While the regular Joe P. Taxpayer citizens of Miami-Dade County were begging county commissioners to restore the library budget to what is needed to go back to the right level of services and not to fire police officers and not to increase the bus fair and prices for special transportation for the elderly and the disabled, one man in a dark, tailored suit walked 
up and down the dais, often with his hands in his pockets, getting some really great and enviable access to the mayor’s top staffers and maybe even some commissioners.
That man is Jorge Luis Lopez, the lobbyist who has made 111 NW First Street like a satellite office and who should likely have a desk on the 29th floor. Can’t find Lopez at his Coral Gables office? Call the office of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Giveaway” Gimenez.
Lopez — who also traveled with Gimenez to Europe last year to see the Pope and is one of the hosts for the Mayor’s Ball every year — might have been there Tuesday to represent Lyft, one of the passenger ride services whose business model was approved 10-2 on first reading. But he hung out way after that vote was taken, walking up and down the dais like he owns it. The sergeant at arms, who regularly tells people they cannot stand there and have to sit down, didn’t bother him once.
Or he might have been there as one of the eight — yes, eight — lobbyists hired by Florida International University and its new PAC, Friends of Higher Education, in its effort to get their hands on the Dade County Youth Fair grounds for university expansion (more on that later). It never came up (it will on Thursday, we were told), but there were so many FIU people there hoping and praying they could get it done at the tail end and under the radar Tuesday when everyone was paying attention to the budget and commissioners were bone tired from all the fake hand-wringing.
Or he might have been there to represent one of the other 40 or so companies Lopez is registered to lobby 
for, including The Miami Heat, FP&L, Riviera Schools and the Homestead Miami Speedway, to name a few.
Or he might have been there to solidify his pole position as the mayor’s preferred lobbyist — make sure his clients, future possible clients and all the other lobbyists saw him working the crowd. It was flit like a butterfly, but shine like a peacock time. The message: “Psssst. If you want to get to Gimenez, there’s nobody better than me. I’m your man.”
Lopez — who likes to do weekly polls to gauge the public sentiment — certainly wasn’t there to advocate for libraries or firefighters or police officers. He wasn’t there to ask the commission to defy his BFF Gimenez and set a higher tax rate so that they can fully consider the county’s priorities before setting it in stone. How come he didn’t say a peep? Well, it could be because he doesn’t need to get up to the podium. He can just send the mayor a text with a smily face or a frowny face.
Read related story — Poll: Mayor Carlos Gimenez is too comfy close to lobbyists
I didn’t get to ask him Because Lopez did not return several calls and voice mail messages and a text message left for him Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Ladra guesses Lopez knew his role is clear: He was there to chat up the mayor’s top staff, including outgoing Chief of Staff Lisa Martinez, who he left the commission chambers with for a short while for a private talk, and Inson Kim, the mayor’s $105,000-a-year legislative and policy aide.
What did they talk about? Inquiring minds want to know. Especially since whatever it was seemed to be funny enough to tickle Kim’s usually serious bones. Just look at those smiles!
Perhaps Lopez provided comic relief at a very stressful budget meeting. But I guess only for a lucky few.
VIP lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez chummy with mayor’s staff added by Ladra on
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