State Sen. Frank Artiles resigned Friday for having a racist rant earlier in the week, but only after it became increasingly clear that he had no other choice.

Nothing was getting done in the final weeks of session was the capitol turned on Artiles’ words to his colleagues, including calling Senate President Joe Negron a “pussy,” Sen. Audrey Gibson a “bitch” and “girl,” and using a slang version of the n-word to describe another group of senators. In fact, things were only getting worse. A new group or person called for his resignation every day, including people from his own party. Protesters went to his Miami office, delivering signed petitions and threatening a recall and Artiles reacted by threatening several of his colleagues with depositions that would try to show this kind of language is used all the time in the Florida Senate.

It certainly didn’t help matters that he was reluctant to apologize and then was forced to do it on the Senate floor — either that or Negron would bring it up — in what was the most half-assed, sorry-not-sorry apology ever, where he not only pooh-poohed his words.

His resignation letter Friday — under threat of being expulsed by the body — wasn’t a ton better.

“I apologize to my family and friends and I apologize to all of my fellow Senators and lawmakers. To the people of my district and all of Miami-Dade, I am sorry I have let you down and ask for your forgiveness.

“My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State.

I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.”

So, he is resigning because he is a distraction, not because someone who talks like he did doesn’t belong in the hallowed halls of the Florida Senate. Okay, we’ll take it.

At least he didn’t blame Hialeah again.

Artiles may have resigned from the Senate, but he still owes Hialeah an apology. Sen. Rene Garcia, a Republican who represents Hialeah, said as much this week after Artiles said his use of offensive language was instilled in him growing up in the diverse environment (not!) of Hialeah where, apparently, he wants us to think that kind of talk would be honky dory.

“My constituents and I would agree that this language is simply unacceptable. Senator Artiles owes the residents of Hialeah an apology for unfairly associating them with this kind of behavior,” Garcia said in a written statement.

It didn’t take long for newly-minted Sen. Frank Artiles to misbehave now, did it?

It shouldn’t take this long for him to resign.

A known bully and hothead who punched a college kid in the face at a bar and who wants to kill a Florida black bear, Artiles was in the news again Tuesday after a group of African-American colleagues said he had used the n-word with them and had insulted one of them in multiple other ways, calling her “bitch,” “girl,” and referring to himself as “a fucking assohole.”

At least he got one thing right.

Ladra is not surprised that this happened. She’s only surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Artiles is not only a little more aggressive than some people, he’s a magnet for bad news — from the time he was caught by Ladra living outside of his district as a state represenative to last year, when he proposed some hateful anti LGBT bathroom policing bill.

This item, however, might do him in. At least for now.

Read related story: State Rep. Frank Artiles wants to kill a Florida black bear

It happened at the members-only Governors Club near the Capitol building, just after 10 p.m. and “over drinks,” as first reported in the Miami Herald. So maybe he was under the influence. Sometimes, one’s true colors are revealed when one’s inhibitions are removed. Artiles approahced Sens. Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville) and Perry Thurston (D- Fort Lauderdale) and told them that Senate President Joe Negron (D-Stuart) had only gotten to his powerful position because of “six niggers” who voted for him.

“Say what,” one of them sorta said, recoiling at the n-word, and confused because he must have been talking about white Republicans. “Niggas,” Artiles clarified, because the slang version is supposed to make it okay. He said in his half-assed apology Wednesday that he comes from a diverse area where, one would suppose, that is common. He’s my senator, in my district, and I don’t think so.

And you didn’t say it like “my niggas,” Frankie boy. You said it like “those niggas.” Not the same. And you’re not a 17-year-old who wants to sound like Kanye West. You’re a senator, now. Or were.

Because he also called a fellow senator a “girl” and a “bitch” in what was, by all accounts, a political tirade, it is no surprise that Democrats statewide immediately called for his resignation, as they should, and not only because it would cause a special election and a chance for them to win back a seat in the post Donald Trump America that has become a blue promise. SAVE demanded his resignation on Wednesday, seizing on the momentum to get rid of one of their biggest enemies in Tallahasee.

But that’s just gravy. Artiles should resign because former State Rep. Ralph Arza was forced to resign after he left several threatening voice mail messages with racial slurs on the phone of former State Rep. Gus Barreiro. Artiles should resign because the Florida Senate is no place for that kind of language, no matter how sorry you are about getting caught. Artiles should resign because Gibson and Thurston — indeed, any black legislator — should not be forced to work with someone who made such remarks.

It seems an affront to Gibson, in particular, to force her to confront her bully every day.

Former state rep and current Miami-Dade School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall said “it would be impossible for me to sit in a room to create laws that impact our community with someone that has neither regard or respect for those who make those laws with him. 

