Is a Miami-Dade county commissioner intentionally delaying the removal of the half-penny People Transportation Plan sales tax from the general operational budget? And is he, or she, doing it on behalf of Mayor Carlos Gimenez?
That’s what it looks like.
It’s been more than a month since the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, a 15-member body created to oversee the People’s Transportation Plan funded with the half-penny sales tax, voted to rescind an agreement that gave the county permission to use the funds — which voters approved in 2002 to expand rail and bus service — for operations and maintenance.
Their intention was for Gimenez — who campaigned two years ago on adding rail lines (this photo is a screen grab from a TV ad) — to stop balancing the budget with PTP monies starting this year. The resolution, passed Aug. 23, basically recommends the commission “end the greater flexibility in the use of county transit surtax funds for the operation and maintenance of the existing transit system to be effective commencing with fiscal year 2019-2020.”
Read related: No brainer Miami-Dade Commission approves Kendall Parkway despite so much
It rescinds a 2009 board decision that gave the county the ability to use the funds for maintenance and operations after the county said it needed the reallocation because of budget shortfalls after the 2008 recession.
“The resolution was put forward to make the law reflect the desires of the CITT and citizens to expand transportation versus operate the current system,” said CITT member Evan Fancher, who proposed it. “If we make the law reflect our desire to return money to its intended use, next year’s budget will be presented with the money put back toward expansion instead of operations.”
That was wishful thinking.
Last week, before the final budget hearing, Commissioner Xavier Suarez tried to put something on the agenda to approve the CITT’s recommendation, but he was blocked. Another commissioner asked to sponsor legislation first, County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams told him, without telling him who it was but suggesting he schedule a Sunshine meeting.
Without knowing who it was? How is he supposed to do that?
Suarez says that’s either disingenuous or “complicit” in what appears to be an intentional effort to delay the “unwinding unification” of the PTP and general budget funds.
“Prior to the receipt of your legislative request another Commissioner requested to be the Prime Sponsor of legislation that conflicts and/or overlaps with your request,” Miami-Dade County Price-Williams wrote to Suarez on Thursday. “Once the first legislative request is finalized, we will send you that item for your consideration in case you wish to be listed as a Co-Sponsor.  Alternatively, upon our receipt of written confirmation that the first legislative request is released, we will work with your office to complete your legislative request.
“You may also wish to discuss this matter with the first requesting Commissioner at a sunshine meeting called for this purpose or at a publicly noticed meeting,” the attorney ended, signing her email “Take Care, Abi.”
Read related: Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez
But who is the first commissioner? The one who can hold this up indefinitely? Ah, “Abi” wouldn’t say.
Las malas lenguas say it’s Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, who has long been known to support Gimenez in everything he does. “Sosa is holding up the process. Doing the mayor’s work,” said one source.
We’ll find out.
Attorney Paul Schwiep, a member and former chairman of the CITT, has asked for all written communications regarding the agency’s resolution to end the subsidies.
The next day, Commissioner Suarez joined that public records request “which hopefully will elicit any and all communications, including telephone messages, emails, and texts between your office and other county officials,” he wrote in an email to Williams, where he basically accused the county attorney and/or her staff of playing politics.
“You have stated that there is another commissioner who is interested in this matter moving forward.  However, you did not identify the commissioner – yet suggested that I have a Sunshine meeting with this unidentified commissioner. In light of the above, putting my request on hold is at best disingenuous and at worst complicit,” Suarez wrote.

“It is your obligation as well as ours, and the mayor’s, to comply with this action by the CITT, which effectively dissolves a contractual agreement,” Suarez wrote, adding that it was more important to comply with the will of a citizen board than pander to commissioners.
“You have indicated that it’s your policy to only prepare legislative requests that may ‘overlap or conflict’ consecutively rather than concurrently, and only if the first legislative request is ‘released.’  I do not believe this policy supersedes the legal obligation to respond to the CITT’s resolution in a timely manner in accordance with Ordinance 02-177. The Board’s failure to do that is a matter of considerable concern.”
Suarez ended the email promising to find out exactly who is behind the hold up.
“I am intent on getting to the bottom of what appears to be an effort to ignore, delay or permanently frustrate the CITT’s clear mandate that rescinds the county’s right to continue diverting surcharge funds to balance the budget.”

