Why does everyone have their panties up in a bunch over Miami-Dade Carlos Gimenez‘s trip to China with some of his favorite BFF lobbyists? I mean, the guy couldn’t go to France again this year for the umpteenth time. Been there, done that.
And he’s only got two more years to go before he is termed out in 2020. Might as well see the world with his wife and have taxpayers and lobbyists pay the tab.
But while the mayor’s travel habits are not necessarily surprising, this tour of Asia — 16 days for 49 people, including 19 (!!) county employees — is certainly and rightfully raising eyebrows.
To begin with, there is no way on Earth that, even if China had the best and cheapest rapid buses for us, we need 19 county people on that trip to make that determination. Sure, there were other opportunities. But we are talking about a list that includes Vice Mayor Ed Marquez, Commissioners Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan and Jean Monestime as well as four department directors. Commissioner Diaz, who was a host as chairman of the International Trade Consortium, took two aides (bet they were both pretty) while the other commissioners had to do with just one. Los pobres.
The trip was paid with both public and private funds (not that the private funds make it any better). Expenses for Gimenez, the commissioners and some staff were paid entirely by the “Trade Mission Center of the Americas Business Development Mission,” according to his spokestaff. But it looks like there were $10,000 contributions to that fund from each the PortMiami, the county aviation department and the water and sewer department for a total of $30,000, at least, in taxpayer funds.
Read related story: Miami-Dade mayor, lobbyist pals head to Paris Air Show
Another $33,283 is being paid by the respective departments for expenses incurred by Aviation Director Lester Sola, PortMiami Director Juan Kuryla, Water and Sewer Director Kevin Lynskey and Transit Director Alice Bravo, whose estimated expenses are higher by at least $3,000 than the next guy’s. That’s all taxpayer money, too.
Now, before any of you crony apologists start talking about how China is a leading trade partner at PortMiami and the airport and represents a lot of potential growth for South Florida, let me remind you that none of that is contingent on 19 county employees being paid their taxpayer funded paychecks to spend two weeks touring five cities in Asia. In fact, nobody had to go to China, or Japan for that matter, to learn about how the the buses or airlines operate there — or, as Gimenez eventually learned, that the Chinese bus passenger system wouldn’t work here. This is 2018. There is video conferencing, virtual town halls and even facetime. Gimenez and company could virtually ride the rapid bus in China from the comfort of their County Hall offices.
But this wasn’t really about that. This was about providing vacation memories and some graft opportunities to the Gimenez friends and family plan, including close buds-for-life Ralph Garcia Toledo, Marcelo Llorente and Jesse Manzano, three lobbyists and Gimenez campaign operatives who just coincidentally win bids for multi million dollar contracts. Garcia Toledo — who was also on the Paris trip (as well as Llorente) — even has a no-show, mostly clerical job at the water and sewer department for $200 an hour. Ladra can’t help but wonder if another job for the friends and family club was discussed over dim sum in Shanghai.
Did you happen to see Gimenez’s reaction when Univision’s Erika Carillo asked him about the presence of those very BFF lobbyists on the trip? Talk about looking guilty! He went on a tirade, raising his voice and pointing fingers. You have to see it. Thank the journalism gods for Carillo, who is doing what many in Miami’s mainstream media refuse to do — which is simply ask the right questions, no matter how awkward and no matter if the mayor or one of his mouthpieces threatens you with the loss of access.
Read related story: Mayor’s pal Garcia-Toledo eats lobster with county staffers
This interview is fantastic. Someone in law enforcement has to watch it because Gimenez is sweating bullets.
Carillo also exposed that 30% of trip expenses was paid for by lobbyists and companies that do business with the county, like AECOM and Nova Consulting, to the tune of $31,800 of the $92,350 tab. Hey, somebody had to pay for the $21,000 in estimated hotel costs.
In addition to the three Gimenez amigos other lobbyists in the delegation included Jose “Chino” Fuentes, his partner Jose Bermudez, Alex Heckler and Al Maloof, who all have pretty tight relationships with the mayor (Heckler has held fundraisers for him and Maloof used to employ his daughter-in-law). Also in the group was Wynwood property snatcher and developer Moishe Mana, who gave $7,500 for the trip (most lobbyists ponied up $2K) and who has already proposed a new trade show for Chinese apparel and textiles, which may need permits or subsidies from the county.
