the values of our community. That’s why I endorse him for Coral Gables Commission.”
In the same email, Lago is quoted as to why he supports Cabrera.
“I am familiar with Commissioner Cabrera’s past service to our community and know he is someone who clearly understands the character and charm of our city. He has a deep understanding and passion for making Coral Gables the best in Miami-Dade County,” Lago says.
“I also know him to have a proven track record of fostering new ideas and achieving many important quality of life initiatives,” Lago continues. “I am confident he will work with our commission to ensure transparency and inclusiveness of our government’s activities, decisions and vision.”
Read related: Florida Bar investigates candidate Jorge Fors  for homestead fraud
Jorge Fors has former interim city manager Carmen Olazabal, who came in third with 2,196 votes in the April 12 election — and who, as usual, said nothing of importance or substance — and former Mayor Jim Cason, who did nothing but cut ribbons in the six years he sat in office.
“Jorge Fors is committed to protecting our quality of life and will bring to the community a fresh perspective that will keep Coral Gables moving forward,” Cason says in an email that will likely arrive as a mailer in mailboxes this week with absentee ballots.
He might still have some pull with the older Cuban voters, particularly in North Gables, where Fors is also campaigning as the anti-annexation candidate, going completely against the city and the police chief recommendation to bring Little Gables into the fold.
The tax cheat also has Commissioner Frank Quesada, who, las malas lenguas, say handpicked him before he knew about his homestead exemption fraud, so that his campaign manager would stay in business.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Jorge Fors had illegal homestead exemption
Quesada told Ladra that it did not matter to him that Fors had claimed an illegal homestead exemption for eight or nine years on a Little Havana condo he did not live in.
“I’ve known Jorge a long time and we’ve had cases together, he’s a great guy,” Quesada texted me last month before the first round. “When he discovered the homestead issue, he resolved it.”
Except he “resolved it” in January, after he had filed to run for office and after Ladra started sniffing around. In fact, las malas lenguas say that Quesada was told Ladra was sniffing around by someone and alerted Fors to it.
Fors might say it was an unintentional mistake, but it is a mistake then Fors made eight or nine individual times, as property owners have to claim their homestead exemption by March 1 every year.
Ladra can’t help but wonder if Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia would endorse Fors. Or Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, whose office is looking into mystery mailers attacking Cabrera that were not sent by the political action committee on the disclaimer.

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March was another good fundraising month for former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is running for the Miami city commission seat in District 1 and has raised more each month for a total of $142,000 in 90 days.
The next biggest bank belongs to Miguel Angel Gabela, but he loaned himself $100K so he’s only raised $34,130 — about a fourth of ADLP’s contributions. Local favorite Horacio Aguirre raised $69,135 and the other four candidates haven’t raised that much between them, so let’s not worry about them for now.
Read related: Alex DLP keeps bunching bundles of special interest campaign money
The Dean came out of the gate swinging with $40,000 in January and topped that with $45,380 in February and then topped that with $56K last month, according to the last campaign reports that were filed.
Just as in the past two campaign reports, ADLP’s March advantage comes with bundles, or contributions made from the same source through family members or companies. Bundles generally indicate more than just a casual interest in a candidate’s position or vision. They are usually special interests.
March’s special interests include the developers of Riverside Wharf, who gave Diaz de la Portilla $5K in five maximum $1,000 donations, and Steve Perricone, who gave him $4,000. He also got $5,000 from Jayme Halli and $3,000 from Miguel Mouriz, both of whom are involved in retail investment and development.
Ladra can’t help but wonder if all these people are working together on a common project.
Read related: Alex DLP bolts out of Miami gate with a campaign cash advantage
Gabela doesn’t have any obvious bundling in his campaign report, sans a couple of paired contributions. He does have maximum contributions from former State Rep. Gus Barreiro — not surprising since the Barreiros and the DLPs are feuding fams — and from former Miami Commissioner Mark Sarnoff, a little more surprising because he used to be a DLP friend. Something must have happened there because Sarnoff, who helped the Dean in his county commission run last year, also gave $2,000 from two of his political action committees.
He also has $1,000 from lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez‘s New Leadership Network political action committee.
Aguirre raised $26,500, with no new bundles, which is harder.
As reported earlier, he already had bundled contributions — at least $10,000 from Terry Zerby and his family and partners in the marine terminal business, another $8,000 from Sara Babun and her related companies and $6,000 from Emmanuel Pacin, a real estate and marine guy. All $24,000 of it is Miami River money. Much of District 1 runs along the river.
Among Aguirre’s expenses are more than $3,000 to political consultant Dario Moreno, another ex DLP ally.

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