Michael Gongora, Mark Samuelian lead Miami Beach commission money race

Michael Gongora, Mark Samuelian lead Miami Beach commission money race

While it is not the only reason they are the frontrunners in the November election, it helps that former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora and comeback candidate Mark Samuelian have each raised more than $170,000, leading the pack in their respective commission races, according to the latest campaign reports filed last week. And leading by […]

Lobbyist/consultant David Custin cashes in on Miami Beach

Lobbyist/consultant David Custin cashes in on Miami Beach

UPDATED: David Custin wasn’t always so successful in Miami Beach. Before he played a crucial role in electing Mayor Philip Levine and Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Michael Grieco in 2013, Custin was really just a glorified mailboy-turned-campaign-consultant who dabbled sometimes as a lobbyist. He only had one client, the red light camera American Traffic Solutions, Miami Beach […]

Survey: Phil Levine ekes by, but slate mates are slam dunked

Survey: Phil Levine ekes by, but slate mates are slam dunked

It’s an informal, unscientific and likely flawed survey, done online via email blasts through Survey Monkey, a free site that provides such services, but it gives us what could be the first glimpse of what will happen in Miami Beach Nov. 3. Despite all the bad press Mayor Philip Levine has gotten lately — what with the […]

No surprises in Miami Beach November ballot, mayoral race

No surprises in Miami Beach November ballot, mayoral race

Qualifying ended Friday for the Nov. 3 Miami Beach elections and there were no surprise last minute hopefuls jumping into the ring. But we do have four full races with 12 candidates. There was high speculation that Mayor Philip Levine, who has become vulnerable in the last months of his first term, might draw a […]

Open Miami Beach seats become mayoral power playground

Open Miami Beach seats become mayoral power playground

Three open seats on the Miami Beach City Commission this year have really brought the wannabes out of the woodwork: November’s Beach ballot keeps growing, with two new candidates, bringing it to a total of nine all-new faces in the three group races. And while nobody’s running yet against Mayor Philip Levine — who hasn’t […]

Open letter dare to Miami Beach’s new Mayor Philip Levine

Open letter dare to Miami Beach’s new Mayor Philip Levine

Dear Mayor Elect Philip Levine: In a matter of hours, you will take your duly elected office as the newly named mayor of Miami Beach and I would like to take this opportunity to extend an olive branch and make some recommendations and requests. I know my words may fall on deaf ears. After all, […]

Miami Beach elections leave no Hispanic representation

Miami Beach elections leave no Hispanic representation

Miami Beach voters went for sweeping change Tuesday, throwing out both incumbents and choosing a fresh face over a longtime activist. But the change was cultural as well as political. Because for the first time in almost 20 years, there is not one single Hispanic elected official to represent the majority of the population in […]

Dade Dems (finally) enter Beach race, for Micky Steinberg

Dade Dems (finally) enter Beach race, for Micky Steinberg

After what they called a huge victory with the successful campaign for newly-elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party will divert its efforts to another race several miles away: The Miami Beach commission race in Group 1. The Dade Dems, who stayed out of the heated mayoral race because every single candidate was […]

Levine handler Jonah Wolfson dodges ethics questions

Levine handler Jonah Wolfson dodges ethics questions

As Ladra researched the Miami Beach mayoral elections and talked to dozens of people, one name came up as often as that of the candidates’: Commissioner Jonah “Potty Mouth” Wolfson, un fosforito with possible ethics lapses who is hell bent on getting questionable millionaire jerk Philip Levine elected and is alternately described as Levine’s attack […]

Editorial Cartoon: Miami Beach City Hall or Bower Tower?

Editorial Cartoon: Miami Beach City Hall or Bower Tower?

So, the only person who answered my open call for editorial cartoons is Mike Burke, who has a fixation with Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower. Not a Basic Instinct kind of fixation but an All The President’s Men kind of fixation. Burke’s beefs are pretty plentiful. He doesn’t like the way she travels on the […]