Joe Carollo collects $763K in just two months for Miami re-election race

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Campaign contributions marked by many special interest bundles

Between his campaign account and his political action committee, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo has raised more than three quarters of a million dollars for his re-election this year in just two months, according to the most recent campaign reports filed last week.

April was better than May, of course, because that is when he got a challenge from former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro. And May still brought him more than $268,000.

But a lot of this money — a whole lot — comes from special interests, not residents or small business owners in District 3. More than a third of the 423 contributions come from outside the city of Miami altogether. There are 32 from other Miami-Dade municipalities like Aventura, Doral and Miami Beach. Another 40 come with a Coral Gables address — after Crazy Joe complained that “outside Gables money” was controlling the recall effort. There are 41 checks from other Florida cities (18 from Broward) and 44 from out of state. The majority of those (17) came from New York.

There was also a lot of bundling, which is when very interested parties group several maximum $1,000 checks together, bypassing the spirit of the legal limit by using relatives and companies. And most of those are big real estate and development interests.

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Among those contributors is Jorge Mas, who wants to build Miami Freedom Park on the grounds of the Melreese Golf Course. He gave $7,000 to the campaign from seven different firms and family members, but he also gave $25,000 to Miami First, Carollo’s PAC, from Mastec, for a $32K investment as of the end of May, when the last report was filed.

The biggest bundler of the bunch so far is Moishe Mana, the self-proclaimed savior of Wynwood, who gave 24 separate $1,000 checks from different entities. Is that a $24,000 investment to keep Ball & Chain on 8th Street closed? Or to secure permits for the next big, multi-block event?

The next biggest bundler is real estate investor/developer Eduardo Garcia of the Treo Group, who gave $20K in 20 separate maximum checks.

After that we have car mogul/political meddler extraordinaire Norman Braman with $17,000 in 17 checks (he also gave $10K to the PAC) and developers Nir Shoshani and Ron Gottesman with $15,000 in 15 checks between them. They are followed by real estate investors Robert Balough and Sergio Rok, who each gave $10,000 in — you got it — 10 checks for the maximum.

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This is an “at least” situation. It’s as much as we can tell from the reports. But there could be more checks in any bundle because any one of these people could have gotten a cousin in Kendall that Ladra doesn’t recognize to write a $1,000 check they then get reimbursed for through Venmo or PayPal.

So why have a maximum amount at all?

Other prominent bundlers in the first two months of Carollo’s fundraising include but are not limited to:

• $9,000 from the Presidente and Tropical supermarkets. Do they know something we don’t?
• $8,000 from lobbyist Ron Book
• $6,000 from developer Craig Robbins
• $5,000 from Jayme Halli (re: Terra Group), who also gave $5K to the PAC
• $5,000 from ambulance king Raymond Gonzalez, though he might be more Coral Gables money because he just bought a $10 million mansion in the City Beautiful
• $5,000 from Paul Cejas, the ambassador’s son and chair of Aquarius Management, who also owns some millions in Gables properties
• $5,000 from developer Jeffrey Berkowitz
• $5,000 from Abingdale Square Partners, real estate developers in New York, from where Carollo got 17 contributions
• $4,000 from the Havenicks of Magic City Casino (they also gave $8,000 to the PAC)
• $4,000 from record producer Nelson Albareda of Live and Loud Studios
• $3,000 each from lobbyists Ralph Garcia-Toledo and Eric Zichella

Former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, now a lobbyist, also gave $1,000 from both himself and his PAC, Truth is the Daughter of Time — which sounds like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale — but he was much more generous with the PAC, where he gave another $35,000.

But the big hitters at the PAC were unexpected: Douglas Kimmelman from New Jersey and Delaware, founder of Energy Capital Partners, who gave a sizable $50,000 donation and Ida Adams, an 85-year-old real estate lady in Key Biscayne (mm hmm), who gave Miami First $30,000.

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Interestingly, Adams gave Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Carollo’s current nemesis, $20K in 2019, which Ladra questioned at the time. Does this mean that Ida (or whoever you are) also broke up with ADLP?

Edgewater Management Services, which had also donated to ADLP’s 2019 campaign, gave Carollo’s PAC $15,000. So did Alba’s Yacht Services, which might be angling for a piece of the marina contracts.

But it’s early yet, and Ladra fully expects Carollo to shake down some more suckers, er, investors, er donors and reach the million dollar mark by the end of the summer.

Lookout for more bundles.

  Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Joe Carollo, Jorge Mas, Norman Braman, PACs