Today’s City of Miami Commission meeting is expected to get heated when Commissioner Ken Russell asks for City Attorney Victoria Mendez to be fired for intentionally withholding documents he requested regarding the rezoning of a fast-tracked residential development in Coconut Grove.

And there’s likely to be some push back, specifically from members of the Cuban American Bar Association, of which Mendez, a former state prosecutor, was once president.

There’s still an independent counsel reviewing her opinion, which allowed the development to break ground, and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust is looking into the withheld emails between Mendez and the developer’s lobbyist — emails that could indicate the attorney was helping the developer get the zoning they needed, in violation of the city charter.

But Russell can’t wait for the result of those inquiries.

“Everybody is trying to make it a matter of a charter violation but it’s become more than that,” Russell told Ladra late Wednesday. “It’s really about a working relationship and having trust in your attorney. I’ve lost that trust.”

Russell had already called for Mendez to be fired earlier this month after he discovered that she had not provided him with the public records he had requested regarding the development of five single family homes on a 50,000-square-foot property the developer wants re-platted into five separate properties.

At first, the developer was told they needed a special permit, known as a warrant, to split the lot. The zoning department denied the request. The developer then sought a new opinion from the city attorney’s office — which, lo and behold, issued one saying no warrant was really needed.

“It was a minor zoning issue, but something wasn’t adding up,” Russell told me. “I thought the city attorney had issued a flawed opinion in regards to zoning. That was the beginning of the rabbit hole.”

Mendez, who makes $215,000 a year, first tried to discourage him. There is nothing there, she told the commissioner. She herself requested the ethics investigation and has said that the emails, which she insist only show normal communications between attorneys on complicated zoning issues, were not intentionally withheld. She says Russell is simply being political for his constituency — he represents the Grove — and doesn’t like the opinion.

She was right about that last part.

“It’s such a Frankenstein of an opinion. They really did some gymnastics to be able to approve this for the developer,” he said.

So, Russell requested public documents including all the emails between the attorney’s office and the developers or their representatives. He got about a dozen. Thinking that something was still not adding up, he asked the IT department to do a search for emails using he same search criteria. This time, he got 40-something. That means there were more than two dozen emails that had not been included before, including exchanges between Mendez and attorney Javier Vazquez, the lobbyist for the developer and the city attorney’s friend.

“All the emails withheld show an entirely different story,” Russell said. “Every department issued a strong opinion as to why this was wrong. She shopped it to one attorney, but when she didn’t like that opinion it was a bad opinion. She took it to a second city attorney. Again it was a bad opinion.

“Through correspondence with the lobbyist, she says she’s working on it but she’s having a hard time,” Russell said.

That right there should be reason enough for commissioners to support Russell’s move to terminate Mendez, who became the city attorney three years ago. The withholding of public records is unacceptable in and of itself — and, from what I understand, it is a pattern with the Miami city attorney’s office. Just ask Grant Stern (more on that later). But the fact that she went out of her way to provide a favorable opinion to a friend is a big problem. Planning and zoning didn’t seek a legal opinion from the city attorney. They didn’t need it. They are certain that a warrant is needed to split the property. Vazquez asked for her opinion. And Mendez doesn’t work for Vazquez. She works for the commissioners and, by extension, the people of Miami.

To add insult to injury, she told a Miami Herald reporter earlier this month that Russell, her boss, just doesn’t understand. Isn’t that a violation of attorney client privilege? I mean, couldn’t a developer use that against the commissioner — hence the city — in a court of law. “He didn’t understand so that’s why he voted against us.”

Commissioners considering her ouster Thursday ought to think about that. Because today, it’s Russell. Tomorrow, it could be you. And how many lawsuits would comments like that bring the city?

For Russell — a freshman who was elected in a grass roots wave last year to replace Marc Sarnoff in a race against the much better financed Mrs. Sarnoff — it’s gone beyond those very serious professional improprieties.

