Cordial debate hides differences

The two candidates for Miami-Dade mayor seemed sorta similar and even chummy Wednesday at a debate presented by The Miami Foundation at the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus. But don’t let looks fool ya. Former county commissioner Carlos Gimenez and former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina are polar opposites. Chuckling and patting each other on […]

Debates: Will Julito phone in again?

Looks like Julio Robaina is afraid to face Carlos Gimenez in front of a live audience. The two mayoral candidates left standing after the May 24 vote will face-off in a June 28 runoff and the new debate/forum cycle started Monday with a snub after Robaina decided to skip the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations […]

Hialeah catches recall fever

Hialeah may be in a money mess in the wake of former mayor and county mayoral candidate Julio Robaina‘s mad dash to County Hall. There are some rumors of fiscal mismanagement that have left the city with a budget shortfall. Robaina certainly seemed to be less focused on his job and more on the campaign […]

Llorente to endorse Gimenez

Former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente, who came in third last month in the special election to replace the recalled county mayor, will announce that he will endorse the number 2 horse, Carlos Gimenez, in the June 28 runoff against Julio Robaina, who came in first. Llorente could not be reached for comment this morning and […]

Robaina gets toddler base

There’s a little controversy brewing in Hialeah over county mayoral candidate Julio Robaina, the City of Progress’s former mayor, and it has nothing do to with loans or real estate or maquinitas. It’s all about a photo of some pre-school kids holding up pro-Julio signs that has made rounds on email and facebook, distributed by […]

Ladra’s Candidates Cliff Notes

After seven (seems like 17) different forums and debates in the last couple of weeks, Ladra feels likes she gets the gist of the 11 mayoral candidates because, well, they sound like broken records. Granted, most voters only go to one or two forums and hear the carefully prepared “messages” with soundbites and buzz words […]

Candidate stumps for job, not seat

Looks like Gabrielle Redfern is giving up on the race for the Miami-Dade mayor’s seat and is going after a county job instead. In transit, what else? The Miami Beach single mom doesn’t want to be mayor anymore. She wants to fix the public transit system she says works badly for too few at too […]

Who’s real development darling?

There’s this great saying in Cuban — “como los pajaros tirandole a la escopeta,” which translates, really pitifully, into “that’s like the birds shooting at the rifles” but more literally into “the kettle calling the teapot black” (us Cubans have no teapots and the birds quote is more colorful). That’s how Ladra characterizes most of […]

Chivalry and guts shine at forum

She may be small in size, but Gabrielle Redfern — the only woman on the 11-member county mayoral wannabe contest — has big you-know-whats. Repeatedly uninvited to candidate forums and debates, Redfern is likely the one responsible for getting all the B-list candidates into The Miami Foundation’s debate on the UM campus Tuesday. The next […]

New poll: Robaina drops, Luke #3

Unconfirmed results of an unseen mayoral candidate poll — and this time Ladra only got the same information from two people, not the three we like to have — are not surprising in the sense that Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina may have dropped from two-months-ago numbers. Robaina still leads, but he lost a whopping 10 […]