The legal bills are coming in from Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s ill-fated, frivolous lawsuit to try to stop the strong mayor referendum that was doomed to fail anyway.
And so far, the city is liable for almost $120,000 in legal fees.
That means you, dear taxpayer.
The biggest bill is from McDonald Hopkins, whose attorney Raquel Rodriguez charged $575 an hour to help defend the city and City Clerk Todd Hannon. That bill came in at $73,558.15, including $252 for copies, $203 for transcripts and $15 for parking.
Read related: What are Joe Carollo’s frivolous strong mayor lawsuits costing us?
Colson Eidson Hicks billed another $44,683 for the time of three attorneys — Roberto Martinez, Lazaro Fields and Francisco Maderal — who spent a combined 172 hours on the case, each at $250 an hour, helping to defend Mayor Francis Suarez.
Both of these invoices were dated Oct. 26, which could mean that there were more fees incurred afterwards. Especially since Carollo originally filed an appeal after his lawsuit was shot down.
The city also provided Ladra with a report that indicates Deputy City Attorney Christopher Green spent more than 17 hours on this nonsense, including 20 minutes, for example, reviewing emails from City Attorney Victoria Mendez and deputy city attorneys John Greco and Barnaby Min. There is also indication in Green’s report that assistant city attorneys Kerri McNulty and George Wysong worked on defending the city from Carollo’s silly attack. But Ladra did not get any report on the amount of time they spent on it.
This also doesn’t include the amount of time spent by Deputy Miami-Dade Attorney Oren Rosenthal, who represented Supervisor of Elections Christina White during the quick and ridiculous proceedings.
Read related: Judge calls Joe Carollo sore loser, rips apart strong mayor lawsuit
And we still don’t know how much Carollo’s attorney, Jesus Suarez, billed for this botched up job — or, more importantly, who paid him. Carollo has not returned mutliple calls to his cellphone and his office, as well as several texts. Mendez, the city attorney, has indicated that no payments have been made — yet. But Suarez will eventually be paid and that bill should be a public record.
The strong mayor measure failed anyway but all Crazy Joe did with his frivolous lawsuit was spend at least $120,000, probably more, of the taxpayers’ money.

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It is nothing more than political retaliation.
The Miami-Dade County Attorney’s office is trying to remove an outspoken, critical member of the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust who has been a thorn in the mayor’s side, saying that he can’t be on the oversight committee because he is involved in legal action against the county.
Attorney Paul Schwiep was advised via email — actually a copy of an email to CITT Director Javier Betancourt — that he had “relinquished” his seat on the board when he filed a legal action Oct. 26 against the county on behalf of the Friends of the Everglades, seeking to stop construction of the Kendall Parkway extension to the 836 expressway.
Oh no he didn’t, Schwiep shot back.
In a seven-page email with exhibits and legal precedent examples the attorney tells the county attorney, in no uncertain terms, that he has absolutely not relinquished nada and that he will be at the scheduled CITT meeting Thursday, as planned.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez taps commissioner to block return of half penny funds?
“The current county administration did not appoint me to the CITT and is not permitted to remove Trustees with whom they may disagree on particular issues, whether on ending unification or the extension of SR 836,” Schwiep, an appointee of Commissioner Daniela Levine Cava, writes in his response.
Schwiep has also been one of the leading voices on the call to end unification of half-penny surtax funds — which were supposed to be for the extension of metrorail — with operation and maintenance dollars. Something the current administration continues to do. Mayor Carlos Gimenez has even found a way to use the county attorney’s office to thwart a CITT directive that these funds stop being used this way.
And, to boot, Shwiep also sued MDX months ago to get documents related to the PR for the Kendall Parkway, some of which was done by the mayor’s daughter in law, a perk now that he is chairman of the board.
So, as one might imagine, Gimenez doesn’t love Schwiep.
“The mayor is not happy with me because I represent people opposed to the 836 extension and because I am on the transportation trust saying we have to end comingling,” Schwiep said. “He’s told me himself.”
Does he think Gimenez ordered Assistant County Attorney Annery Pulgar Alfonso to get Schwiep off the board? “That would be pure speculation,” he told Ladra.
But what else could it be? How likely is it that this was on Alfonso’s radar all by itself? After all, Schwiep represented another group that sued the county in 2013 — and nobody objected then.
No, more likely this is a move by Gimenez to silence a critic who is in an actual position to derail the mayor’s plans to keep using PTP funds forever to shore up his budget.
Read related: MDX spent $400K on PR, including $60K for mayor’s daughter-in-law
Not that the county has any legal standing, he said, adding that the county code section 2-11.38 cited by Alfonso to make him “relinquish” the seat does not apply. “They’re really out on a limb on this,” Schwiep said.
First off, the legal action is not a lawsuit, per se, which is what the county code speaks to. What Schwiep filed is an “administrative petition” to seek the review of an agency decision, which doesn’t go to court but rather the state’s Division of Administrative Hearings and before an administrative law judge. Sounds like a lawsuit to Ladra, but the legal nuances may have Schwiep technically in the clear.
No matter, though. Because, secondly, this particular part of the county code does not apply to the CITT, which is not a board created by the county commission but rather a trust created by voters who approved the People’s Transportation Plan in 2002. It’s an independent watchdog group separate from the government and as such is not subject to the same government rules.
Schwiep also argues that, thirdly, the county code section only applies to board members who participate as a party to a lawsuit, not who serve as counsel — like he did in 2013 for the Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper in an action against the county.
“No one at that time suggested that my service as counsel for the plaintiffs triggered section 2-11.38,” Schwiep wrote. “This demonstrates that your current opinion is no more than retribution for my work to end comingling of surtax funds and in opposition to the extension of SR 836.”
In addition, Schwiep went to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust and got an opinion from them that he could serve as counsel on the administrative petition because the relief sought by the third parties are not associated with the CITT functions.
Schwiep ends by saying that he will be at the next CITT meeting Thursday afternoon. On the agenda are two $1.1 million contracts for environmental clean-up for the departments of transportation and public works and other departments using the half penny surtax funds.
And the county is requesting surtax funds for this, of course.

