Former Coral Gables Commissioner Ralph Cabrera had his best two weeks of fundraising this cycle, with $46,275 collected over the last two weeks of February. According to the last campaign finance reports filed at City Hall this week, that accounts for more than half of Cabrera’s total of $83,545.
With a fundraiser hosted next week by former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Cabrera is well on his way to raise more than $100,000 for this race.
Read related: In Coral Gables, campaign cash goes out as quickly as it comes in
He is likely to surpass Jorge L. Fors, Jr., the newby flash out of nowhere who has been leading the money pack up to now. Fors had raised $92,700 as of Feb. 28, but his momentum has slowed way down, picking up only $8,350 in the last two weeks.
Cabrera raised more than five times as much during the same period.
Former Interim City Manager Carmen Olazabal — described as “timid” during the candidate forum Thursday, where she barely made eye contact with anyone — raised another $5,245 for a total of $32,916. She has spent about half of that already, so she is left with about $16,800 cash in hand.
And Jackson “Rip” Holmes — thanks for the many plugs, man — loaned himself another $515 to pay the qualifying fee. The total $1,800 he’s raised has all come out of his own pocket.
With little more than a month to go before Election Day, Cabrera has become the man to beat. He had a great night at the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce candidate forum Thursday, showing his knowledge of city issues is way beyond the others’, and is gaining momentum as absentee ballots arrive. Even the poll done by Dario Moreno, who is helping Olazabal, has Cabrera gaining while Fors slips and Carmen slips into oblivion.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Jorge Fors had illegal Homestead exemption
Cabrera’s big bank this last period came with very little bundling: $3,000 from lobbyist Eric Zichella, another $3,000 from companies managed by Juan Carlos Mas and Michelle Zubizarreta, and another $3,000 from a commercial real estate firm at 2601 South Bayshore Drive.
Other notable contributions include $1,000 from Commissioner Xavier Suarez‘s political action committee and $500 from former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas (the last two are potential 2020 county mayoral contestants), $1,000 from former State Rep. Manny Prieguez, a lobbyist, and $250 from Les Pantin.
The former commissioner spent $14,453 during the same two weeks, mostly on consulting services and a $3,270 mailer. His total expenses to date are $21,731, which means he still has more than $50,000 to spend this last month.
And contributions keep coming in.

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A group representing 35,000 Brickell area homeowners is suing to stop the Ultra Music Festival — which was kicked out of downtown Miami this year — from happening on Virginia Key at the end of this month.
The emergency complaint filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court claims the city schemed to bypass the public bidding process by calling the agreement a license rather than a lease, which would also require a public vote. But one can tell from the language of the lawsuit that is not the only problem the plaintiffs have with the three-day, electronic music party.
“This is an action challenging whether the city can lease certain environmentally sensitive public park land to a for-profit corporation without complying with the competitive bidding process,” the lawsuit states.
The city entered into the licensing agreement with Event Entertainment Group, the outfit that puts on Ultra, in November, after downtown residents complained about the Bayshore Park location. They said the noise and traffic brought by the three-day festival make their neighborhood unlivable for the weekend.
Read related: Ultra out for Formula 1 could be Joe Carollo nod to CJ Gimenez
Some observers believe the move, orchestrated by Commissioner Joe Carollo, was meant to make downtown residents more amenable to a future Formula One race event, which was being pushed by his then pal, CJ Gimenez, son of the county mayor.
But this new agreement cannot be terminated or revoked by the city as easily as a license could, in most cases, which makes it more of a lease, argues attorney David Winker , who also filed complaints against the city in regards to the Melreese Golf Course referendum (more on that later).
“Virginia Key is an utterly inappropriate venue for ULTRA,” Winker said in a statement. “The City of Miami circumvented its own laws and disenfranchised its own citizens to force this deal through… a deal that is a disaster for the environment and our residents.
“My lawsuit asks the judge to declare the License Agreement entered into between the City and ULTRA void and force the City to follow its own laws regarding competitive bidding and participation of its citizens in the process.