“It goes to a question of trust. I know she was withholding documents from me, documents I need as tools to do my job. To me it’s very simple, very black and white,” Russell told Ladra. “How are we going to work together after this?

“If I get voted down, it’s going to be an awkward two years.”

Democrat activist Carlos Pereira, a candidate for Doral City Council, was suspended this week from the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee (DEC) because he allegedly endorsed Republican State Rep. Carlos Trujillo.

Pereira says he has not endorsed anybody in the race for House District 105 and that he cannot control a photo that Trujillo posted on Facebook touting an endorsement. He also told Ladra that nobody in the DEC even contacted him to ask him about it and that there must be another reason why they are creating this controversy six weeks before the Doral election.

Miami-Dade Democrats Executive Director Juan Cuba says there is an investigation into it. Pereira is suspended until the committee meets to vote on it.

An endorsement would be a violation of his loyalty oath, a document signed by all members of the DEC that swears not to support any opponent of a Democratic nominee. Trujillo has a challenge from Democrat Patricio Moreno. It’s a throwaway challenge, sure. The Dems just tossed a bunch of token candidates into the state races at the last minute, again… but nobody expects them to actually compete. Even in District 105, which went to President Obama with the widest margin in 2012 and where the Dems apparently expect to win just because there’s a D next to Moreno’s name.

Maybe the DEC should have better supported Pereira, a DEC member since 2012, when he actually ran against Trujillo in 2014. None of the $13,000 or so he raised two years ago seems to have come directly from the party, although $2,500 comes from the SEIU, which many might think is an extension of the party.

Trujillo, who raised almost $265,000, easily beat Pereira 60 to 40 percent. 

Read related story: Doral considers condemning Trump, taking back city key

But apparently, Pereira is over it.

Despite leading the charge to take away the Doral key to the city given to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump because of his anti-immigrant stance, Pereira has been MIA from multiple immigrant advocate protests against Trujillo, who wants to pass a law that would make illegal immigrants felons just for being in this country without permission. Cuba says Pereira had Trujillo on his webcast show.

Then in June, Pereira received a $1,000 donation from Conservative and Principled Leadership for Florida, a PAC controlled by Carlos Trujillo. It is more than a quarter of the $3,775 raised as of Aug. 31. Then Tuesday, via Facebook, Trujillo announced the endorsement of Carlos Pereira. 

“Honored to receive the endorsement of my Democratic opponent from 2014, Carlos Pereira,” Trujillo posted with a photo of the two in front of Doral City Hall. “Thank you for your support!”

That caused Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Bullard, a Florida senator facing his own re-election challenge, to suspend Pereira just hours later.

Read related story: Rep. Carlos Trujillo draws protests over anti-immigrant bill

“It is unfortunate that Carlos Pereira would endorse a Republican who wants to further criminalize undocumented immigrants, privatize public education, eliminate the minimum wage, and end collective bargaining,” Bullard said, hinting that the contribution to his campaign bought the endorsement. “It’s also deeply troubling that Pereira would accept a $1,000 contribution from Trujillo’s PAC and create a perception of quid pro quo.”

“Carlos Pereira should no longer be considered a spokesperson for the Democratic Party on any media outlets,” a statement read.

Pereira said that he and Trujillo are friendly.

“He treated me with respect during the 2014 campaign and since. He was a gentleman. He is supporting me in the non partisan race in Doral,” Pereira said, adding that the photo was taken during an art exhibit opening at Doral City Hall. “I can’t control what he puts on his Facebook page.”

The Democrat activist also told Ladra that he has “a good relationship with Patricio, too,” and had not yet decided who to support in that race. “At no moment, have I declared that I am with one candidate or the other.”

Perhaps the Miami-Dade Dems should place more efforts on helping Moreno, who is hung out to dry just like Pereira was in 2014, with only $1,200 raised and a $2,000 loan to himself. Meanwhile, Trujillo — who, by the way, qualified via petition signatures — has outdone his bank from two years ago with $282,000 raised as of Sept. 16.

