Juan Zapata is still the only official candidate for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 — and he is making the most of holding all the dance cards: His campaign got a big head start last week with an interview on Univision’s local Channel 23.
The former commissioner was interviewed by Erika Carrillo, the same reporter who was new to Univision when she scooped everyone on the story someone at the county fed her about Zapata — who was the mayor’s biggest critic and budget ball buster — taking Harvard classes paid by taxpayers.
Of course, it wasn’t that cut and dry. Zapata took the same course some other commissioners, including Jean Monestime, had taken. When he extended the course, the county was automatically charged. He always intended to pay for it himself, however, and reimbursed the county immediately.
Read related: Juan Zapata is first to throw hat into 2020 mayoral free-for-all
But the damage was done to one of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s biggest critics and main challenger on the dais. And Zapata ended up dropping out of his 2015 re-election campaign, disgusted with it all and frustrated with his attempts to reform our county government.
“That frustration still lives in me and that is why I have a desire to change it,” Zapata told Carillo. “I saw the monster from inside. And I saw people who governed caring only about themselves, about their own interests.”
He may find himself fighting some of those same “people” again, as the growing list of possible mayoral wannabes include three of his former colleagues: Commissioners Esteban Bovo, Daniella Levine-Cava — which the station mistakenly identified as Cuban-American — and Xavier Suarez. Rounding out the list of names that have been floated are former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and former Congressman Carlos Curbelo.
Read related: 2020 contender Xavier Suarez has dream slate for commission
And we’re almost two years out. No wonder Zapata is campaigning already.
He told Carrillo that he would be able to raise the money he needs to wage a positive campaign that is “looking to the future.” But, judging from the almost 3-minute interview, he is going to bring up the mistakes of the past.
Zapata always voted against the half cent tax deviation and said that his mission as mayor would be to reform county government, particularly the transit department.
“To me, it always seemed a lack of respect to ask the taxpayers for the money, collect the money and use it for another purpose, not the one you collect it for,” Zapata said. “That has to stop.”
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
But, while he always criticized the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, he is against the Bryan Avila bill moving in the House to eliminate the agency. “To give those funds to Tallahassee would be an error. In Tallahassee, every chance they get to take our money and spend it elsewhere, they will take it.”
And he promised not to give his favorite lobbyists and campaign people juicy jobs and contracts.
“Nobody will be given favoritism,” Zapata said. “The government will have one job, to produce results for the citizens of this county.”
About the Harvard episode, which will likely come up in the campaign because that’s all opponents will have on Zap, the former commissioner is obviously owning the misstep and that’s refreshing in politics.
“I learned from that experience,” Zapata said, adding that the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission found nothing wrong and that, before he left the commission, he passed an ordinance clarifying the limits of those funds.
“I think the citizens know that I had every intention [to pay],” he said.
Watch the entire interview here.

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With the qualifying deadline upon us and the Coral Gables Election only 46 days away, candidates continue to raise funds for their campaigns — and spend it, at an alarming rate in some cases.
Sometimes what’s more important isn’t how much a candidate has raised but how quickly it gets spent and how much is left in hand at the most crucial times, like when absentee ballots drop.
Of course, there are still about five weeks to shake those trees, but here is the tally so far, according to the latest reports filed for the first two weeks in February.
Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli got another $8,200 in those 14 days for a total of $89,000. But Valdes-Fauli has spent $51,685, including $7,014 in those two weeks, leaving him with less than $38,000 now that he’s really got a fight on his hands.
Former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is filing Friday morning and hasn’t raised any campaign funds yet. But she’s good at raising money. Not only did raise more than $250,000 in 2017, when she lost her first round against Valdes-Fauli by a scant 187 votes, but she’s raised money for other candidates in state and national races.
Read related: Rematch! Jeannett Slesnick will jump into mayor’s race
Commissioner Mike Mena, who is unchallenged with less than 12 hours ’til qualifying deadline, has raised $112,850 and spent only $17,990. But if he doesn’t get an opponent, he’ll have to return most of that money — after running a few “thank you” ads and mailers, of course.
In the crowded race for the open seat, left by a retiring Commissioner Frank Quesada, the handpicked successor Jorge L. Fors, Jr. has been burning through his money, too, with a whopping $33,263 out just in the 14-day reporting period: including $9,950 for mailers, $7,500 for a phone bank, $3,825 in advertising, $1,200 for absentee ballot generating handouts, $6,000 on social media and more than $4,000 on canvassing.
Fors has spent a total of $56,864. He raised $2,575 more in the last two weeks reported for a total of $84,350, leaving him with less than $28K in hand.
Former City Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, meanwhile, raised almost twice as much in the same time, with $5,650 making for a $37,270 total. He has proven to be much more fiscally conservative, spending only $7,280 so far. So Cabrera still has $30K in hand, more than Fors, who has raised more than twice as much. Hmmm.
Onetime Interim City Manager for five minutes Carmen Olazabal hasn’t even raised that much in total. Despite getting help from former Mayor Jim Cason and his wife Carmen, Olazabal has raised a total of $27,671. including $4,800 raised just in the first two weeks this month. She spent almost as much, however, with $4,116 out for a total of $15,620. That means she has just over $12,000 left in hand.
Read related: Coral Gables activist blasts email against candidate Carmen Olazabal
And jumping into that race from the mayoral contest after former Slesnick jumped in, Uber driver and downtown property owner Jackson “Rip” Holmes is paying expenses as they come out of pocket without a single contribution from anyone, loaning himself a total of $1,280, most of it paid to consultant Pedro Diaz.
Taken all together, there’s about $350,000 invested in this election so far. With more than six weeks to go, that’s likely to surpass the half million mark.
The next campaign finance reports, through the end of the month, are due the first week in March.