“As lawmakers, we make laws for men, women, children, Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, and others who come from all corners of the world,” Bendross-Mindingall said in a statement. “A person who is not respectful to all is not fit to make laws for them, neither should anyone be subjected to sit on a dais with such an individual.”

Lastly and perhaps the least, Artiles should also resign because staying in office will only hurt the Republican Party, serving as a constant reminder of how racist the GOP has become that it would tolerate this talk from one of their own.

Where are the Republicans calling for his resignation? Negron stripped Artiles of his chairmanship of the Senate’s Committee on Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities. But he didn’t call for his resignation. Negron said that he apologized and that should be the end of it. And Artiles — who waged a supremely negative campaign against a black Democrat last year — scoffed, saying that he was soon running for re-election.

Are you kidding me? I don’t think so. Artiles sorry-not-sorry apology — reading off remarks most likely prepared by someone else — was hardly as heartfelt as his insults. Ladra is surprised that some ambitious Republican with county or state or federal hopes hasn’t come out to lead the GOP rejection. Sen. Anitere Flores? Are you watching this? Do you want people to remember your silence?

Read related story: Artiles lives outside district

Artiles would be smart to resign and quietly work to make amends. He’s a young guy and Miami is a city with acute political amnesia. Arza is now a successful campaign consultant and lobbyist. And former State Sen. Al Gutman, who pleaded guilty to fraudulently billing Medicare and resigned from the legisulature in 1999, owns the quite awesome and successful Cuban Crafters the cigar shop and bar on Northwest 7th Street.

Hey, maybe they can start a club there.

Former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora is getting a good head start on his bid to get his seat back, raising $70,000 (including a $20,000 loan to himself) for the Group 3 race in his first month.

By comparison, the two others bidding for the open seat — because Commissioner Joy Malakoff doesn’t want to be there if Mayor Philip Levine ain’t — combined haven’t raised half of that, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed last week: Adrian Gonzalez , owner of the well-known Cuban eatery David’s Cafe, has raised $23,738 in three months, and Cindy Mattson, a consultant who is a former compliance officer with the U.S. Department of Labor, has raised $7,000, including a $5,000 loan to herself and a $1,000 contribution from. Mattson has also spent the most, with consultant Miriam Almer getting $3,000 and $625 for event supplies. The two boys haven’t spent $1,000 yet, neither one of them, but for some reason it seems like it’s going to e a showdown between them two.

Almost a third of Góngora’s money comes from addresses outside of Miami Beach and it also includes some bundling, most notably $5,000 from businesses owned by James Cavanaugh, who owns and manages and may want to redevelop several properties in South Beach. He also has $2,000 each from the owner of Mango’s and from lobbyist Manny Prieguez. But Góngora also has a ton of smaller checks from a personal trainer and a speech therapist and quite a few activists like Frank and Marian Del Vecchio and Ray Breslin, who is president of the Collins Park Residents Association. These are people who not only vote, but drum up votes from others.

Read related story: Michael Gongora wants back on Miami Beach commission

About a third of Gonzalez’s $24K treasure chest is also from outside the city — from as far away as New York and Philadelphia and Scarborough, Maine. There’s no obvious bundling but there is some development and construction money, as well as sympatico restaurants like Sliderz and Munchies Cafe and bars with names like Foxhole and Drunken Dragon. Gonzalez has been president of the Lincoln Road merchants association and instrumental in bringing some new events to South Beach, but he is running as a family man, only having photographs of himself with his wife and two daughters on his website.

One of the most interesting contributions, so far, is a $1,000 maximum gift from Gayety Theaters, also known as Club Madonna on Washington Avenue, which has been at odds with the city for years and is now in litigation with it.

The strip club was already at fighting with city officials in 2014 over the owner’s request for a liquor license (denied) when authorities found a 13-year-old runaway girl stripping there by force of three other people who were ultimately charged by police. City Manager Jimmy Morales revoked Club Madonna’s business license. But two weeks later, he reinstated it after the club promised to put in measures that would prevent underage girls from dancing there. A year later, city commissioners passed a human trafficking ordinance requiring stricter records and that strip venues — of which there really only is one — hire a manager to guarantee legal requirements for the nude dancers are met.

So a few months ago, Club Madonna owner Leroy Griffith sued the city of Miami Beach. He says that the new rules have little to do with stopping human trafficking and more to do with shutting down the only strip club on the beach.

Góngora said Griffith offered him a check last month, but he declined.

“He only gives contributions in exchange for a promise to support alcohol and nudity,” Góngora told Ladra.

Okay, sure, but then what do James Cavanaugh and Manny Prieguez give contributions in exchange for?

