Two of the original G-Men are together again: Jesse Manzano-Plaza, who ran the immediate 2012 re-election campaign for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, has joined the consulting firm headed by Alex Heckler and former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente, who came in third in the 2011 recall mayoral race and then endorsed Gimenez. Manzano and Ben Pollara, […]
Let the political Hunger Games begin. When the prize is a $1.6 billion sewer contract at Miami-Dade, the lobbyists and representatives of the companies vying for that chunk of ka-ching are like “tributes” fighting to the death. They are not just going to lay down and die if they don’t get it on the first […]
Some 305 political observers may have expected Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to recommend CH2M Hill for the fat, juicy $1.6 billion water and sewer contract, because their lobbyists include his buddies — former State Rep. turned lobbyist Marcelo Llorente and Vicky Garcia-Toledo, wife of chaffeur turned big wig pretender Ralph Garcia Toledo. But what people […]
Spotted at a Coral Gables eatery the other day: Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, the county mayor’s son, and Hialeah Council Vice President Luis Gonzalez, who is considering a run at the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s Office. While, he wouldn’t tell me what they discussed, Gonzalez confirmed to Ladra Wednesday that the two had met for “not […]
One of the names many political observers thought they would see on the bulging ballot this year is MIA so far. But former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente (Rep., District 116) – who came in third during the Miami-Dade mayoral race last year — says not to count him out just yet. Llorente, who later endorsed […]
U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Rep., District 18) kicked off her re-election campaign with a packed Sunday evening event at Miami’s Rusty Pelican where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (of Virginia’s seventh district) — the “most powerful person in Washington,” according to GQ magazine (and we all know what a political guide that is) — stomped […]