Frank Carollo mulling a mayoral run? Ladra likes a threesome

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Well, Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo, whose term is up, has not yet filed to run for his own seat, fueling more speculation that he could run for mayor instead.

Wouldn’t a three-way be fun? Get your mind out of the gutter!

But Ladra is drooling at the idea of a third candidate to route for, since I can’t get behind either Mayor Tomas Regalado, whose cushy relationship to the maquinita industry and ties to political consultant Armando Gutierrez is kinda creepy, and Commissioner Francis Suarez, whose slightly eccentric (read: crazy) but charming and otherwise pretty intelligent father did the unthinkable last year and supported some newbie radical against one of Ladra’s favorite handlers, former State Senator and Florida’s political Dean Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who had been one of his friends and political allies. Watchdogs are serious about loyalty.

But I explained this to him over lunch at El Pub last week and Mayor Commissioner X, ever the gentleman and the scholar (wait til he goes off on his latest, and third, book) was understanding.

It’s hard to make Baby X pay for the sins of his father, partly because he’s genuinely a likeable guy and we have many mutual friends. Partly because it’s going to be fun to watch him try to swipe the mayor’s seat from Regalado. The Dean should make good on his idle threats and return the side of crazy and run mayor like we know he’s always really wanted, but Ladra guesses he would rather travel to exotic places, chain smoke European cigarettes and “lose” his phone.

So who else is there? It would be so much easier on me with a number 3.

Bet it won’t be Carollo, though. Poll numbers reported by various malas lenguas do not support such a move for Carollo, who they say is a distant third in a survey done way before Suarez the Son officially threw his hat in the ring last month (we expected him to since at least last summer). Granted, the questions were reportedly asked before Suarez officially cast his name and before (another reason Ladra can’t route for him) the flying monkeys in Tallahassee had a fundraiser for Suarez Wednesday night (more on that later). But still, those old results reportedly have Regalado up by only single digits over Suarez, whose father was the city mayor for a short while in the 90s before some nasty absentee ballot business caused a judge to throw out the election and paved the way for “Crazy Joe” Carollo — now the city manager in Doral and Frank Carollo’s big brother — to become mayor. (Maybe there’s something in the water at City Hall.)

Anyway, big brother’s new gig and his potential reach into the Daddy Warbucks pockets of Doral Millionaire Mayor Luigi “Do What I Wanna Do” Boria have some thinking Frank Carollo could get a mayoral run financed from the  county’s western edge. But Ladra thinks he will go for the safe and easy route, or a safer and easier route. Carollo already has a stiffening challenge in a re-election bid from noneother Alex Dominguez, who lost the Democratic primary last August to newly-elected State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, who rode Obama’s coattails and beat the Dean in that aformentioned race (where almost half of the voters had never voted in their lives) that Mayor Commissioner Suarez Sir, with all due respect, should have stayed out of.

Besides, I hear there is some sort of sibling rivalry there anyway? And maybe Boria could buy his own election, but Miami is a different animal and, while I am sure his unlimited resources would make some impact, Ladra is not convinced he would get the same return on his investment.

So let’s fully expect Carollo to jump back into his commission race.

Dominguez, whose media people are aggressive and pretty good if I do say so myself, was the first to file — last September, only a month after his loss to Rodriguez. And either it’s his name recognition or the allies he rounded-up after he endorsed Rodriguez last time (alongside Mayor Commissioner X… does Ladra smell an alliance?), but he seems to have scared anybody else off.

The other two commission races seem to be shaping up pretty interestingly also. In one district, we have Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones — cleared to run again despite term limits because she was suspended during part of her duly elected period; only in Miami! — trying to hold on to her seat against the Rev. Richard Dunn, who was appointed to that seat and served in her place while she was investigated, and ultimately cleared of, bribery, among other things.

In the other district — the battle to replace Francis Suarez (more on that later), we already have four hopefuls (and we could have more) including perennial candidate Manuel Reyes, Denis Rod, who has been active with the Asian-American community and Ralph Rosado, who ran for state rep in 2010 and lost and was the first to file for the seat one day after Suarez announced he would run for mayor (more on that later).

Why can’t we get four names on the ballot for mayor? Now, wouldn’t that be fun? Again, politically speaking. People!