Bruno Barreiro recall might be about the after-race

Bruno Barreiro recall might be about the after-race

Some have wondered if the effort to recall Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro is real. But one of the organizers says that the only reason we haven’t seen petitions yet is that the targetted elected has to be in office for a year first, by state law. Barreiro was sworn in last January and the effort is […]

Philip Levine, Michael Gongora smile for the holiday camera

Philip Levine, Michael Gongora smile for the holiday camera

Maybe it’s the holiday spirit. Among the attendees Thursday night at the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s fourth annual LGBT Holigay Celebration and Toy Drive to benefit the Miami-Beach Police Department’s Toy Drive were newly elected Mayor Philip Levine and his campaign adversary, former Commissioner Michael Gongora, who lost the race last month […]

Miami Beach: A tale of two aides, Fired and Hired

Miami Beach: A tale of two aides, Fired and Hired

As expected, Alex Fernandez, the aide to Miami Beach Vice Mayor Deede Weithorn, was fired from his city job by the newly-elected mayor Tuesday for endorsing the opponent in the recent mayoral election. The city will defend its action by saying that Fernandez was an at-will employee. But everybody knows that it was because he […]

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 […]

Philip Levine wins Miami Beach recount; other runoffs are on

Philip Levine wins Miami Beach recount; other runoffs are on

It’s all over but the crying in Miami Beach for those who supported Commissioner Michael Gongora in his bid to become the next mayor. Or those of us who supported anybody but Philip Levine, the millionaire businessman declared the winner this afternoon after he held on to a narrow margin from Tuesday’s election through an […]

Lots of absentee undervotes in Miami Beach mayoral race

Lots of absentee undervotes in Miami Beach mayoral race

In Miami Beach, the mayoral race was certainly the most exciting contest on the ballot. But it wasn’t the only one. Yet it seems that hundreds of voters who picked millionaire businessman Philip Levine simply did not vote for any of the candidates in the commission races or answer any of the six referendum questions […]

Second chance runoff would be good in Miami Beach race

Second chance runoff would be good in Miami Beach race

Let’s not write Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora off just yet. The nail-biter election in that city just drew a recount. While millionaire mayoral candidate Philip Levine may have won 50.48 percent of the vote Tuesday, the narrow margin called for an automatic recount after the provisional votes counted today did not push him toward […]

Phillip Levine goon boots Ladra from 1st Amendment event

Phillip Levine goon boots Ladra from 1st Amendment event

Oh, the irony! Millionaire businessman Philip Levine, who wants to be mayor of Miami Beach, had a press conference Wednesday to refute accusations that he seeks to silence critics and quash questions he doesn’t like, deciding for himself (read: decided for him by his handlers) who is a journalist and who is not. Or at […]

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 […]