The mayoral race in Miami Beach is going to be expensive as both candidates have already raised almost $800,000 between them. Ladra fully expects this to go over the million dollar mark before the November election.

Commissioner Michael Grieco — who loaned himself $25,000 in December — has raised the most with $459,367. To be fair, he started last summer. But, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed this week, Grieco also has spent less since June than former state Senator Dan Gelber, who has raised just over $308,991, has spent since February. Gelber has spent $64,223 already, in two months, while Grieco has spent $51,672 in nine.

Read related story: Ladra predicts Dan Gelber files for Miami Beach mayor

Sure, it’s early in the campaign, but consider this: Gelber raised $222,435 in his first month and $88,556 in his second month. That’s quite a drop-off. He spent $5,333 in February and $59,000 in March. That’s some inflation. If this trend continues — raising less and less and spending more and more — he could be out of money by August.

In comparison, Grieco’s fundraising has not dropped off as hard. He started his mayoral campaign with $107,000 in January, followed up with $70,000 in February and $48,747 last month. Spending has nearly doubled, but that means it went up from $9,246 in January to $16,431 last month.

The $219,000 Grieco raised last year as a commission candidate — and none of those donors have asked for their checks back — were also a consistent series of reports: $34,600 in June, $28,200 in July, $24,200 in August, $37,650 in September, $36,650 in October, $19,000 in November and $13,250 in December — but fundraising always falls off during the holidays. During the entire year of 2016, seven months of campaigning, Grieco spent almost $5,280, the bulk of which ($4,000) went to a fundriaisng consultant named Owen Carhart. Most of the rest went to processing fees.

Carhart got another $3,550 so far this year on the mayoral account but there are three other consultants: Stefanie Epstein, who is also a fundraising consultant, has been pad $6,000 and Jonathan Fernandez got $1,000. The big cahoona here is Ladra’s favorite scuzbucket, and the main thing I hold against Grieco, David “Guttermouth” Custin, who has billed $17,286 so far for consulting and other things, such as stationery, hand fans, holiday calendars and other “collateral materials” on which he skims at least 15% and probably more.

“I’m very proud of the pace of my fundraising,” Grieco told Ladra this week shortly after the most recent campaign finance reports were filed. He also said that he expected Gelber to come out strong.

“I’m not surprised he can rraise a lot of money. Dan is a career politician,” Grieco said.

“Most of my supporters are people who know me,” Gelber said. “I don’t think I’ve been spending that much.”

Well, let’s see. In addition to about $2,200 for yard signs and another $2,000 for placards, magnets, bumper stickers and a banner, he’s doled out more than $30,000 on staff, according to the last reports through March 31 and filed this week. And again, this is all in two months time.

Gelber paid $9,500 to Tampa-based pollster SEA Polling for “research.” But his consultant, Christian Ulvert, who got paid $9,925, wouldn’t tell Ladra anything about the results, just that it was “issue oriented.” Gelber has a team of political consultants, too. And they are pricier. Michael Worley, out of Fort Lauderdale, is doing his social media for $6,680 so far. Campaign Manager Adrian Chamberlin, who was a field director for the Florida Democratic Party in 2016, has made about $4,000. and Nicole Arango, who does event coordination and senior outreach, has gotten $1,500 through March.

The biggest single payout from Gelber’s campaign account was to his professional fundraiser, Brian Goldmeier, who is best known for raising millions for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his allies on the commission, sometimes shaking down the very contractors and vendors who do or want to do business with the county. Goldie got $17,634, so far, because that fee is usually worked out as a percentage of what he brings in. He also got $840 as a reimbursement for an fundraising event, which was coincidentally the same cost of a February event at Perricone’s in Brickell.

Read related story: Mike Grieco first to run for open Miami Beach mayor’s seat

But while the former federal prosecutor’s spending habits are certainly interesting, that’s not the most troubling part of the campaign report. As usual, the devil is in the details and a quick count of the contributions by address show that roughly 70% of Gelber’s campaign cash comes from outside Miami Beach. That makes senses, I guess, if he is tapping into his statewide Democratic Party support base and Goldmeier is reaching out across the county.

Again, Gelber disagreed with my findings. “A lot of folks may be using an address where they work but they live in Miami Beach. Most of my supporters are people who know me. Maybe they don’t live here now but they did and they still work here. They have an interest in Miami Beach.”

Aha! There’s the word: interest. Yes, I am sure there is a lot of out-of-town interests in Miami Beach contributing to your campaign.

Ulvert, the candidate’s political consultant, called Ladra quickly after Gelber aplogogized for having to hang up to go to a private fundraiser at someone’s home. Ulvert wanted to explain that 40 or 50 of those out of town checks had come from lawyers and other professionals who live on the Beach but used their professional address. That would still leave Gelber with more than 60% of his financial support from outside Miami Beach.