It’s like he’s been backed into a corner.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez lied again last week and slandered, again, a pair of animal activists who worked hard to get the Pets’ Trust Initiative passed by 65% of the voters in 2012 and who are brave enough to keep fighting ever since for that vote to be respected.

Michael Rosenberg and Rita Schwartz certainly have been very active in politics since Gimenez first funded the Pets Trust initiative and then scratched it in 2013. They may get a little too excited sometimes. They certainly get creative — Ladra particularly loves this video with the chihuahua — and they certainly get passionate.

But they do not, ever, incite violence. In fact, their email blasts and protests seem exceedingly polite to a man who has repeatedly ignored these people while telling others that all Rosenberg and Schwartz want is the millions for themselves, a ludicrous and impossible claim since they would have absolutely no control over the county’s funds. Ladra has seen some of the many emails they send Gimenez gatekeeper Michael Hernandez to try to meet with the mayor or just set the record straight. They might be a tad bit sarcastic, but they are exceedingly polite. There’s no other way to describe their approach.

Happier times: Michael Rosenberg and Rita Schwartz talk and smile and take photos with Mayor Carlos Gimenez in 2013, when he said he was going to fund the voter-mandated no-kill initiative.

The mayor knows this. He knows that these two animal lovers do not incite violence. So when Gimenez outright makes that claim to a misguided Miami Herald reporter and then on TV to a Univision 23 cameraman, he is basically giving them a victory in court with their slander lawsuit.

There are three things one must establish to prove slander: The source must know he or she is spreading a lie. Check. He must have an intent to hurt or discredit the subject of the lie. Check. And the lie causes the subject’s reputation to be tarnished. Check.

Because some people might believe him.

But that will be the hardest part to prove. Because most people realize that this is Cry Wolf Gimenez’s desperate attempt to keep his job and maybe even an acknowledgement that the 65% of the people who voted for the Pets’ Trust knew what they were voting for and will prove it to Gimenez by voting him out of office Nov. 8. He knows that Mike and Rita pull votes. He knows that the Pets’ Trust supporters are one of the reasons he is facing a runoff in the first place. He knows that he is really hated by thousands of animal lovers who may have even voted for him in 2011 and 2012 but now feel he is the devil himself and hold him personally responsible for the continued killing of thousands of dogs and cats at the county shelter.

Many of these people do comment on Facebook and in stories in the Miami Herald. Many of these comments are entirely too personal and passionate. Some people say they want him to suffer what the animals have suffered. They call him an asshole and other names. They are understandably frustrated by his disrespect of their votes and the continued and, perhaps, even worsening conditions for animals in Miami-Dade.

I hadn’t seen any death threats,  however, until the Herald story about the single one they quoted.

“Better watch yourself in Miami i don’t have much to lose, ever see what s person that nothing to lose is capable of?? i WILL kill you if not ill start with your family and loved ones,” wrote someone calling himself “nakmuaythai.” Turns out his name is Daniel Bowes and he lives in Ottowa. And Rosenberg has never heard of him.

“Daniel who,” Rosenberg asked.

What’s more, a Miami-Dade police spokesman told the Herald that detectives do not consider the posting a “viable threat” (they were probably pissing in their pants from the laughter) but the investigation is “nevertheless ongoing.” Really? With our limited police resources? Because this is what the mayor considers a police priority?

Michael Rosenberg spent three days in a cage to call attention to the plight of our stray animals.

For the mayor to speculate that the threat was at the direction of Rosenberg and Schwarz is just ludicrous. For him to speculate out loud is dangerous. There are many people (Ralph Garcia Toledo et al) who stand to lose millions of dollars if Gimenez is not re-elected. They might go to great lengths to silence his detractors — who have now been singled out by name.

“I’m calling them out,” Gimenez told the Herald.

