Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation Director Alex Dominguez is leaving the post he’s had for almost six years and going to AT&T as the new Regional Director of External Affairs for City of Miami, South Miami-Dade County and Monroe County. “In his position, Mr. Dominguez will handle legislative and community affairs initiatives. He will also assist with […]
It came and went without much fanfare — the first anniversary of the arrests of both Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi and Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño in separate snags on the same August day last year and in the same FBI sting — bogus economic development grant approvals for kickbacks. Maroño is serving […]
It escaped me Wednesday, but Genting isn’t the interesting client represented by the lobby firm that stole Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Genaro “Chip” Iglesias from the county. David Beckham is. Iglesias has been the county’s lead negotiator on the talks with Beckham and his group of investors to bring Major League Soccer to Miami — and […]
UPDATED: A little birdie with inside info told Ladra this afternoon that Ballard Partners, a firm that is desperate to strengthen their new Miami office, stole Chip from the county with an offer he couldn’t refuse. Ballard is the number one lobbying firm in the state, according to Florida Trend, and is currently working on the Genting […]
While the regular Joe P. Taxpayer citizens of Miami-Dade County were begging county commissioners to restore the library budget to what is needed to go back to the right level of services and not to fire police officers and not to increase the bus fair and prices for special transportation for the elderly and the […]
Every year, lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez and his wife Marile take photos with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his wife, Lourdes, at the mayor’s ball. But Ladra hasn’t seen a photo of them taken together from Saturday’s black tie event benefiting United Way. Maybe he knows Ladra would use it. The photo we did see […]
Lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez, who is a close friend of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and spends a lot of time at County Hall, has been on the defensive in the past week or so for one of his clients, Lyft, which provides a ride sharing program that is operating in the county illegally. And he […]
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez may still enjoy a majority approval rating — with 53% of respondents saying they thought he was doing an excellent (11%) or good (42%) job at the county, according to a recent pool. That’s not bad. But it’s not really good either, considering that there is a 4% margin of error, […]
Some 305 political observers may have expected Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to recommend CH2M Hill for the fat, juicy $1.6 billion water and sewer contract, because their lobbyists include his buddies — former State Rep. turned lobbyist Marcelo Llorente and Vicky Garcia-Toledo, wife of chaffeur turned big wig pretender Ralph Garcia Toledo. But what people […]
Problems in the procurement process at Miami-Dade County are becoming a persistent plague. We’ve had bid protests over the pizza place at Miami International Airport, the water and sewer contract, the code enforcement court deferment services, where commissioners actually asked for what amounts to a “do-over.” Commissioner Audrey Edmonson said she expects an issue in the […]