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Want to meet with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez? Got $15,000?
Apparently that’s the price for a half-hour meeting with the county’s strong mayor, the one in charge of all the purse strings and who would be instrumental in getting your retail/residential development all the green lights.
According to his calendar, Gimenez met from noon to 12:30 p.m. Thursday with Andy Hellinger, principal of Urban-X, the Coral Gables-based development firm that wants to build the $425-million River Landing Shops and Residences on 8.14 acres at 1500 NW North River Drive.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez nets $70K vs city strong mayor — for what in return?
Currently under construction, the latest version of River Landing Shops — and there have been a few — has 529 residential units and approximately 345,000 square feet of retail space along the Miami River. There will also be 2,200 parking spaces and a riverfront park and promenade.
“The ground floor of the project will have a variety of restaurants—from casual and fine dining to chef-driven concepts—with indoor and outdoor seating, opening to a landscaped linear park inspired by Manhattan’s High Line,” Hellinger told Multi-Housing News last month.
“We seek to offer retail options that our shoppers care about, including retailers that cater to Millennials that are health-conscious, tech-savvy, foodies and more.”
Read related: Carlos Gimenez has new role as rainmaker — soliciting for 10 PACs
But if they already started construction, then what would Hellinger need from the mayor? Funding? Now that Gimenez is raising funds for so many political action committees, maybe he has a future as a rainmaker. And as of last month, Hellinger said, roughly $117.4 million had been invested in the project, out of the total estimated cost of $424.8 million.
Or maybe Hellinger wants to make sure that other riverfront developments are not too competitive? Who knows?
What can’t be denied is that Urban-X made a $15,000 contribution to Miami Dade Residents First on Oct. 8 — the single largest donation made to finance the opposition to the Miami strong mayor initiative — and the company’s principal got an audience with Gimenez exactly one month later.
Now that’s a quick return on an investment.

