Martinez Hialeah robocall is Sasha’s grudge match

• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

If Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez still has any tiny hope left of being elected county mayor, he better dump his campaign manager Sasha Tirador, and fast, before she does any more damage to his already minimal chance.

Maybe Tirador is sabotaging his campaign on purpose. Wouldn’t be the first time that is said. Does he owe her money already?

First, Tirador apparently pushed Martinez into a pissing match with his longtime friend, former State Rep. Juan Zapata, by having her machinery and Joe’s money go to Zapata’s opponent, and Tirador’s client, Miami-Dade Police officer Manny Machado, in what Ladra expects to be a close race (more on that later). There’s also the theory that Machado has to win District 11 to keep moving forward the chairman’s regional agenda or else Martinez’s imaginary victory will be all for nada.

Now, she pushed him into a political battle against Hialeah Councilwoman Vivian “I’ll Notarize That” Casals-Muñoz, who isn’t running for anything and, in fact, just got swept into re-election against all of Tirador’s best efforts, with a robocall to Hialeah voters. The robocall blasts Casals-Muñoz for backing Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who beat former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina in the heated election last year, in this race.

“Attention Hialeah. Today, our residents have a moral obligation,” the indignant female voice says, with emphasis, in the recorded call voters got last week and the week before that. “A year ago, while Gimenez was campaigning against Julio Robaina to be mayor of the county, Gimenez and his team aired a commercial to other cities saying ‘We are not Hialeah. Nor do we want to be.’ Now, Gimenez wants to be re-elected as mayor. And Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz doesn’t care that Gimenez insulted us and is supporting him. Call Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz and tell her that is unacceptable.”

Problem is that Casals-Muñoz is not supporting Gimenez. Or at least not publicly. Would be hard for her to do that and maintain a relationship with Robaina, her brother-in-law, business mentor and political Godfather. “I don’t understand the reason why they are using my name that way,” she told El Nuevo Herald reporter Enrique Flor, since she refuses to call me back or respond to emails or text messages now that it is no longer convenient. “Why are they attacking me? I’m not in a campaign.”

Who is she kidding? She knows why and so do we. It is almost common knowledge that Tirador has a long-standing feud with the councilwoman. Several people who know one or the other of them have suggested the same reason: money. Casals-Muñoz has not only not hired Tirador for her lucrative and successful campaigns, she has reportedly advised others not to hire her either. “She’s cost her business,” said one friend of the councilwoman’s.

Another theory is that Casals-Muñoz represents a threat to Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez. And that Hernandez had a hand in this. Not because he is supporting Martinez. While Martinez’s possibly illegal signs (more on that later) abound in the second largest city in the county, Hernandez has not publicly come out in favor of either of the two candidates. In fact, he seems to be avoiding Martinez.

“Carlos Hernandez is not supporting me,” the chairman told me in a quick, terse phone call. “I’ve called him and sent him messages and he hasn’t even responded.”

No, if Hernandez has a hand in this, it is about self preservation. Dicen las malas lenguas that Casals-Muñoz may consider (and she should) a run for mayor if State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez wimps out yet again (and she should anyway). So Hernandez and Tirador share economic interests. He paid her tens of thousands for his election last November and will likely hire her again next year. So, yeah, Hernandez benefits.

But Ladra thinks that was just gravy for the absentee ballot queen, who did not return two phone calls and a text message. (At least they share their pettiness). Because there was no good reason to bring up the councilwoman in that robocall other than to say, “Nenny, nenny, boo, boo. Look what I can doooo,” because, really, it wasn’t good campaign strategy.

See? The other problem with that robocall is that Tirador may have just gotten Gimenez more support in Hialeah with it. She may have just spent good money from her Citizens for Clarity PAC, the same one she used against Gimenez last year, to help the mayor. Because, no, you don’t need to waste good money from hidden sources that do not want to be identified on robocalls in Hialeah. Because, yes, Gimenez lost Hialeah by 3 to 1 to Robaina and some of that may be attributed to that other robocall, the one referred to in this new robocall, in which Gimenez dissed the City of Progress. And no matter how much he denies it, Ladra will continue to believe the mayor knew very well that his team (read: political strategist and former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla) were putting it out there. And, frankly, it was brilliant. Because they knew he was going to lose Hialeah anyway. And they knew it would help them gain points everywhere else. Nice? No. Smart? Heck, yes.

But that’s also old business. Gimenez can arguably stay at arm’s length and continue to claim innocence because the ad was paid for by a PAC — a PAC connected to him, but still a PAC. And Martinez is not Robaina. And the real message of the robocall is that Casals-Muñoz — who repeatedly has had the best polling numbers in Hialeah of all the bunch, maybe even better than Robaina’s himself, certainly better than those of Hernandez — supports Gimenez for mayor.

So let’s call that a robocall for the incumbent. It wouldn’t be the first time Tirador — which is Spanish for “thrower” or “pitcher” — is accused of throwing a race.