“Doesn’t this cause a bad perception,” Carillo asked the mayor on camera before he went off on her.
Yes, Erika, there is definitely a stink in the air. It is left there by lobbyists who pay for access to the mayor and also arm candy, showing prospective Chinese clients and hopeful county contractors that they have the mayor’s ear should said Chinese clients need to hire a lobbyist. It is left there by the mayor himself who tells you that the company that paid for his trip wasn’t one of the ones that do business with the county (read: not yet anyway). And it is left there by the suspicion that there were secret negotiations taking place — especially now that we know the mayor has “confidential” discussions with potential bidders on important county projects like the new courthouse (more on that later).
And let’s not forget the stink left by a “trade mission” by Miami-Dade electeds to China, where human rights abuses are rampant and businesses cannot act independently without the explicit approval of the government, which is a little jarring and a lot hypocritical. This is the very same county that supports banning businesses that do trade in Cuba and Venezuela for the very same reasons.
According to Human Rights Watch: “More than three decades after pledging to “reform and open up,” there are few signs the Chinese Communist Party intends to change its authoritarian posture. Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who will remain in power until 2022 and possibly beyond, the outlook for fundamental human rights, including freedoms of expression, assembly, association and religion, remains dire.” This protest demanding the freedom of political prisoners in Beijing, pictured left, happened about a week after the mayor and his pals left.
Why is China different? Is it because we don’t have a Chinese American on the commission? Is it because we don’t have a large Chinese American voting base?
Nobody who has been on this Asia trip has the moral authority ever again to vote against Odebrecht or anyone else because they have business partners in Cuba or in Venezuela. And yes, I am talking to you, Pepe Diaz.
Which brings us to yet another reason why at least the China leg of this trip was a waste of time. There are some commissioners — Chairman Esteban Bovo as well as Rebeca Sosa, Javier Souto and Joe Martinez — who would not support any business with any Communist Chinese train manufacturer that doesn’t respect human rights and probably employs 12-year-olds. Ladra suspects that whoever replaces Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who resigned the other day so he could focus on the congressional race he is going to lose in November — will also vote against a Chinese project as would Commissioners Xavier Suarez and Daniella Levine-Cava for the same reasons. That means an anti-Chinese commission majority.
But, again, none of this really matters for the mayor and his pals who are just on a mission to fill their scrapbooks with as many global monument pics as possible. Next stop is probably Qatar. Gimenez met last week with His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and the mayor showed him his own kingdom from his perch on the 29th floor (photograph to the left).
“We discussed investment opportunities in Miami-Dade County and ways to expand the relationship between our respective communities,” Gimenez posted on Facebook.
It doesn’t matter that His Highness the sheikh tolerates and likely promotes the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers and that poets in Qatar are sentenced to 15 years in prison when their prose is critical of the ruling family.
What matters is that Gimenez doesn’t have that stamp in his passport.
 

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The Coral Gables City Commission is poised to approve a mostly symbolic ban on the sale of assault weapons — there are no gun stores in the City Beautiful — even though state law prohibits cities from enacting gun restrictions and they could be removed from office.
Let’s keep our trigger fingers crossed.
Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli sponsored the measure, which is on the agenda as a first reading, in the wake of the Parkland school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High last month, where 14 students and three educators were gunned down by a 19-year-old with an AR-15. On Feb. 27, almost two weeks to the day, Valdes-Fauli led the commission in a 4-0 vote (Commissioner Vince Lago had left early, wink wink) to instruct a very unwilling city attorney to write the ordinance with the ban and bring it back to them.
This is pretty much campaign theater for a mayor who has already decided he wants another term next year. Valdes-Fauli has gotten quite a bit of ink and air time from this gimmick, so of course he’s going to ignore City Attorney Miriam Ramos’ warnings about this being an invalid act and the potential consequences — fines of up to $5,000 and removal from office.
Valdes-Fauli told any reporter who gave him a minute that he would gladly pay the price. “If that helps prevent the death of one of Coral Gables’ children, I would happily pay it,” he was quoted as saying in the Miami Herald.
Except it won’t save anyone’s life. Because, as we said in the first sentence, there is no gun store in Coral Gables. So, even if the law passed and remained valid, someone could buy an AR-15 in Coconut Grove and bring it to Miracle Mile. And, also, if he is removed from office it will likely be because the ordinance is illegal. So he’s done nothing.
