Debbie Mucarsel-Powell had four endorsements to announce last week in her challenge to the popular and veteran Sen. Anitere Flores.

Problem is, she didn’t really. She only had two. Or, at best, three.

A social media graphic was posted Thursday boasting the endorsements of Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who got a lot of love from the Democratic Party in her non-partisan 2014 race and is paying it back; Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers, Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace and Goulds activist J.L. Demps.

But Demps said he didn’t endorse her. In fact, he endorsed Flores.

“I met her and I did have a conversation with her,” Demps told Ladra about Mucarsell. “She’s a very nice person also.”

But why would she get the idea that he had endorsed her? “I don’t know,” he said.

Mucarsel-Powell, who describes herself as a professional fund raiser for non profits and organizations, told Ladra that Demps inclusion was due to “confusion, a mix up.” They had met at an school event in Goulds and when they spoke afterwards she assumed she had his support. But her campaign manager, Kate Coyne-McCoy, admitted that they did not have a signed endorsement form from Dumps.

Flores does.

“This didn’t surprise me, because there are so many false allegations coming from her campaign,” the senator told Ladra, referring to mailers that have gone out against the incumbent. “How can she be trusted if all she’s doing is lying to confuse voters?”

Read related story: Democratic Party throws GOP right bloc at Anitere Flores

When it comes to Wallace, Mucarsel-Powell says there is no confusion. “I had his support from the very first day I met him,” she told Ladra. Coyne-McCoy didn’t know if she had a signed endorsement form from him Saturday but said she would check.

It’s not like Flores needs him. She’s got a hefty list of endorsements, including the PBA, AFSCME, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the United Faculty of Miami-Dade, Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay, the Florida Professional Firefighters Associations and all seven elected officials in Homestead, which is in the district — even though most are Democrats (only Commissioner Jon Burgess is a Republican).

Meanwhile, maybe Mucarsel-Powell should stick with the very predictable endorsements she really has: Emily’s List, SAVE Dade and the Democratic Veterans of Florida.

And make sure they sign the endorsement forms.

It seems like every Democrat candidate is using Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in their mailers against their counter party opponents. Our mailboxes are full of Trump comparisons in what is a very obvious concerted effort to motivate Democrats and keep disgusted Republican voters home (read: GOTV and voter suppression). 

But Trump isn’t enough for Sen. Anitere Flores. So the Florida Democratic Party has thrown the entire GOP conservative bloc against her.

In their attempt to turn that Senate seat blue, the state Dems have sent out mailers attacking Anitere on her time as president of Doral “College,” an extension of charter high schools that is still not accredited, and her votes on guns. That’s the one that shows not only Trump but a menagerie of the most right Republicans of our time.

“On a scale from 1 to extremely wrong on gun issues, Anitere Flores is off the charts,” says the mailer, next to a photo of the senator and photos of Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott and Ben Carson. Ted Freaking Cruz?!

What? No George Bush? When did he stop being the villain we blame for everything?

And you’d think the smart consultants at the Florida Democratic Party would do Congressman Patrick Murphy a solid by including a photo of Sen. Marco Rubio in this photographic line-up, but noooooo. Maybe they didn’t want to piss off all the Cuban voters.

The mailer goes on to say that Flores is a “radical Republican… endangering our community and our families” and that she voted to let guns at Disney World, public parks and workplaces. But not really.

In 2008, she did vote for a bill — which passed and was known as the “Bring Your Gun to Work” law — that would let anybody who already has a concealed weapons permit, except teachers and people who work with fireworks, to take their guns to their place of work and leave them in the car. More recently, in 2015, she voted to strengthen “stand your ground” laws that make it difficult to prosecute questionable “self-defense” shootings.

But that’s not putting guns in daycares.

And when it says she voted to remove all local gun laws, what it means is that she voted for a statewide law that would not allow local municipalities to keep or create their own gun legislation.

What it doesn’t say is that Flores was also the only Florida Republican who signed off requesting a special session on gun control after the mass Orlando shooting this year.

Sarah Palin would not approve.

Ralph Garcia-Toledo, the man who went from being Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s driver to being a grossly-overpaid $200 consultant subcontractor on a $140 million water and sewer contract secured by his BFF, the mayor, sure is living the mogul’s life.

Here he is at Joe’s Stone Crabs, enjoying a leisurely lunch, we presume, with two lovely ladies — who work at County Hall.

It’s good to have palanca!

The picture was posted just around noon Thursday by Mary Juncadella Ferreiro, the deputy chief of staff for Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman. She is the one on the left. With the duck lips (channeling Barby Gimenez, are we?).

Ladra is told the other woman — the one on the right without the pouty ducky face — is also a Heyman staffer: Chief of Staff Bonnie Michaels, who looks like she really wanted to be in the picture.

Please notice the likes. I don’t follow Juncadella (mamadukes24), who has a private Instagram account (obviously someone I know does). But you can tell from the screen save that Brian Goldmeier, the mayor’s fundraiser, likes the photo. If lobster and blondes keep the Gimenez campaign finance chair happy, what are we gonna do, right?

Read related story: Why Carlos Gimenez should not have four more years

And he can afford it, okay? His contract guarantees him up to $18 million in the next 12 years. What’s a few hundred bucks for a nice dinner with wine and a couple of friends?

