It stands out.
Former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo — who lashed out publicly and loudly against alleged and rampant corruption in the city of Doral after he was fired as city manager — is on the payroll for the campaign to re-elect Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Tainted Boy” Gimenez. He’s been paid $6,000 a month for consulting and research in April and May, according to the campaign reports.
But that could literally mean anything. And Carollo would not tell Ladra specifically what he was doing on the Gimenez campaign. He also would not tell me who Horacio Delgado is. That is the owner of Consultanting Associates Group, according to Division of Corporation records.
“He’s someone at the firm. But I do all the work,” Carollo said, referring to the Gimenez campaign. “It says what it’s for on the report. It has to.”
Um, yeah but what kind of consulting and what kind of research?
“He doesn’t have to say what I did and I don’t have to say what I did,” Carollo said, referring to the vagueness of the campaign report.
Earlier, Carollo told me he could do anything. He’s a veritable one-stop political shop: messaging, fundraising, writing TV and mail and radio ads. He did all this, he said, for Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado when he first ran for commissioner. And he did it for Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales when he ran for county commission in District 7. And he did it for Doral Mayor Luigi Boria two years ago.
Read related story: Crazy Joe’s campaign help in Doral = $144,000 a year
But he did for them pro bono (even though he got a sweet gig as Doral City Manager, with a $144,000 annual salary after Boria won). Gimenez is the first and only candidate, it seems, who pays him for whatever services. And not a paltry amount either.
“I decide when I’m going to be paid and by whom I’m going to be paid,” he said, adding that he has volunteered for local and state campaigns since he was a teenager. “I don’t have to go into every detail of what I’m doing.”
“I’m doing consulting. I’m doing strategy,” Carollo said, refusing to give any specifics. “If that’s not sufficient enough for you, I’m sorry.”
Meanwhile, Brian Goldmeier gets paid for fundraising for Gimenez and Jesse Manzano-Plaza gets paid $7,000 a month — jsut $1,000 more than Carollo — as the main 
strategist. Dario Moreno and Armando Ibarra are his pollsters. I’m absolutely certain that Gimenez and all his money has someone better than Crazy Joe to do messaging. Isn’t that Freddy Balsera and his team (which now includes the mayor’s son)? Supposedly, former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is sitting on the wings, waiting to be called in. Thought that might be more fantasy than factual.
So what is Carollo doing? Manzano would not call me after I reached out to him to ask. He told me, through a mutual friend, to call lobbyist and one-time Gimenez driver Ralph Garcia Toledo, who is apparently also working on the campaign — a spokesman now? — though maybe not in a paid capacity. He’ll get paid later when his firm gets some juicy water and sewer contract. And, because I know that, he won’t return my calls. Or maybe it’s because he’s in Paris with the mayor for the Paris Air Show.
Carollo himself was so catty about his role in our telephone chat that it may lend credence to those who say he’s being paid not to run in the election. Although Ladra would tell you that is just throwing money away. “I don’t care what those kind of people are saying. Those are the same people that have always attacked Joe Carollo,” he said.
“I worked for Gimenez last time,” he told me. Well, maybe he was also paid to stay out of the race in 2012. Reports show his firm, American Consultants, was paid $90,000 for “basic strategy” in the 2012 mayoral re-election against former Commission Chairman Joe Martinez.
Again, “basic strategy” is pretty freaking obscure. And that’s a lot of money. All while Gimenez had his G-Man team of Manzano, Goldmeier, RGT, Al Lorenzo, Tom Martinelli, Roly Marante, Emiliano Antunez, Barbara Hardemon, Esther Nufer and a slew of others doing the exact same thing. What did/does Carollo bring to the table?
Maybe Carollo is paid to not smear the mayor on TV and radio and instead smear challengers, like 
Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado (declared) and Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez (still thinking about it).
“If you show me someone worthwhile as a better replacement for Carlos Gimenez, I’ll look at it,” he told me. “But of the people who are out there already, I don’t think they are better.”
That might be why Carollo is being paid out of the old PAC, Common Sense Now, which is really an ECO (same thing) and is still active and got $25,000 from the new PAC, Miami-Dade Citizens First. Why not pay Carollo directly from the new PAC? Is Gimenez trying to distance himself?
Read related story: Ex Doral City Manager Joe Carollo keeps talking post firing
Or maybe Gimenez is just doing his old chum a solid. Remember, Carollo was the one who made him city manager of Miami way back when.
“Carlos was named by me as my last city manager because of his integrity, his honesty and his professionalism. And I don’t think that has changed in him one iota,” Carollo said. “He is one of the most honorable elected officials we have had.”
And now the mayor’s old boss is finding it a little challenging to get a new job in city administration. The last time he helped someone win a campaign, he got a $144,000-a-year job out of it.
“Let’s be frank,” Carollo said, and he wasn’t talking about his brother. “After the public stink I made on how I worked with law enforcement on the corruption in Doral, do you think anyone would ever contemplate hiring me?”
Let’s be frank, Joe. I’m surprised that Gimenez still even keeps you around. And I can’t wait for the day you feel slighted and turn on him.
Why is Joe Carollo on Mayor Carlos Gimenez camp’s payroll? added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
