Steve Losner and Elvis Maldonado head into Homestead mayoral runoff

Steve Losner and Elvis Maldonado head into Homestead mayoral runoff

Former Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter lost the mayoral three-way primary in Homestead Tuesday, proving, finally, that an honest guy can’t get elected in Miami-Dade. Incumbent Mayor Steve Losner, who got almost 47% of the vote, heads comfortably into a runoff with former Councilman Elvis Maldonado, who left office to run for an open county seat […]

Score one for Mark Bell: Ethics board chides Jeff Porter

Score one for Mark Bell: Ethics board chides Jeff Porter

Score one for Homestead mayoral candidate Mark Bell, whose campaign attorney filed an ethics complaint against former Councilman Jeff Porter for what they called a “maliciously false” mailer focused on a $25,000 CRA grant given to Bell’s Redland Hotel earlier this year. The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found probable cause Wednesday that […]

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

Is election time Homestead ethics claim a campaign trick?

A probable cause hearing has been scheduled on what was a questionable ethics complaint to begin with, filed against one of the candidates in the uglier-by-the-minute Homestead mayoral race, looking very much like a campaign move made simply to bolster Mark Bell‘s chances in the heated runoff against former Councilman Jeff Porter. Note that the […]

First absentee ballot fraud claim arises — in Homestead race

First absentee ballot fraud claim arises — in Homestead race

A Homestead voter said two men came to her house Wednesday and filled out ballots for her and three family members — before the voters realized that at least one ballot was marked for the wrong candidates. Those candidates, according to one of four ballots filled out, are mayoral hopeful Mark Bell, the husband of […]

Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff

Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff

In what seems like an early guilty verdict, at least in the court of public opinion, former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman — suspended last month after his arrest on public corruption charges — was shut out of the runoff in Tuesday’s primary city election. Former Councilman Jeff Porter came out of the first round with […]

Early voting ends today in Homestead, Miami Lakes election

Early voting ends today in Homestead, Miami Lakes election

More than 1,100 people have already voted in the Homestead primary as early voting opens today for the last chance to cast a ballot before Election Day Tuesday. That includes 810 absentee ballots returned as of Friday and 169 and 154 early voters casting in person on Thursday and Friday. That’s already more than the […]

Debate a dud, but early voting starts in Homestead

Debate a dud, but early voting starts in Homestead

Voters have been steadily trickling into the Homestead public library for early voting. I don’t know what has them so excited. Because despite mounting anticipation, the mayoral debate in Homestead last week was a little anticlimactic. Here’s a race where one candidate, the former incumbent before he was suspended by the governor, has been arrested […]

High hopes for Homestead mayoral circus show, er, debate

High hopes for Homestead mayoral circus show, er, debate

It almost sounds like an episode of a made for TV drama: While all four candidates are reportedly confirmed for the Homestead Rotary Club’s debate Monday night, there is a lot of buzz on whether the former mayor — who was suspended by the governor last month after he was arrested on public corruption charges […]

Who’s behind Homestead poll? Not any of the candidates

Who’s behind Homestead poll? Not any of the candidates

An automated poll in Homestead has raised the possibility of yet another candidate in this year’s already interesting mayoral race. Vice Mayor Jon Burgess was mentioned as one of the candidates in a poll of 250 voters done Thursday (and which, ooops, reportedly reached a number of businesses, too). The poll has some people thinking […]