Just look at how happy he is! It almost looks like a date and RGT is now divorced from his lobbyist wife, Vicky Garcia Toledo, so we guess it could be. Who’s the third wheel?

Or maybe it was a belated birthday celebration: Garcia-Toledo turned 54 earlier this month.

Bet I know what he wished for: Four more years of the gravy train under Gimenez, which guarantees him lots of lobster in the future.

Is it that State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr., is afraid to debate a Democrat? Is he afraid to debate a girl?

More likely, Diaz — who has never had to debate for his post — is more afraid that he cannot defend his poor record or his no-show job at a non-credited, for-profit university and his defense of mining companies that have his constituents concerned about their drinking water and homes.

Ivette Gonzalez Petkovich went to the Sun Sentinel screening and the Univision Destino 2016 debate for state reps in September. Diaz skipped both. Gonzalez went to the Beta Beta Lambda candidate forum Monday. Diaz didn’t.

Could he still be embarrassed about losing that Miami-Dade School Board race in 2010 when he was a public school principal? Or his absentee ballot fraud-tainted win in 2012?

Maybe he was too busy as the chief operating officer of Doral “College,” a junior college on a charter high school campus near the Florida Turnpike using public school funds.

Nah. He isn’t on campus much. He wasn’t on campus Friday when Ladra called.

The most likely reason that Diaz won’t debate is because he doesn’t want to have to defend his track record of pay-to-play politics and conflicts of interest, because Diaz uses his position — not his no-show job, but his elected office — to benefit the charter school industry.

Happy Birthday 2015 to Doral College! Standing with Diaz, third from left, are State Rep. Erik Fresen, whose family owns Academica, Doral Councilwoman Ana Maria Rodriguez and State Senator Anitere Flores, president of Doral College from 2011 to 2015

Months after he was elected in 2012, Diaz was hired in 2013 by Academica to manage Doral College, which is on the campus of the company’s Doral Academy Preparatory charter school, where he makes almost $112,000 a year today (those are public funds). He then proceeded to repeatedly sponsor and support legislation that makes it easier for charters schools to open and operate. He serves as chairman of the House Education Committee’s Choice and Innovation Subcommittee but Diaz has told reporters he doesn’t see a conflict. “All these pieces of legislation are broad and affects everyone in the charter school industry,” he is quoted as saying.

But his paycheck is from Academica, the country’s largest charter school company, so it probably “affects” (read: benefits) them the most. And two years after he was hired, in summer of 2015, Doral College had received at least $600,000 of state charter school funds — even though it is still not accredited and the Miami-Dade School district has refused to accept dual enrollment.

Diaz has also used his position to help the limestone miners at the western edge of the county and he probably doesn’t want to hear from all the angry Palm Springs North residents who are sick of the limestone quarry blasting that is destroying their homes and causing them to be concerned about their drinking water.

The state rep voted in favor a bill last year that reduced the mitigation fees that limestone miners have to pay for environmental damages from 45 cents per ton to 5 cents per ton. That money would also go to building a water treatment plant should the limestone quarries contaminate our drinking water.

Between his campaign account and his PAC — ironically called Better Florida Education — Diaz has taken $14,000, so far, from mining interests, including White Rock Quarries photographed here (more on that later).

Many consultants will tell incumbent candidates not to debate unknown challengers when there is barely a chance they will get any traction. But Diaz sits in the most vulnerable state House seat in the 305. Partly because it also includes part of the 954, crossing the line over into Miramar. But mostly because it is more Democratic

In 2012, Manny Diaz Jr. won in the primary against former State Rep. and Miami-Dade School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla. But House District 103 went to Barack Obama that November, with almost 55% of the vote vs. Mitt Romney. That means almost 5,000 voters picked the Democrat at the top of the ticket.

Ditto for 2014, when the sitting Republican governor only got 48.5% of the vote. Diaz did have a Democratic challenger that year — but only hardly. Benjamin De Yurre was thrown to the wolves by the local party after they recruited him for their No Free Rides campaign, planting candidates against every incumbent Republican in the House. But De Yurre only had $44,000 — only $10K of which he raised himself — against a Diaz warchest of almost $310,000.

Gonzalez Petkovich has raised $85,000 all by her lonesome as of Sept. 30th. She’s also had about $70,000 worth of strategic advice and research from the Florida Democratic Party so far.

Diaz, meanwhile, has raised $386,000 and has gotten almost $50,000 worth of support from the state party in polling, staff and research.

This is one of the most turnable seats in the House this November.

Aaaahhhh. Maybe that’s why Diaz won’t show up at debates.

Voters can hear directly from the candidates in two of the more interesting state races Tuesday when the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations has its first forum after the August primary.

Former congressman and state rep David “King Nine Lives” Rivera, who won the Republican primary, and former Miami-Dade Police Lt. Robert Asencio, a Democrat, both vying for the House seat vacated by Rep. Frank Artiles move to a senate race, have confirmed, according to an email from KFHA President Michael Rosenberg.

Artiles and incumbent Democrat Sen. Dwight Bullard, who survived brutal primary attacks from carpetbagging trust fund baby Andrew Korge, have also confirmed.

The meting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the pavilion in the Kendall Village Center, 8625 SW 124 Ave.

Expect Rivera to bring up Asencio’s disciplinary file from 2003 in which he grabbed a teenager by the neck and shirt to pull him off a school bus.

Fireworks could fly.