Meanwhile, the exact opposite is true for Grieco, who reports almost 70% of his contributions as coming from Miami Beach, the city he wants to represent. One can assume they, too, have an interest.

Looking at his contributions and his staff, one has to wonder if Gelber, who ran for Florida Attorney General in 2010 but lost to Pam Bondi, is running a regional Democratic Party campaign (again) for a non partisan municipal seat.

The next mayor of Miami Shores is the lucky one among six council candidates who gets the most votes Tuesday.

That’s how they do it there in The Village Beautiful. Six wannabes vie for three “at large” seats. The two candidates with the highest number of votes will serve for four years and the one who gets the third  highest number will serve a two-year term. Then, among their first orders of business, they will vote among themselves and the two existing council members, elected in 2015 to a four-year term, to choose a mayor, who serves mostly a ceremonial seat for two years.

Historically, the council has chosen the candidate who gets the highest number of votes. That person serves the frist two years as mayor and the last two years as a council member.

None of the candidates have ever been elected before. The only “incumbent” among the six candidates is Councilman MacAdam Glinn, who was appointed to replace a councilman who resigned about 18 months ago. Councilwoman Herta Holly is termed out and Councilwoman Ivonne Ledesma, is not seeking re-election.

“It’s been four years and I’ve done my civic duty,” Ledesma told Ladra Wednesday. “I never had any intention of maing a career out of it.”

As the only Hispanic on the council, Ledesma (photographed to the left) is endorsing the only Hispanic and only woman of the six candidates, Liangy Fernandez-Calli, a mother of four who serves on various community groups and committees.

“We’re an 80-year-old city and we’ve only had a handful of Hispanics on the council and no African-Americans,” she said, and although we were talking on the phone, you could hear her virtually shaking her head.

Eddie Lewis is the only black candidate running, but he’s not really a candidate. Not viably. Lewis has run about a dozen times — even for county offices. He is a perennial candidate desperate to get elected and voters don’ generally like that. Just ask Annette Taddeo.

Here are thumbnail profiles of the six candidates:

• Sean Brady ran in 2015, coming in fifth with 906 votes. He is a 42-year-old father and information technology consultant with his own small business who has lived in Miami Shores for seven years and is on the board of directors of the Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce.
• Bill Davis comes from a long line of elected officials. It seems that one of his relatives has always been on the council. Someone named Hunt Davis ran two years ago but didn’t come close. Bill Davis has talked on the campaign trail about placing cameras on the west side of the village, for public safety reasons.
• Liangy Fernandez-Calli, the female on the ballot. She is recently joined the Chamber of Commerce and has been the president of the parent association at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church School for two years, where she organized the arts festival now in its third year.
• MacAdam Glinn, 41, is a construction industry lawyer and senior VP and director of aviation at Skanska USA Building. He came in fourth in 2015, short just 14 votes from third place, but as appointed to the seat vacated shortly after the election when Councilman Jesse Walters resigned amid a dispute with the country club and allegations that he was trying to strong-arm them into changing the lease agreement with the village.
• Eddie Lewis, the token black candidate on the Shores ballot, is a pernnial candidae desperate to serve in office. He’s even run for county mayor in the clusterbunch of the 2011 recall election and for property appraiser before that. Ladra is surprised he hasn’t run for the School Board. He is the only one of the six candidates whose photo is not on the village website. Ladra suspects he will be as absent on election day (again).
• Jonathan Meltz, the president of the Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce (its a small town, okay?) for the last two years. An attorney who has lived in the village for 15 years, he coaches girls basketball, volleyball and flag football at St. Rose Lima where his daughters attend and his wife is Home and School Board President.

There’s nothing really controversial setting anyone terribly apart this election cycle. It’s not like two years ago, when the council’s rejection of a marriage equality measure caused a stir in this cozy, tidy and LGBTQ friendly enclave east of I-95 from about 90th to 111th streets just south of North Miami. There was so much backlash, in fact, that the equal marriage measure was passed shortly after the election — brought back to the dais by one of the councilmembers who voted against it originally.

There’s more buzz this year about the referendum on a $20 million bond to build a community center. If approved, the Village will have 30 years to pay off the new bonds and the new debt service on property taxes would be approximately a little more than $285 annually or $23.75 per month for a home with an assessed value of $229,000.

The election is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and The Village Beautiful is such a small town that there is one voting location, the C. Lawton McCall Community Center at 9617 Park Drive.

SAVE Dade will have volunteers going door to door to drum up votes for the three candidates they are supporting, which are Brady, Fernandez-Calli and Glinn. For more information on volunteering, click here.