“We have to be able to expect more from our elected officials.”

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The Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce will host the first candidate forum Thursday evening on the University of Miami campus.
Four city commission candidates hoping to replace retiring Commissioner Frank Quesada will go first. They are: Ralph Cabrera, Jorge. L. Fors, Jackson “Rip” Holmes and Carmen Olazabal. They get a little more than an hour starting at 6 p.m.
The two mayoral candidates will present voters with a rematch from two years ago, when Raul Valdes-Fauli barely beat Jeannett Slesnick by fewer than 190 votes to squeak into the mayor’s seat. Those two will face-off about 7:15 p.m. The evening is set to end at 8 p.m.
But face-off may be the wrong term. Candidates have been told to be civil and not direct any questions or answers at each other, only speaking through the moderator with the audience. Each candidate will be given 90 seconds for an opening statement before answering questions prepared by UM political science professor Jennifer Connolly and her students over the past two weeks.
Read related: Rematch! Jeannett Slesnick will jump into Gables mayor’s race
“We will then transition into questions submitted on-line and by the audience,” Connolly said in an email to candidates, adding that 4×6 note cards will be made available to the audience. “Only I know what questions will be asked. No one, including the Chamber, knows of my choices.
“Insulting or slanderous remarks, heckling, or verbal outbursts during the program will not be tolerated – this includes booing and hissing, snapping or the like,” Connolly added. “Anyone exhibiting this type of behavior will be asked to leave by staff or UM security.”
Candidates were even sent a “Pledge of Positivity” swearing to uphold the most ambitious set of rules:
“I pledge to conduct my campaign in an honest and fair manner and to remain focused on the substantive issues important to the citizens and business leaders/owners of Coral Gables;
I pledge to run a positive political campaign and will not permit or condone any negative or defamatory attacks on my opponents’ personal character or reputation, in any advertisements or during any media appearance or campaign interview, or in any broadcast, print, digital, or internet formats;
I pledge to direct all my paid and unpaid volunteer campaign managers, consultants, ad developers, pollsters, workers and supporters to run and to participate in a positive political campaign;
I pledge to not attack or condemn my opponent’s personal character;
I pledge to not distort my opponent’s record or positions, take their voting records or positions out of context, or use or permit the use of any campaign material or advertisement that is misleading, misrepresents, distorts or otherwise falsifies the facts regarding my opponent or their record;
If third parties who support my candidacy for office, freely and independently choose to do negative campaigning, I pledge to publicly call on such individual or group whose activities violate this Positive Campaign Pledge to immediately cease and desist from such activities and to publicly repudiate their negative campaigning.
Ladra would like to see if Valdes-Fauli — who waged a nasty ethnic campaign two years ago and took Slesnick’s development votes out of context — signed that pledge.
Read related: Coral Gables mayoral race takes a nasty, ethnic turn
And is Chamber President Mark Trowbridge really the best person to keep time on the candidates? Given his past endorsements and, ahem, support of some candidates over others, it might be in the Chamber’s — and transparency’s — best interest to find someone else.
One might think that all this politeness and civility is going to make the forum boooooring. But there’s always the Rip factor.
Holmes is a colorful fella that doesn’t get much respect in election coverage because he never seems viable. But he can add entertainment value.
An active downtown property owner with an obsession about bringing a department store to Miracle Mile, he has some good ideas — like bringing those misting sprays in Disney World to downtown Coral Gables — and some crazy ones, like the theory that space aliens are somehow responsible for some of the worst terrorist attacks on America.
He could make things, um, interesting. Ladra hopes Dr. Connolly has a sense of humor.
The forum is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fieldhouse at UM, 1245 Dauer Drive, next to the Watsco Center. The Gables Chamber of Commerce is joined by five partner organizations in presenting the forum: The League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade, the Coral Gables Democratic Club, Gables Good Government Committee, Miami Young Republicans and the Cuban American Bar Association.