Jack Thompson, a Gables resident and City Hall pain in the trolley, says that the mayor and his cohorts who vote yes on this must be removed from office by the governor. That it’s not a matter of maybe. That it’s not a choice.
“Should this renegade Coral Gables Commission actually pass its ordinance Tuesday, which calls for violating state law, please proceed with summarily removing all those voting to do so from their offices,” Thompson wrote over the weekend in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott. “The statute in question MANDATES their removal. It does not give you, Governor Scott, the option not to remove them, as the operative word in the removal statute is ‘shall,’ the most powerful command verb in the English language.”
Oh, please let him be right. Everybody but Lago, who has apparently told people he will vote against the ordinance Tuesday, is a waste of space up there anyway. Let’s clean house. Voters need a do over, too.
That’s not to say that Ladra isn’t for a statewide ban on assault weapons. But the way to do it is a binding referendum question on the ballot, which some people are trying to get for the 2020 election. Ladra would like to see it on this year’s ballot, while the momentum is there. This is what the city of Coral Gables should be doing. Pressuring their legislators in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to pass a wider ban. Because what good is a ban in Coral Gables if some nut can cross the street and get an AR-15 in West Miami or Coconut Grove.
That is the weapon that Nikolas Cruz used to kill 17 people on Feb. 14. It was purchased in a Coral Springs strip mall. Yet, you don’t see Coral Springs Mayor Skip Campbell, whose community is right next to Parkland, moving to pass an illegal ban that would mean nada. Instead, he wants to collect petitions to put it on the 2020 ballot and let voters do what our Republican legislators won’t.
Because the desire to ban these weapons of war and high-capacity magazines is very real. A Quinnipiac University poll done the week after the Broward school shooting, 67% of the respondents said they were in favor of a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons.
But what Valdes-Fauli and his yes people are doing is not so real. It’s theater. It’s a PR stunt to make them look good because gun control suddenly became the hip new thing for politicians to embrace as the teenagers becoming 18-year-old voters demand it.
And it could even be illegal.
“Coral Gables‘ City Attorney Miriam Ramos has publicly and rightly informed the Commission that she will not certify as legal its vote to violate this law,” Thompson wrote in his letter to the guv. “She is a lawyer who takes seriously both her oath upon becoming  lawyer to obey and support the law and her oath of office as City Attorney. If this ordinance is passed, she will not sign off on it.”
Indeed, “the city attorney’s opinion regarding the ordinance remains unchanged,” says the memo in tomorrow’s agenda package.
“You have to love a client who pays its lawyer, with tax dollars, to give legal advice which it chooses to ignore,” wrote Thompson. “Sounds like we have a local manifestation of Trump.”
You know who else are lawyers? Valdes-Fauli and Commissioner Mike Mena. One would think they would know better.
“The Florida Bar has remedies for such brazen oath-breaking,” Thompson wrote, and Ladra has no doubt he is seeking their disbarment.
 

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Someone is at it again in Miami Beach — and everyone thinks it’s Michael Grieco.
A campaign mailer arrived in mailboxes last week telling voters about the sweet deal $50,000 job that former Commissioner Joy Malakoff had gotten offered to her by Mayor Dan Gelber. Except that there was no disclaimer on the anonymous piece. And Malakoff isn’t up for election.
But she isn’t the only one targeted in the piece, which quotes Political Cortadito and also has photos of Gelber and Micky Steinberg, who Malakoff gave campaign contributions to. The mayor seems to be the main target, repeatedly calling him unethical. “Did you actually think it would be different with Gelber? Ask Mayor Gelber to explain this unethical payoff attempt,” it reads on the front.
The back of the mailer takes a stab at a general bond referendum the city wants to put on the November ballot.
“…and Mayor Gelber wants us to approve more of our money for a general obligation bond with no specific information on projects and his political friends like Malakoff lurking in the shadows?”
Reated: Ex Miami Beach elected Joy Malakoff got, then dropped juicy $50K job
It also thanks Commissioners Michael Gongora and Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who not only voted against the palanca position but asked the questions that caused the whole community to raise a collective eyebrow and Malakoff to, eventually, back off and decline the offer. The piece doesn’t have any reference to Commissioners Ricky Arriola and John Elizabeth Aleman, photographed right, who also voted in favor of the Malakoff botella.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Grieco told Ladra over the weekend from Colorado where he’d been skiing. “I’m not in the business of spending my money in the off season. Why Malakoff? Why leave Ricky out of it if I think Ricky is a piece of shit?”