“The people responsible are Michael Rosenberg and Rita Schwartz,” he said in his choppy Spanish. “They have led a campaign called ABC, Anybody But Carlos, and that is part of their campaign, pretty dirty and with lies.”

Let’s forget for a minute that the ABC campaign you see on bus benches throughout the county has been paid for by the Dade PBA. Ladra doesn’t think she has ever seen any public official — let alone the mayor of the fourth largest county in the country — talk like that publicly about a couple of civilian activists. And for what? He knows that Mike and Rita have no ties to that man in Ottawa. But he’s mad at them and, boy, there is hell to pay for going against him.

In fact, Ladra wouldn’t be surprised if this story was pitched by someone on the Gimenez camp. Because we certainly have seen similarly hateful and vitriolic comments on the Facebook posts of stories about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Marco Rubio or David Rivera or Rick Scott. Especially Rick Scott. Why was the story just about Gimenez? Perhaps because it was pitched by someone on the Gimenez campaign in order to discredit a group that was hurting his re-election chances?’

Or was it to put a bull’s eye on Mike’s and Rita’s backs?

Rosenberg fears for himself and his family. He has gotten a police watch order on his home. They obviously think it’s a more viable threat than the comment against the mayor.

He also wants an apology from the mayor. He should get one, but he won’t. Gimenez is so arrogant that he is literally blind to the fact that he is wrong more often than he is right. In this case, he knew he was lying to begin with. It matters nothing because it’s all about perception.

It’s too bad that David Ovalle or some other Herald reporter doesn’t spend as much time as they did stringing together the worse comments they could find to actually investigate the claims of the animal activists — that the death count is only down because the county has changed the way it counts euthanized cats and dogs, that the increases in animal services funding has mostly gone to salaries and benefits, not spay and neutering programs.

There is still time to actually do a fact check on Gimenez with this, David. Wouldn’t that be more challenging? It’s a better story.

Meanwhile, Ladra is going to make a complaint about some commenter herself. We have taken to moderating reader comments here on Political Cortadito in recent weeks, since some people are (or one person specifically is) trying to use my space to malign others and myself without any context and to make threats. I have been told that I deserve to be “trashed,” whatever that means. And I have received multiple threats from the same source about shutting the website down. I haven’t taken them seriously but people say that I should and, in light of this story, perhaps they are right. Because some of Ladra’s friends and loyal readers say the commenter — who sometimes goes by the name of Got-A-Point and sometimes other names but with the same IP address — is Gimenez spokesman Mike Hernandez. Others say he is the mayor’s son, CJ Gimenez.

So let’s find out. Ladra will print out some of those comments and see if the Miami-Dade Police Department can’t find out who the commenter is.

But I am willing to bet that whoever it is is far more directly connected to Carlos Gimenez than some loudmouth in Ottowa is to Mike and Rita of the Pets’ Trust.

The government response to Zika has been slow and chaotic. But the politicians’ response to it has been quick and consistent — as far as campaigning goes.

Election in the Time of Zika ought to be a how-to for any candidate on a South Florida ballot in November.

The latest to get in on the buzz is former Congressman Joe Garcia, who wants to take his seat back from U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who took it two years ago amid bad headlines. Garcia will have a press conference this morning — alongside South Florida doctors, nurses, mothers-to-be and concerned residents — to demand congressional leadership take action and approve urgently needed Zika funding.

Read related story: Zika politics: State House candidate has repellent wristbands

Today marks 2oo days since President Barack Obama proposed in February $1.9 billion in federal emergency money, a request Congress has to approve. Garcia, who has called on the House Speaker  to cut their break short so they can address the Zika crisis, says that, for 200 days, Curbelo and his fellow House Republicans have failed South Florida’s families.

“The rapid spread of Zika during Congress’s 7-week vacation should have resulted in the immediate approval of a funding bill, not more obstruction from the Republican leadership. We’re coming together to demand that Congress and Carlos Curbelo put the rhetoric aside, approve the funding immediately and do what’s right for South Florida’s families.”