Most of the people at this forum in the past have been friends and supporters of the candidates. In other words, people who are already decided. But it still provides a platform for the candidates to present their pitch.
There will be a second Q&A for candidates at the Congregational Church on March 14 hosted by the Coco Plum Woma’s Club and the Coral Gables Forum. As before, that one will be moderated by CBS4 News anchor Elliott Rodriguez.
The election is April 9 but absentee ballots are out this week.

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Carmen Olazabal wants you to forget that she’s an unethical opportunist who put her career above the very safety and lives of Coral Gables residents.
As Olazabal, a former interim city manager, runs for a city commission seat, she wants you to forget that she doctored documents and focus on her gender and her degrees from MIT and Harvard University and her relationship with Jim and Carmen Cason and the fact that once upon a time the city declared it Carmen Olazabal Day.
That must mean something, right? Wrong. We all know those giveaway proclamations aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.
But that’s all she’s got. And of course Olazabal wants to rewrite history. We don’t blame her. Because the real version isn’t very flattering. This is a woman who, as assistant city manager, helped cover up a landscaping mistake that caused a jump in car accidents along Ponce de Leon Boulevard in 2014. The woman who wrote the lie — or, rather, cut and paste the lie — that got former City Manager Pat Salerno fired.
This is why Commissioner Vince Lago was surprised that Olazabal — who was forced to leave the city’s employ — would run for office. He told her when she asked to meet with him that he couldn’t support her.
“She was too willing to risk the public safety of our citizens to make Mr. Salerno happy and keep her job,” Lago said, adding that public safety was the commission’s No. 1 responsibility.
If readers will remember this is sort of when the whole split between the administration and Police Chief Ed Hudak started. Because Hudak told the truth and then-manager Salerno lied and obstructed the truth for whatever reason, we still don’t know to this day. Arrogance, maybe?
Read related: Gables manager Pat Salerno felled by lie to commissioner
There were Bismarck palm trees on Ponce de Leon from Salamanca to Alcazar avenues that were interfering with southbound drivers’ line of sight. Hudak produced a multi-page report with graphs and figures that indicated a 170% increase in car accidents at that corner. The commission got a one-page report with no such finding, no graphs, after a cut and paste job by Olazabal, at Salerno’s instructions.
“She showed a lack of ethics and a lack of judgement. A person who is willing to mislead the commission should not be making the laws if she is breaking the laws,” Lago said, adding that Olazabal confessed her role to him and former City Attorney Craig Leen after the Salerno resigned over the doctored document.
It was an exceptionally bad choice for her to help orchestrate the lie because Olazabal knew she’d have whistleblower protection had she told the truth, he added.
Lago, who is arguably the only real elected leader on the Gables dais, is supporting Cabrera. He, like many people, said he has no idea who this Jorge Fors guy is or where he came from and knows that Cabrera’s experience will give the Gables some historic perspective and balance.
“He’s an individual who understands the character of the city and who has a deep interest in making our city the best in Miami-Dade,” Lago said. “He believes in pushing forward on development that allows our city to progress but also keep its hometown feel.”
But, then again, Lago would support anyone against Olazabal. Because her missteps do not end with the Ponce trees lie.
There was the time she tried to give herself a 10 percent raise. Oh, she will say that she didn’t, but she did. And it was a consent item, in fact. Thank goodness that Lago pulled the resolution from the agenda in May of 2014 and discussed it. Consent items hardly get discussed and are approved en masse. Olazabal tried to fly under the radar and give herself a 10 percent raise.
By the way, she did get that raise. And then she tried to keep it after a permanent manager was hired.
Read related: Interim Coral Gables manager got a 20% raise — but ‘for now’
The resolution, which was likely written by Olazabal, said she deserved the raise because “during her four month tenure as Interim City Manager, Carmen Olazabal has worked effectively on complex projects such as: Tree Succession plan, Bike Master Plan, RFP preparation for Garage 1 and 4, Teamster Union Contract, FOP Union Contract, Trolley Building Settlement and Miracle Mile Streetscape Project.”