He has a point.
Grieco is an easy suspect because of the secret campaign cash scandal that saw him fall from the front runner position in the Miami Beach mayoral race to a defendant in an elections law case, accused of funneling money from a foreign citizen into a political action committee — that he said he had nothing to do with — through a third party. He resigned his commission seat and agreed to plead no contest — while simultaneously saying he knew nothing about it — and accepted a sentence of one year probation during which he can’t run for office. He also had to pay $6,000 restitution for the costs of the SAO and Miami Dade Ethics Commission investigations.
He was barred from running for office during his probation period, but that could be up in April (it often gets cut in half for first time offenders with “good behavior”). So might he run again? Hmmmm… there would be motivation if he wanted to ensure that Malakoff doesn’t get appointed, as widely rumored, to the seat that may be vacated by Rosen Gonzalez, who is running for Congress, because he has intentions to run again.
But (1) Malakoff’s chances at an appointment got blown when she went for that $50K post. Miami Beach doesn’t put up with that kind of shit. This ain’t Hialeah. And (2) Grieco, who has continued to be politically active on Facebook and posted a video of the Malakoff offer that got a lot of engagement, might be having too much fun as an outside agitator to go back into the fire.
“I’ve kind of enjoyed not being public property,” said Grieco, “I’ve enjoyed waking up in the morning without having 85 targets on my back.
“It’s been nice.”
You mean it was nice. Because he knows that everybody thinks he’s behind this. One of his former colleagues told him that 99% of the people on the street think it was him. Maybe just pure unadulterated revenge aided by his longtime political consultant David Custin? It really does look like Custin’s handiwork.
But the same people who think it could be Grieco wonder if it might be Rosen Gonzalez or Gongora — as if they were interchangeable. I am on Team Kristen all the way, even as a paid communications consultant, so I know for a fact it wasn’t her. She is an underdog with less money than every other candidate and all her funds are for communicating with CD 27 voters, okay? She also doesn’t need to pick any fights on the dais, where she is already alone most of the time.
Gongora said it wasn’t him either. “I got it in the mail,” he told Ladra on Sunday, adding that the thank yous were a “red herring” to make it look like they were involved.
“I certainly wouldn’t want my colleagues to think I spent time and money on this.”
Are there any other suspects?

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Put my money on Doral in the 1st Annual Mayor’s Basketball Classic Cup between that city and the town of Miami Lakes.
Mayor Manny Cid may be younger and faster than Mayor JC Bermudez, que se la esta jugando playing this basketball game against his colleague to the north — even if it is for a good cause. But rumor has it that Bermudez has a secret weapon: Shaquille O’Neal — a retired Miami Heat basketball star and reserve police officer in Doral — could play on JC’s team.
“Technically, I don’t know if he counts as an employee. I have to look at the fine print. But we will win with or without our secret weapon,” Bermudez said, adding that the team is solid nonetheless. “We actually had try-outs, so many employees wanted to play.”
Each mayor will play with a team of 12 city employees. Both mayors played in high school and on adult leagues. Cid, who had a lot more hair (and eve a mustache!) when he was 15, coaches both his son’s little league teams. Bermudez plays every Saturday.
This is gonna be good.
“It’s all for charity but we also wanted to show teamwork,” Cid said, adding that the Lakes team has been practicing for about a month every Thursday (photo, left). “We could play one-on-one but the purpose is to show we have a good team on the court and at City Hall.
“You could be a good mayor, and we’re both good mayors,” Cid said, showing he has zero trash talking skills, “but it takes a whole team to run the city.”
In Miami Lakes, Councilwoman Marilyn Ruano is putting together a squad of cheerleaders.
The 1st Annual Mayor’s Basketball Classic Cup April 5 will benefit the Doral Parks & Police 4 Kids Foundation and the Miami Lakes Special Needs Committee. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. at Doral Legacy Park and tickets at $6.22 including the EventBrite fee.
Ladra will start taking wagers now.

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Two sneaky attempts to stop the crack down on puppy mills have been thwarted, thanks mostly to animal rights activists who kept their eye on the bouncing ball and waged a campaign of complaints to get two amendments pulled from legislative bills this session.