But as much as Ladra dislikes him for other reasons (mostly because he is a liar and a lobbyist with a secret client list), Curbelo may as well stand with Garcia at this presser because the congressman has broken party ranks on the Zika funding issue. In May, Curbelo met with Gov. Rick Scott and other members of Congress and urged for the federal funding to be passed.

“As representatives from the state of Florida, we understand the real threat that Zika poses to our families and neighbors,” Curbelo was quoted as saying.

He voted against the House Republicans compromise bill for $622 million in funding, because he said it was too little.

Read related story: Joe Garcia releases first web ad in congressional contest

“As a Member of Congress representing the country’s southernmost district — closest to the region where this disease is currently wreaking havoc — I am acutely aware of the impacts Zika will have if not contained and eradicated,” Curbelo said in a statement. “I cannot vote for this half-hearted, short-sighted effort, and I remain in strong support of funding the Administration’s $1.9 billion Zika response requests.”

Maybe Democrats think Curbelo should do more but Ladra is not sure what more he can do — other than maybe jar mosquitoes up and take them to D.C. to visit with the Republicans who don’t want to pass the funding.

So when Joe Garcia gets up to the podium at Big Bear Academy, a school for children with special needs — which there might be a lot more of if this Zika outbreak is not contained — take what he says with a grain of salt. It’s just a campaign stop.

Because on Zika, like on many other things, both these candidates agree.

Ouch.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen just showed the rest of the 305 political world how negative campaign ads are done with a commercial that has basically stopped her challenger, Democrat Scott Fuhrman, in his tracks. Ladra doubts that Fuhrman can come back from this.

The ad doesn’t only remind people about Fuhrman’s old drunk driving charge. It features John Witty, the father of Helen Marie Witty, a Pinecrest teenager who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000.

“My 16-year-old daughter Helen Marie Witty was killed by a drunk driver on Red Road. Now, another drunk driver, Scott Fuhrman, wants to be in Congress, even after also being convicted of possessing a firearm while intoxicated,” John Witty says, sitting in what we are to assume is his living room, staring into the camera. “Less than two years ago he fled on foot from a hit and run on U.S. 1.

“I don’t trust Scott Fuhrman to be in Congress.”

And boom! Just like that, Fuhrman’s bid to unseat our veteran congresswoman — which was kinda iffy anyway — is over before it really began.

Some might say that Fuhrman already admitted to his checkered past, which in addition to the 2009 DUI also includes carrying a firearm while intoxicated (Colorado, 2009) and leaving the scene of an accident (Miami-Dade, 2013). But all the disclosure in the world becomes moot when you bring in the ghost of Helen Witty. The popular Palmetto High School student, run over as she rollerbladed on the bike path on Red Road, is not forgotten. Her death — another teenager was at the wheel of the car that hit her — shocked South Dade. A team of her friends and loved ones walk every year in the Miami Walk Like MADD walkathon event.

They will likely vote for Ros-Lehtinen in November.

The Daddy Witty ad is on in Spanish radio also. A lot. It’s relentless in the morning. And she has another spot, in both English and Spanish, featuring police officers with the same message: Don’t trust a drunk driver who only three years ago fled the scene of an accident.

But the video — with a photo of the Colorado police report and iron bars closing over a photo of someone who is supposed to represent Fuhrman (or is that his mug shot?) — is one of the most visceral Ladra has seen in a while. And effective. My own 16-year-old who never pays attention to anything but the constant dinging alerts on her phone, was stopped in her tracks.

While she sure seems to be taking the Fuhrman challenge seriously — and this might be the most serious challenge she’s ever had — IRL already has a lot of Democrat support. She’s on the right (left) side of immigration reform policy. She’s on the right (left) side of equal marriage. She’s going to get a lot of Dems just on those issues and on the fact that as a senior congresswoman, she can get a lot more done than Fuhrman would as a freshman.

Add to that the ghost of Helen Witty and Fuhrman is fuhr sure toast.