Carlos Gimenez recall is recalled after budget concessions

Carlos Gimenez recall is recalled after budget concessions
  • Sumo

You could see it coming: As Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez found money here for this, money there for that, signing five union Carlos Gimenez 2011 Hialeahcontracts and balancing the budget without cutting jobs or closing libraries, the anger that drove a petty recall effort launched emotionally by a father in mourning is pretty much out of gas.

Retired Miami-Dade Fire Capt. Jack Garcia — who did not return Ladra’s calls earlier this week, seeing as how the petition drive was set to start Oct. 1 — told the Miami Herald that the recall effort was  “on hold.” But the truth is, it was never going anywhere.

Read related story: Fireboat issue becomes force behind recall effort

Without the big money that car mogul Norman Braman poured into the recall of former Mayor Carlos Alvarez and without the grass roots ayuda de los unions, this recall was never anything but on hold.

Garcia sees it as a victory. He was basically thrown into political action by the death of his son in a Fourth of July accident on the water and after Gimenez refused to refund a fireboat that he had cut from the previous year’s budget. Gimenez dug his feet in months ago, even fighting about it on air with CBS4’s Jim DeFede where he sounded like a petulant child who didn’t want to give up a toy.

But now the mayor has said he has found, wait for it, more money to eventually return the fireboats to the water. MeanwFire boathile, he is working with waterfront municipalities to increase coverage.

And everything else is saved: police, libraries, crossing guards who got their 5% back. These were automatic recall supporters vanishing into thin air.

The mayor’s spokesman said that the recall effort had nothing to do with the mayor’s sudden flip flop on the fireboats, or the police layoffs, or the libraries. But he has to say that. Other sources at County Hall tell Ladra otherwise. While he may have been publicly shrugging his shoulders, a couple of insiders tell me the mayor did take it more seriously than he let on.

Read related story: Mayor Gimenez more friendly to unions in face of recall

As he should. He is perceived as arrogant enough as it is so a good dose of humility might have been what did him some good.

And if Gimenez wasn’t worried, why on Earth would lobbyist Rodney Barreto get involved? Barreto called Garcia up back in August and arranged to Gimenez layoff signsmeet at his Coral Gables lobbying firm so he could urge him — nod, wink, elbow — to drop the recall effort.

Because, you know, the lobbyists in town, they take care of our mayor.

Pft! What is that? It sounds like Uncle Joey taking Vinnie out for a ride to the docks to “talk” to him about mouthing off in front of the family.

It certainly doesn’t sound like nobody was worried.

But now we have to deal with an hinchado Gimenez, pumped up not only from the union deals but from the recall retraction, heading into the holidays with a clear path toward the 2016 election, which he has already won in his mind.

Ay, Dios mio!

5 Responses to "Carlos Gimenez recall is recalled after budget concessions"

  1. Workers get thrown a bone in order to get hefty payoff construction deals this November. That makes sense.

    The Commissioners still take the fall for okaying the Mayor’s 2014-15 plan that is NOT sustainable. Mayor Gimenez repeatedly says that his budget is good to go for FIVE years and it’s not paid for with one time revenues. No one is pressing to have him explain the numbers. Other than his expectation that the economy is getting better, he’s bankrupting Miami-Dade County in the 2020’s. He has tapped dry all reserves (ex. Marlin’s stadium bond payment, Library), made deals offsetting payments (Miami Beach Convention Center) and sold off capital to pay for today’s daily expenditures. Mami-Dade’s fiscal future that’s relying on tourism, the Panama Canal, and the condo building boom is teetering. Here’s hoping that Jennifer Moon’s numbers aren’t just more “scrivener’s errors” waiting to be uncovered.

  2. missed opportunity! however, it will come back to ahunt him at re-election time. in the meantime, he’ll make more blunders and have moral lapses so stay on top of him

  3. What a shame! there were donors waiting for him to file. even some Unions were going to kick in resources and manpower.

  4. So Rodney Barreto takes the former boat captain out “for a walk” to discourage him from following suit with the mayor’s recall. This is the stuff of movies! The conversation probably went like this: “Am a friend of a friend and you have upset a lot of people. The G MAN thought of sending consigliere Jorge Luis “the shark” Lopez but instead you got me, next time you’d get a visit from Rafael “Luca Brassi” Garcia Toledo, he”ll fix your little red wagon” Well it worked. The most corrupt mayor to ever grace the halls of Miami Dade County’s government building survives to steal, cheat and abuse another day. Check out that FIU and the Courthouse votes set for Nov. 4th if you want to see corruption. Lopez, Balsera and the Munilla’s MCM Construction on the PAC for the YES, Garcia Toledo covering the back door on the Youth Fair board for the NO, Brian Goldmeir collecting for the PAC for the court YES. The same usual money hungry suspects. WHAT SEWER DID THESE RATS CRAWL OUT FROM?

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