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Now, this is a victory.
Sen. Annette Taddeo showed on Tuesday that she is truly a viable candidate who can win more than just special elections against racist apologists when she solidly defeated a challenge by Republican superwoman Marili Cancio, who was handpicked by the GOP for this specific race and moved from Key Biscayne to a condo in the Dadeland area.
Taddeo won 53 to 47 percent, a six point lead that Ladra is certain would have been double digits if voters had known her campaign was run by the racist himself, former Sen. Frank Artiles, who called some fellow legislators niggers in a loud rant at a bar.  Still, it is double what she won her seat with last year and that will resonate going into 2020. Yeah, okay, Ladra will concede while the campaign definitely benefited from Cancio’s Trump ties during a blue wave year, Taddeo’s final numbers were also boosted by the Andrew Gillum excitement in his native Richmond Heights and the NPA trend to go blue this year because of Trump and Parkland.
But, let me remind you, it’s a midterm election after all!
On Monday, Taddeo was the unelectable perennial candidate who finally got lucky one time running against former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, who did not do enough to distance himself from Artiles and lost despite outspending Taddeo 3 to 1. On Wednesday, Taddeo was an entrenched incumbent until she is termed out.
Because who are they going to throw at her now?
Read related: Jose Felix Diaz outspends Annette Taddeo 3 to 1 plus — but loses anyway
It can’t be Cancio, who should have stayed in Key Biscayne and run for Congress with better chance against Donna Shalala. After all, she did get 47% showing in the Senate district she just moved to in a campaign she started less than six months ago. Nothing to sneeze at.
But if she runs again, Cancio should run in her district — she has to move out of her Dadeland condo anyway; no room for the dogs — where nobody can call her a carpetbagger GOP invader. And she should not scrub her Twitter of her Trump love and extreme right conservative views. That is who she is. She needs to own it.
She also needs to stay away from the lies. The commercials and mailers calling Taddeo an NRA flunkie did not pass muster. Democrats in District 40 are not stupid, Marili. They are not going to buy the argument that she sided with the NRA by voting against the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Student Safety Bill. And that backfired because we felt like you thought we were stupid.
“You can say a lot of things about me but to say I’m with the NRA is really a stretch,” the senator said Wednesday.
Read related: GOP’s Marili Cancio vs Sen. Annette Taddeo in ‘year of the woman’
Taddeo joined most Democrats when she voted against the legislation only because of the poison pill — put in there by Republican State Rep. Jose Oliva — that puts guns on school campuses. Only 10 joined the Republicans who wrote and ushered the legislation in.
Does Taddeo feel like she still has a target on her back? Like Artiles is gonna run someone else against her two years from now. Bring it on, she said.
“I’ve never been one to start worrying very early,” Taddeo said. “I’m just going to continue doing my job. I think I’ve shown people that I’m a true public servant. I’ve gained fans.”
Cancio would not say no Wednesday to another race. But she also won’t say yes right now. Her life is full enough with her law firm, her volunteer work, her house on the West coast she hasn’t visited in a while, her son’s wedding in January and her grandchild, who is due in three to four weeks. “I feel so blessed,” she said.
Maybe she’ll also get back on the guest panel in Channel 10’s This Week In South Florida, where she used to be the regular GOP mouthpiece before she announced her run. We know she misses that.
Cancio thanked everyone who helped her in a class act statement posted on Facebook Wednesday but which, she said, was written three weeks earlier.
“It really doesn’t matter what the end result is tonight because as some say it is the journey and not the destination. I am a better person after meeting and talking to so many people in our community. I love our community and this race has been the honor of a lifetime.”
Ladra hopes it was also a lesson: Don’t lie. Be yourself. And try again.

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In a resounding defeat to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, voters solidly rejected the strong mayor initiative by 65% of the vote Tuesday — a signal that the new mayor doesn’t exactly have the mandate he thought he had.
Is Francis the Future suddenly the Prince of the Past?
Maybe it wasn’t a complete loss. Voters did approved the Miami Freedom Park retail complex with a soccer stadium that he lobbied so hard for. But they approved that and the lease and development of the Miami Riverfront Center property by 60 percent — and then shut Suarez down.
It was like, yeah this, sure that, and then nananina to the Suarez power grab, which he has spent several years and millions of dollars on.
It’s not just a huge blow to Baby X — whose allies on the dais just got targets on their backs — it hurts his papa, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who has had thoughts of running for county mayor in 2020.
It’s bittersweet for Ladra. Because while we did not support the strong arm mayor move, we certainly don’t enjoy how smug Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his cohorts are feeling right about now. Both raised money for campaigns against the measure. We won’t know how much they spent for weeks.
And Ladra is pretty sure this sets the stage for a Gimenez run for Miami mayor in 2021. Then he will try to push forward a different strong mayor referendum that he will call strong mayor lite.
Suarez is likely going to lie low for a few days, but he already told the Miami Herald that he wanted to try again with a different, probably also “lite” version.
Ladra thinks he should try to score a few victories first and concentrate on making the voters who elected him — and who have been shaking their heads for the last few months — remember why he was once Francis the Future.

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