Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter kicks off reelection among pals

Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter kicks off reelection among pals

It was like a Sunshine Law violation waiting to happen: All but one of the city council members showed up to the kick off of Mayor Jeff Porter‘s reelection campaign Thursday night — an intimate affair with about 100 or so people in the Champion’s Club at the Miami-Homestead Speedway. In a rare sign of […]

Two arrests in Homestead absentee ballot fraud case

Two arrests in Homestead absentee ballot fraud case

Almost a year after they were reported to have tampered with the ballots of a Homestead family, two workers from the 2013 mayoral campaign of hotelier Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell — have been arrested on absentee ballot fraud charges. The Miami-Dade State Attorney Office and the Miami-Dade Police Department announced Thursday the […]

Homestead mayor’s win is victory for Dade Dems, too

Homestead mayor’s win is victory for Dade Dems, too

Newly elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter wasn’t the only one who won in that city’s election Tuesday night. The Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which went hot and heavy behind the Democrat against hotelier and Republican Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner and uber conservative Republican Lynda Bell, claimed his 55-45 victory in that heated race as […]

Mark Bell’s Homestead loss ripples over to wife Lynda Bell

Mark Bell’s Homestead loss ripples over to wife Lynda Bell

Now that Mark Bell‘s bid for Homestead mayor is a thing of the past, how will his loss Tuesday to former Councilman Jeff Porter — who he outspent at least 4 to 1 — affect his wife, Miami-Dade Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell? That is what everyone was buzzing about Wednesday. Bell is up for […]

Score one for Mark Bell: Ethics board chides Jeff Porter

Score one for Mark Bell: Ethics board chides Jeff Porter

Score one for Homestead mayoral candidate Mark Bell, whose campaign attorney filed an ethics complaint against former Councilman Jeff Porter for what they called a “maliciously false” mailer focused on a $25,000 CRA grant given to Bell’s Redland Hotel earlier this year. The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found probable cause Wednesday that […]

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

A probable cause hearing has been scheduled on what was a questionable ethics complaint to begin with, filed against one of the candidates in the uglier-by-the-minute Homestead mayoral race, looking very much like a campaign move made simply to bolster Mark Bell‘s chances in the heated runoff against former Councilman Jeff Porter. Note that the […]

First absentee ballot fraud claim arises — in Homestead race

First absentee ballot fraud claim arises — in Homestead race

A Homestead voter said two men came to her house Wednesday and filled out ballots for her and three family members — before the voters realized that at least one ballot was marked for the wrong candidates. Those candidates, according to one of four ballots filled out, are mayoral hopeful Mark Bell, the husband of […]

Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff

Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff

In what seems like an early guilty verdict, at least in the court of public opinion, former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman — suspended last month after his arrest on public corruption charges — was shut out of the runoff in Tuesday’s primary city election. Former Councilman Jeff Porter came out of the first round with […]

Homestead mayor’s race could be litmus for Lynda Bell, too

Homestead mayor’s race could be litmus for Lynda Bell, too

There’s another candidate in the Homestead mayoral primary today, though her name is not on the ballot. Miami-Dade Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell‘s husband is running for mayor in the southern city where his wife was the only woman to serve in that top post (from 2007 to 2009) and some people see the mayoral […]

Early voting ends today in Homestead, Miami Lakes election

Early voting ends today in Homestead, Miami Lakes election

More than 1,100 people have already voted in the Homestead primary as early voting opens today for the last chance to cast a ballot before Election Day Tuesday. That includes 810 absentee ballots returned as of Friday and 169 and 154 early voters casting in person on Thursday and Friday. That’s already more than the […]