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What looked like a sleepy, mismatched mayoral race and incumbent slam dunk in Coral Gables has turned into an exciting rematch and likely turnover: former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick has decided to run again.
Slesnick, who lost her first mayoral bid two years ago by a scant 187 votes, has made an appointment with the city clerk to file her paperwork for the mayor’s race Friday morning, just before the deadline (’cause that’s how she rolls).
Boom! Crack! That sound you just heard was Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli passing out and falling down.
Because Election Day in 2017 was during Spring Break for many Coral Gables voters, who were out of town or otherwise preoccupied. Election Day is after Spring Break this year (the last week in March) and add to that two years of Valdes-Fauli’s inept leadership and bully attitude toward residents and we have a whole ‘nother picture.
“I’m going to give people a choice,” Slesnick told Ladra Thursday. “I want someone at City Hall that respects our residents’ opinions.”
The workaholic real estate sales queen often wears a button that says “Make America Kind Again,” and says she wants “a kinder, gentler atmosphere in Coral Gables where people and business owners are respected.”
Whispers about a possible run have been swirling since Slesnick picked up an election packet at City Hall on Tuesday. People she knew and some she didn’t had been pressuring her to run for weeks. They pull her aside at Publix and at the dry cleaners and ask her to run.
Slesnick told Ladra weeks ago that she wanted to serve, but didn’t want to campaign. That’s probably because Valdes-Fauli invented some ethnic bias that doesn’t exist last time and made the race really ugly. He shouldn’t get away with it this time. Voters shouldn’t let him.
This race is also likely to center around development. A Business Monday story in the Miami Herald about how the Gables has changed due to a lot of recent development has a lot of people buzzing. Slesnick is known for her opposition to over development, having voted against height variances and the PASEO project, for example.
Developing story. More to come.
 

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One incumbent already decided not to run for re-election. An activist and would-be challenger withdrew from another race within days. A former commissioner who resigned to run for Congress wants her seat back and a former State Rep wants to run for another.
Oh, and then there’s the candidate who can’t keep it in his pants.
The Miami Beach elections are nine months away and talk about un parto. It’s already so interesting it might just beat Miami and Hialeah this year in terms of sheer entertainment.
Oh, it’s boring on paper. Mayor Dan Gelber is running basically unopposed. He has a challenger, but Ladra is not certain Konstantine Gus Manessis — who only has sustainable growth on his website as an issue and nothing about who he is — can whip up either the political machinery or grassroots support he would need to beat Sy Gelber‘s boy. Ladra thinks he’s vulnerable to the right challenger and hopes someone turns up between now and qualifying deadline in September, if only because debates and choices are good for the community.
The only real race, according to documents filed with the city clerk’s office, is in Group IV, where three candidates have declared: Michael David Barrineau, Steven Jay Meiner and Rafael Velasquez. If the last name sounds familiar, it could be because he ran for office before.
Or it could be because he was accused of exposing himself to a city commissioner.
Velasquez was a commission candidate and a friend and supporter of Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — the former commissioner that might jump back in the fire — when he reportedly unzipped his pants and exposed himself to her. It happened in her car after a campaign brainstorming dinner with wine. He then ran to the state attorney’s office to say she made the whole thing up but no woman would believe KRG would intentionally want to be known for that over anything else. Oh, and then there are the two other women who came forward to describe uncomfortable language and body rubbing.
Read related: Bravo! Kristen Rosen Gonzalez says Rafael Velasquez ‘Weinsteined’ her
It will be great to see Rosen Gonzalez get back into action. She was forced to resign her seat last year in the middle of the campaign for Congress after the state legislature changed the rules precisely to try to keep District 27 red. Not just because she is a true public servant and a voice for some of the city’s disenfranchised, but also because either way it’s going to be, um, interesting: She could file in her old group, against the guy who exposed himself to her — and wouldn’t that make for some awkward debates. Or she could file against Ricky Arriola, who needs someone to challenge him now that activist Monica Matteo-Salinas withdrew mysteriously just three days after filing to challenge the incumbent.
Did Arriola threaten her? Matteo-Salinas was tremendously vague in her Facebook post:
“Last week I made the decision to launch my campaign for the Miami Beach Commission Group 5 race. This decision was in pursuit of my dream of running for elected office and serving the community I love so deeply. My hope in entering the race was to build a campaign built on integrity and a burning desire to help make Miami Beach the absolute best it can be.
That said, in one short week it has become abundantly clear to me that the timing is not quite right for me. Therefore, I am ending my candidacy for Miami Beach Commissioner effective immediately. While this is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, I know in my heart it is the right one.
Thank you so much for your understanding and support!”
Matteo-Salinas told Ladra it was “nothing nefarious,” but still wouldn’t go into details. “There are things I can discuss and things I won’t,” she said. A complete about-face from the day she filed when she said “I have a big mouth – and an even bigger brain. And I’m not afraid to use them!”
Read related: In Miami Beach, Ricky Arriola has a challenge — Monica Matteo-Salinas
Arriola becomes the only incumbent other than the mayor, now that Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman announced she would not run for re-election. (Are the rumors of an investigation into pay for play true?) But that seat is not likely to draw a lot of names. That’s because former State Rep. David Richardson — a little less ambitious after losing the Congressional primary to Donna Shalala — is basically a shoe in. Whoever Blake Young is, Ladra thinks he or she just hasn’t heard about Richardson’s announcement.
Ladra has also heard that Adrian Gonzalez, a restauranteur who has run for office before, is thinking about throwing his hat in. And certainly more of the several dozen people who applied for the KRG vacancy not knowing the fix was in for Malakoff — anyone of them could run.
The qualifying deadline isn’t until all the way in September. So it could get even more interesting before then.

