Miami Commission clash: Miguel Gabela vs Joe Carollo war heats up

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The political battle between Miami commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela — which began in earnest after Gabela took the chairmanship of the Bayfront Park Management Trust from Crazy Joe — erupted into a full blown war this week with several bombs launched. It culminated Thursday at a city commission meeting where Gabela’s wife accused Carollo of, basically, stalking them, and, after which, Chairwoman Christine King, like a frustrated parent with unruly kids, stopped the meeting abruptly.

Like a cease fire.

Nothing from the agenda — aside from the presentations and accolades — got done. Nothing.

And poor Loco Pollo Carollo — smiling and satisfied like the cat that ate the canary — had only just gotten there, after leaving his chair empty throughout the entire public comments period, during which Mariela Gabela said he and his staff were harassing her. Yes, that’s Mrs. Gabela, the commissioner’s wife.

Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loses Bayfront Park Trust to Miguel Gabela

“He’s messing with my livelihood. He’s been messing with my livelihood since 2023,” Mariela Gabela said, coming to tears and pointing at the empty seat where Carollo should have been. “He has a person outside my house watching me night and day. He has the sergeant of arms over here taking photos of me and watching me day and night. I’m the wife of an elected official, and that guy over there is always watching me and his employees are always taking photos of me.

“This is not a communist country!”

This all actually started on Monday, when Carollo hastily called a press conference to make shit up about both Jose Regalado — the former assistant building director who is running for District 4 commissioner against his puppet candidate (more on that later) — and Gabela, who was made the chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust after Crazy Joe was accused of misspending the agency’s budget like a slush fund and was stripped of the title.

The press conference was really a pre-emption of Tuesday’s announced “emergency” meeting of the Bayfront Trust, which Carollo just knew was going to be all about his malfeasance, which it was.

Carollo, who has been known to have people followed and surveilled, distributed satellite photos of Gabela’s house with cars parked on the property and boats in the Miami River behind it. The accusations of code enforcement violations didn’t get much press traction, so he had his Chief of Staff William “Billy” Ortiz send an official complaint to the city manager, which Gabela mentioned on Thursday.

So, Carollo’s press conference was nothing more than trying to set the narrative before Gabela was able to blast his actions on the Trust. Because on Tuesday, two bombs dropped: Gabela had both Cristina Palomo, the former Bayfront Trust board member who resigned because of the Dogs and Cats giveaway, and former Bayfront Trust Executive Director Jose Suarez, who has accused Carollo of misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars — maybe millions — and is suing him and the city for pressuring him to resign.

The meeting was an indictment of Carollo, who was there and tried in vain to defend himself (more on that later). And there is now an ongoing forensic audit and investigation into the use of the Trust funds for Carollo’s personal gain, Gabela said.

Read related: Commissioner Miguel Gabela set to expose more Bayfront Park Trust issues

This alone, is enough of a story to set alarms on fire. There should already have been an investigation.

Then, at Thursday’s meeting, Gabela had a discussion item on the agenda to prohibit electeds from weaponizing any city department — akin to the resolution that Carollo passed that does not allow the city’s police department to investigate them. But when King announced that she would be leaving early, Gabela wanted to take it out of order. She said she would go in order.

“No, no, no. I need your vote. We need to do this because I’ve been targeted by the City of Miami code enforcement department through the city manager because of doing my job on the Bayfront Trust and Commissioner Carollo is harassing me,” Gabela said, while King, who has increasingly been seen as Carollo’s protector, kept interrupting him. She wouldn’t have it.

“He wants my house to be investigated when I have done noth… No, ma’am. No, ma’am. I know what’s going on here. I’ll tell you what. If we don’t do this, I’m leaving right now.”

King called a recess that ended up being permanent. Hopefully, things will get done at the next meeting. Because there is a lot to get done.

Gabela was unapologetic when he spoke to Ladra on Friday.

Read related: Joe Carollo wants to abolish Miami’s Bayfront Park Management Trust

“We’ve had people following us since 2023,” Gabela said, referring to his campaign before he was even elected. Back then, however, we thought it was former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla who was behind it. He was running against Gabela after being suspended by the governor after his arrest on public corruption charges, including bribery and money laundering, that were later dropped. But Gabela says it’s part of the same cabal.

He also knows that Carollo is trying to derail the results of the Bayfront Trust investigation and change the narrative, which is not going to be good for him.

“This is his way to intimidate people. This is his way of coming after me,” Gabela told Ladra. “He is freaked out. He is scared. We hit a couple of bombs but haven’t hit the nuclear bomb yet.”

But we all know it’s there, don’t we? Where’s the fallout shelter?

The cease fire was also short-lived. There will be a Sunshine meeting in commission chambers on May 30 on “the weaponization of city government.” That’s going to be another indictment on Carollo.

  Joe Carollo, Miguel Gabela