Ladra got the most interesting phone call Monday, on the eve of the first debate for the Miami-Dade mayoral candidates in 2020. It was a push poll, likely for former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. Why? Penelas was the only candidate that my interviewer spoke positively about during a nearly 20 minute Q&A (okay it took […]
The voting public split the baby in Hialeah Tuesday — if the runoff election was a referendum on Mayor Carlos Hernandez, as they usually seem to be. One of Little Castro’s endorsed candidates won, beating an activist the mayor had arrested early on in the campaign. Jackie Garcia-Roves, who beat Milly Herrera, 54 to 46%, […]
Talk about persistence: It took a fourth try, but former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is an elected official again. It also took about a million dollars. But more about that later. In what Ladra is pretty sure is yet another sign of the apocalypse, Dean DLP won the runoff for the Miami District […]
There won’t be a mayoral race but the three commission races in Miami Beach this November drew four candidates each for a total of 12 names on the ballot. You just know there’s going to be at least two runoffs. The only other incumbent is Group 5 Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who has drawn three solid […]
It was a bit chaotic at the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, where a “surprise” interim president was named and members continued to press for a politically-motivated do-over of a selection process to permanently replace the retiring Eduardo Padrón, whose last day is Friday. “A shitshow,” said one faculty observer. “A circus,” […]
With less than two weeks left before qualifying, a third candidate has filed to run against Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola. Stephen Cohen, a real estate investor specializing in the South Beach luxury condo market, on Tuesday joined Raquel Pacheco, a retired soldier, business owner and PTA mom, and Jonathan Welsh, a healthcare marketing executive, in the race to unseat […]
Operators of the Medley landfill want to go 75 feet higher and keep piling on the trash for 10 years longer than currently planned at their facility, which stinks for miles. And the state was poised to grant the “application for significant modification” — until the city of Doral stepped in. Now, citizens have until Aug. 8 […]
Television journalist Maria Elvira Salazar announced Thursday on twitter and YouTube that she wants a rematch with Congresswoman Donna Shalala, who beat her last November to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who retired more than three decades in office. Salazar lost to Shalala by 6 points, 52 to 46%, and apparently thinks she can […]
Since State Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez (R-Doral) switched earlier this month from the House District she won last year to the state senate seat currently occupied by termed-out Anitere Flores (R-Kendall), HD105 has become another coveted open state contest in 2020. So, it already has attracted not one, not two, but three failed state rep wannabes […]
It’s been rumored for months but Miami Lakes Councilman Nelson Rodriguez will announce Thursday that he will challenge freshman State Rep. Cindy Polo in House District 103 next year. Polo won the seat vacated by Manny Diaz Jr., who ran for Senate, in 2018 against another former Miami Lakes councilman, Frank Mingo. Rodriguez, a Coral […]