And they took on one of the most powerful lobbyists in the state to do it.
It’s a testament to the power of grass roots organizing that the Pets’ Trust and other animal rights groups like the Animal Legal Defense Fund beat powerful Tallahassee lobbyist Ron Book — and perhaps something that we can apply to other issues, such as gun sense and charter schools.
“It was a victory for ‘we the people’ and a lesson in how our government is supposed to work,” Michael Rosenberg, one of the Pets’ Trust founders, told Ladra.
Related: Carlos Gimenez keeps rejecting voter-approved Pets’ Trust
Book represents Petland, a chain of pet stores — and the first result on your screen if you google “puppy mills Florida.” The Humane Society and other agencies have investigated the chain, which is the biggest national retail supplier of puppy mill dogs. There is one in Kendall. Basically, they resell puppies from USDA-licensed breeders that, activists have proven, put profits over the health and well-being of the dog, keeping hundreds of dogs in cramped and substandard conditions. Many die are kept in wire cages with urine and feces for days. Many die or have injuries and illnesses. The dogs that breed live in captivity their entire lives, with one purpose only: breed more puppies for profit. It’s a very sad existence.
Last year, the city of Miami passed an ordinance that prohibits the sale of any dogs that were bred in puppy mills, like in this photo right. Stores can sell pups from hobby breeders, who treat their animals like pets and only breed once or twice a year. Another 57 or 58 municipalities have similar laws include Hollywood, Hallandale Beach and Hillsborough County.
Book tried twice to get amendments into two different bills to basically void any local puppy mill ordinances like those. The first was a carefully disguised line in the Agriculture and Consumer Services department’s 300-page bill about oyster farming and seed labels. It didn’t even include the word animal or pet in it. Supporters contended it meant anything that could be bought or sold legally.
But animal activists saw right through it and it was removed.
Then, State Rep. Halsey Beshears (R-Monticello), right, tried to sneak it back in again Monday, filing an amendment to 160-page tax package to prohibit municipalities from restricting the sale of “taxable personal property” that could be legally sold. That would include dogs and cats. And it was caught again.
Monday afternoon, the Pets’ Trust sent the following email blast:
“Our legislative sessions ends this Friday. During these final days, lobbyists seeking to implement the agendas of their clients are doing some sneaky things. Mr. Ron Book is the lobbyist for puppy stores and is one of the top lobbyists in the state. He convinced Representative Beshears to support puppy stores and Mr. Beshears listened, adding an amendment  (two sentences in a 300-page bill) that stops communities from banning puppy stores. This is not the way our government should operate, with a powerful lobbyist dictating to a representative what he wants
How about what WE want!!!!? Please call Representative Beshears and urge him to reject that amendment and fight with us to stop puppy stores.
Then, call Senator Lauren Book, the daughter of Ron Book.  While Lauren fights to protect abused children, Ron Book leads the way to protect abusers of puppies. Call Senator Book and ask her to fight against this Bill, and to enlighten her father on the horrific puppy mills
CALL NOW!!!!
Please send to ten other people.”
Ladra thinks it was that last line that did it.
Signed by Pets’ Trust founders Rosenberg and Rita Schwartz, the email sent to more than 33,000 supporters included both lawmakers’ office numbers. Then, Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava forwarded it to her email list. The senators must have been deluged with calls.
Related: Animal shelter show hides truth about services, kill rate
The next day, an angry Ron Book emailed Rosenberg, calling the email blast he sent “trashy.” But Ladra doesn’t see anything trashy about it. It’s honest. Just plain matter of fact. And, guess what? It was effective. The amendment was pulled Tuesday evening.
Or we could say it was “trashed.”
Next email campaign should be to get Miami-Dade — which passed an ordinance in 2014 that forces stores to advertise the source of their puppies — to get more aggressive and outright ban the importation of any animals from puppy mills. Especially now that, as the Tampa Bay Times reported, the federal government is redacting the reports from the USDA investigators on these hellholes. What good is knowing the source if we can’t find out anything about their history?
Commissioner Levine Cava — who some may think forgot her promise to help voters make the Pets’ Trust initiative that passed with 65% become a reality — is working on a puppy mill ordinance, but may not have the support she needs.
Call your commissioner and tell them that this is a no brainer.
And to not let any lobbyist help write it up.
 

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