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President Barack Obama release his “second wave” of endorsements early Monday afternoon.
“Today, I’m proud to endorse even more Democratic candidates who aren’t just running against something, but for something—to expand opportunity for all of us and to restore dignity, honor, and compassion to public service,” tweeted the president, who gave his first wave of nods on Aug. 1, before the primary. “They deserve your vote:”
In Florida, where absentee ballots go out next week, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell got a shout out in her congressional race against Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo. So did State Senate incumbent Annette Taddeo. and State Reps. Javier Fernandez and Nick Duran. He also gave Senate candidate David Perez, a firefighter who wants to replace the termed out Rene Garcia, a nod.
But there was a notable omission in the list: Donna Shalala.
Shalala, the former UM president who won the Democratic nomination in August, was former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton and president of the Clinton Foundation until 2017. Her supporters (read: puppeteers) portray her as bluer than anyone.
Read related: UM’s Donna Shalala is not going to fool anyone in CD 27
But Obama knows what Ladra and the rest of us voters in District 27 know: Shalala is a Republican at heart.
She was bad on labor, going against unionized sanitation workers who striked at UM because the working conditions were so awful. She was bad on the environment, letting UM sell endangered pine rock lands to a developer who wants to build a Walmart. And just how much did tuition increase during her tenure at UM? Bad on education.
So why is anybody surprised that Obama didn’t endorse her? Ladra is not among them. I am far more surprised she won the primary in the first place.
Party leaders are already doing damage control, especially since Republican nominee Maria Elvira Salazar has painted herself as a moderate and gained some steam heading into the general (more on that later). A Herald reporter tweeted that someone with the DCCC said there was “still room for more Obama endorsements.”
So there’s going to be a third wave? When? After ABs go out? Like, you know, “Ooops, I forgot. But I like these people too! My bad.”
Really? Really?
Did I mention that Nick Duran was on Obama’s yes list? So it’s not like he just overlooked anybody.
Obama didn’t just overlook Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in a much more high profile race than this, or New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo or New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who were also curiously missing from the list.
And he didn’t just overlook Donna Shalala. He intentionally excluded her. Que pena!

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Even though Florida Sen. Annette Taddeo has raised more than twice as much campaign fodder for her re-election as her challenger, Republican superwoman Marili Cancio has more cash in hand, according to the latest campaign reports.
That’s because Taddeo has outspent Cancio, who has only been campaigning since June, by almost ten times.
Cancio has reportedly raised $319,457 between her campaign account and her PAC, Friends of Marili Cancio, according to latest campaign reports filed that tallied through Sept. 14 and Sept. 21, respectively. That’s less than half of the to the $760,408 raised by the sitting senator between her campaign account and her PAC, Fight Back Florida, only counting the funds since she won the seat in a special election in September, 2017.
But Taddeo has spent close to $530,000 since October 2017 and Cancio has only spent about $60K. That means Cancio has a small edge in cash on hand, by the tune of about $20K. Not enough to really make a difference. And she has struggled in the most recent reports, so maybe the donations were early and have been spent.
Read related: GOP’s Marili Cancio vs Dem Sen. Annette Taddeo in ‘year of the woman’
Of course, money is not everything. Taddeo won her seat in last year’s special election against former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, who had more than three times as much campaign funding as she did.
And also, this doesn’t count outside party money. Like the kind that paid for mailers that arrived in the district last week, courtesy the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (pro Cancio) and the Florida Democrats Legislative Campaign Committee (anti Cancio). A source involved in the race told Ladra that Taddeo had sent two positive pieces earlier, but this negative attack on Cancio’s support of the Marshall Program that puts guns in schools is the first received by Ladra.
“She’s worried. My campaign is too clean,” Cancio told Ladra in a text message over the weekend.
“You are not going to get mail from me because yo are now a registered D,” she added, with a smiley face emoji. “Focused on NPAs — can’t afford the entire universe.”
It’s true that in her own mail piece, she is appealing to NPAs and trying to come off as moderate. “I am a state senate candidate because I want to bring new ideas and perspectives to the challenges we face in our community, overcoming partisan politics,” the piece from the Senate Campaign Committee says, but in Spanish.
It landed last week in Ladra’s home, but addressed to both of Ladra’s parents, “Hispanics over 60,” an often sought voting bloc. One is Republican but one is registered Democrat, so Cancio’s universe is bigger than she says.
Read related: Jose Felix Diaz outspends Annette Taddeo 3 to 1 plus — but loses anyway
The intro/bio piece, which has waaaaay too much copy on it, has the word “Republican” only in one place — the tiny type disclaimer. It focuses on her community work — stints on the board of Directors at Miami Dade College (it doesn’t say she was appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott), the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board, the Miami-Dade County Hispanic Affairs Board, the Florida Association of Universities and as pro bono attorney for La Liga Contra El Cancer.
“She has always put the interests of our community above partisan politics,” it says.
But who is Marili kidding? This is the Republican Superwoman, a nickname Ladra gave her because of her hard work for the party. She was proud of it before she needed NPA voters to help her win this seat. She constantly defended Trump on Twitter, which is the reason why she has deactivated her old account for a new campaign one — to hide all that partisan Trumpism.
But make no mistake about it, Marili Cancio is as puro GOP as they get. Cancio, who was recruited by the Republican Party, has been involved in local GOP causes, the Women’s Federated Republican club and has been a surrogate for national and state candidates on Spanish TV and radio for years, often providing the Republican voice on This Week in South Florida, where she goes out of her way to defend and promote the GOP agenda.
Of course, the people who vote in District 40 may not know that. Because they don’t know Cancio at all and they are getting very toned down version of her. It’s time Taddeo use some of her funds to let people know who Cancio really is.