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Maria Cruz is a Coral Gables activist who is not afraid to speak.
She does so quite often at commission meetings, letting the mayor, commissioners and city administrators know exactly what she thinks. She has no hair on her tongue. She asks for more public records than Ladra and keeps her neighbors and friends informed on key issues.
Cruz is such a pain in the neck to her critics that the former administration had a police major spy on her at a commission meeting, possibly taking photographs of text messages that the taxpaying citizen was sending to the electeds, her employees, with whom she had a right to communicate freely.
Read related: Coral Gables spying major keeps her job, maxes pension
That spy? Former Coral Gables Police Major Theresa Molina, who had once been tapped for police chief by then interim city manager Carmen Olazabal. now a commission candidate and the only woman running in the April 9 election so far (qualifying ends Friday).
So when Olazabal’s social media accounts started buzzing with female power messages, Cruz took notice and decided it was time to speak again: In an email she sent to the 7,575 Gables residents — addresses she got from the city’s newsletter email list, a public record — she reminds voters about Olazabal’s questionable judgement, at best.
I’m writing to you today on my concerns about the current race for city commissioner. As a 43-year resident of the City Beautiful, I find myself obligated to share my experiences with one of the candidates, Carmen Olazabal, whom I believe is not the clear choice for our commission.
While Ms. Olazabal was interim city manager, she went against our elected officials and appointed an interim police chief, Major Theresa Molina (Miami Herald, September 12, 2014), without review. Major Molina violated my rights by spying on me, taking photographs, unbeknownst to me, at a city commission meeting. As a result of this abuse of authority, Major Molina was suspended and subsequently forced to retire.
As a woman, mother of three daughters, and grandmother of two young girls, I feel strongly about the importance of women representing us in all levels of government. However, this belief should not lead us to elect candidates with poor judgement and questionable track records.
Coral Gables, my home since 1976, deserves better.
Your neighbor,
Maria
Cruz was already upset that Olazabal was running and when the former manager pulled the female card and attached #WomenWhoRun to all her social media posts, it bothered her enough to pen the note.
Read related: In Coral Gables money race, unchallenged incumbent is leading
The email — which Cruz said she paid for out of her own pocket — also comes with five hyperlinks to stories about Molina and Olazabal’s time in the Gables. Ladra is kinda proud that three of them are Political Cortadito stories. Two others are stories that were published in the Miami Herald.
“My letter is not a campaign letter. My letter was to make sure people remembered,” Cruz told Ladra Tuesday, a few hours after the email went out. “Coral Gables voters have to vote for the best candidate, not the one who happens to be a woman.”
How much do you wanna bet it becomes a campaign letter?
Either Ralph Cabrera, who Cruz supports but didn’t name in the letter, or Jorge L. Fors, Jr. — the two other candidates in the race for this seat, vacated by Commissioner Frank Quesada — are going to send it in a mailer to more voters.

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