Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was re-elected last year in a primary with 54 percent and a 24 point lead over number two, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Chairman Joe Martinez. He doesn’t reasonably have to campaign again for another year at least, according to local standards. Or so one might think (more on that later). But his […]
The event Sunday afternoon was planned long before Friday’s news about irregularities with absentee ballot requests in the campaign that elected Congressman Joe Garcia. But the re-election fundraiser 18 months out and on the heels (read: as a result) of a growing number of declared Republican challengers in the highly-contested 2014 race showed that staunch […]
After authorities get the phone records and after they get sworn statements from the half dozen or so politicians implicated in the absentee ballot fraud committed by Hialeah boletera Deisy Cabrera, maybe someone should ask her attorney Eric Castillo who he really works for. Castillo would not tell Ladra Tuesday who was paying him to […]
Not content in trying to put his own puppets in political office, which he miserably failed at last year anyway, automobile industry mogul Norman Braman is now endorsing candidates for local party leadership. District committeeman Emmanuel “Manny” Roman, who is credited with getting the Miami-Dade Republican Party to condemn the Dolphins Stadium deal and is now suddenly […]
With the Miami mayoral race six months away, Commissioner Francis “The Future” Suarez launched his “Our Time Is Now” video campaign on YouTube in a series of three pieces that remind Ladra of the Barack Obama commercials last year and that seek to position Baby X as the fresh, forward-minded option to lead the city […]
Shhhh. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of absentee ballots arriving in our mailboxes. The ballots were mailed today, which means voters get them Wednesday and Thursday. And, yes, that is why we heard the pro-Miami Dolphins stadium public financing scam commercial on Cuban radio this morning (more on that later). And while special […]
Talk about putting the cart before the horse. Or, rather, putting the field goal before the end zone. Miami-Dade County Commissioners are poised to approve today Mayor Carlos “Not So Golden Boy” Gimenez’s much-ballyhooed “framework” for getting the billionaire that owns the Miami Dolphins up to $200 million in public money to renovate his private stadium, which […]
First in a series. Ladra likes Tallahassee. Sure, the air might smell something that can only be described as a mix between cigar smoke and bullshit, but the sense of urgency and the presence of historic importance — past, present and future — is almost palpable. And the pace! The rapid fire pace that everyone keeps makes me […]
Whenever it happens — whether it’s concurrent with November’s mayoral election or a special election right after or a special election next year — the race to replace Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez, who has challenged Tomas Regalado for mayor — may become the most fun to watch. And the most colorful. Because not only could Manolo Reyes, a […]
Days before the swearing-in of seven new county commissioners (okay, six old and one new), exiting Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez said good bye to his electronic constituency via his weekly e-newsletter. But maybe it’s just a “see you later” instead. Martinez told Ladra Friday that while he’s “gotta find a job in the private […]