Wait. Is she taking credit for these projects that existed before and after her? Wasn’t she just doing her job? For which she was already being paid 4% more (a parting gift from Salerno)?
And was she even really doing her job? Or was someone else? Because she also had municipal manager extraordinaire Merrett Stierheim holding her hand. He was hired as a back-up consultant since the city commission had no confidence Olazabal could do it alone. How much of her job did Stierheim do? Well, e was approved for $50,000 worth of work. So at $150 an hour, that’s more than 333 hours, which is more than eight weeks if he was working full time.
No wonder he’s backing her.
And that’s a lot of help. Can anyone imagine if City Manager Peter Iglesias needed hand holding?
But even the almighty Stierheim couldn’t steer Olazabal away from every bad decision.
Read related: Merrett Stierheim — Coral Gables’ extra city manager for $50K
Like that time Olazabal named Maj. Theresa Molina acting chief, to everyone’s surprise, the eve before the commission was to name an interim chief. Molina, who was later caught spying on a resident and commissioners and was fired for it, was under investigation by the State Attorney’s Office at the time. Again, shows a lack of judgement if this is who Olazabal thought was better than Ed Hudak to run the department.
In fact, she also thought retired Maj. Scott Massington was better than Hudak and, after telling commissioners she would let them decide at a special meeting after the former chief resigned, she flew Massington back to Miami. Word on the street was that Salerno was pushing for Massington and Olazabal was still doing his bidding.
Of course, today as part of her history rewrite, she supports Hudak and congratulates his leadership on her website, saying he has kept crime low.
Because if there is one thing voters need to remember about Olazabal it’s she will do or say anything to keep her job — or to get one. The city commission position pays $31,585. But Ladra bets Olazabal would move for a 10% raise.

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The collapse of the FIU pedestrian bridge and the lawsuits that followed seem to have pushed one-time Miami-Dade County darlings Munilla Construction Management to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Pedro Munilla, pictured here with his wife, is often out at galas with Mayor and Lourdes Gimenez.
But that doesn’t mean that Pedro Munilla, an insider and longtime member of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s friends and family plan, can’t do any more municipal business. Munilla — who is related to Gimenez’s wife Lourdes and, as such, also to Miami-Dade School Board Member Mari Tere Rojas — owns at least 10 other active companies with his brothers and Frank Lopez, according to the Florida Division of Corporations.
In fact, MCM Construction of Florida LLC — which a month earlier was Munilla Construction Management LLC — changed its name in December to Magnum Construction Management LLC. At least they don’t have to spend a lot of money on new letterhead or a logo.
And the Gimenez sons — who have either worked for or lobbied for Munilla Construction — likely have jobs forever in one or the other company.
The most recent of the new companies, 315 Sunny Management LLC, was formed in December of last year, nine months after the bridge collapse and before the bankruptcy filing. Munilla’s partner there is Frank Lopez, who is also his partner at Shopping Plaza Corp., one of his first companies, incorporated in 1986, and earlier versions of Sunny Management.
Read related: I-395 signature bridge standoff is political palanca at its best
The Miami Herald and the Real Deal reported on Friday that MCM had sent a press release announcing the bankruptcy in order to put creditors off so they can reorganize. A spokesman has said that the company will continue to operate and has enough capital to finish projects it has already started.
The company could also use the time to negotiate settlements to lawsuits filed by survivors and family members of the six who died when the pedestrian bridge over Southwest 8th Street collapsed March 15. A federal investigation indicated that design flaws led to the cracks in the bridge’s foundation. While MCM partner FIGG Bridge Group designed the FIU pedestrian bridge, MCM supervised the construction and could be liable.
But MPM is not. And neither is Advanced Realty Management. Or 7501 Medley Civil LLC. Or Sunny Management LLC.
So before you start feeling bad for Mr. Munilla, know that he’s got options.

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