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo may not be so bobo after all.
Bovo acted quickly after he recognized the same mantra coming up in the pro Kendall Parkway speakers on Thursday, after questions were raised about paying for testimony, and moved to stop it before others noticed.
After the first few people stood up and provided what seemed like a scripted speech — name, address, in so-and-so’s district and I support this — he suddenly offered them the option to wave in support.
Just wave in support? Shouldn’t they have to provide testimony as to why?
Read related: Kendall Parkway to nowhere is an intentional slippery slope for UDB
This is important because on Thursday morning, the Miami Herald reported that an FIU student had been recruiting pro Parkway speakers on Instagram.
“Are you or any of your friends available tomorrow 9/27 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in County Hall,” read the text message invitation posted on Instagram by FIU student Leo Cosio, according to a story by Doug Hanks. “Will get paid $75 to attend and speak in favor of the Kendall Parkway.”
Cosio, president of the student government association on FIU’s Biscayne Campus, posted a screen grab of a text message, with bold-faced lettering offering more details. “If you’re interested DM me,” the headline of the post said. “Script provided.”
That’s what the pro Parkway people, some of whom didn’t live in the affected area either, started sounding like. Like they were scripted. Ladra noticed it. But then Bovo noticed it, too.
Law enforcement should get the names of those people who “testified” at Thursday’s meeting and talk to them about why they went there. I am sure they will find paid speakers on behalf of the MDX, which had already spent at least $400,000 on a slick PR campaign for the Parkway, or any number of other people, including builders and developers who stand to make millions in contracts. It behooves the state attorney’s office to nip this in the bud.
Read related: MDX spent $400K on PR, including $60K for mayor’s daughter in law
They should also talk to Cosio, who took the post down after the Herald inquired about it and has since said he is against the Parkway. If he is so against it, why did he refuse to say where he found it originally or who offered to pay. “Not at liberty to share,” he told a reporter in a direct message on Twitter. Not at liberty to share? Someone subpoena that guy.
And then they should talk to Bovo about what he knew and why he waved them off. Sketchy.
Does Bovo think that the approval of the Kendall Parkway is going to help his 2020 mayoral bid? Or is he just helping his buddy, Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who sneaked his way into chairman of the MDX board and whose lobbyist son works for MDX contractors?

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The long-debated and controversial 836 extension known as the Kendall Parkway was given final approval 9-4 by the Miami-Dade Commission on Thursday, despite so many warnings, questions and concerns.
That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, however, and not because it still needs state and federal approval that is hopefully not as purchased as county nods. Lawsuits are threatened and Sen. Marco Rubio, of all people, vows to fight the project because the MDX doesn’t want to buy more land for the Everglades restoration project than it needs to build a 13-mile, six-lane expressway through protected wetlands.
There are so many reasons why this should not happen.
Commissioners were warned that studies show new highways like the Kendall Parkway do not alleviate traffic but only cause more congestion long term. There were unanswered questions about the plan, incomplete information about even the precise route, of which there were at least four. And there are myriad concerns about how this will impact the environment, the Everglades restoration plan and promote future development and sprawl.
It didn’t matter. One could tell it didn’t matter as people pleaded for them to take a step back and wait. Transit advocates even presented options that were less costly and wouldn’t endanger our environment and our water table. In the end, our commissioners voted with the builders and the contractors that pad their campaign accounts and with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, which would manage the $650-million to $1 billion project (read: award bids and dole out the funds).
Of course there were some West Kendall residents for it. They are desperate for any relief that they can see on the horizon from a county government that not only forgets about them but also breaks its promises and steals their half-penny tax dollars to fund mediocre bus service and limited MetroRail.
But nobody explained to these people that if that money were invested in the SMART plan transit solutions, in light rail and rapid bus throughout Miami-Dade in the right places then there would be no need for the Kendall Parkway because there would be fewer cars on the road. Nobody explained to them that there are less costly and better alternatives within the UDB that would not promote future development west over what was once protected wetlands.
They think they have no choice. And they do. Or they did.
Because now that the Kendall Parkway is approved, Gimenez and his pocket commissioners, principally Chairman Esteban Bovo, will fall on this “laurel” and do absolutely nothing else for transit. They don’t have to. They did this.
And while most of the commissioners who voted in favor of this were just re-elected — too bad this highway vote didn’t come before the August election — people should remember that.
They did this.

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