Monday, June 6, 2011

One-man forum tonight

A mayoral forum for the two candidates in the runoff will be a little one-sided tonight since one of the guys in the June 28 runoff ain't showing. Guess who?

Former county commissioner Carlos Gimenez has confirmed his attendance at the forum presented by the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations, which starts at 7 p.m. tonight at the Kendall Village Center Civic Pavilion, 8625 SW 124th Ave. A spokeswoman for former Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina "has indicated Mr. Robaina will not participate."

Big surprise, eh?

The KFHA (which gave its endorsement to Gabrielle Redfern in the last go around and will likely give its nod to Gimenez after tonight) said in its announcement that the invitation would stay open. Ladra tells them not to bother. Robaina did not do too well at the last forum by the KFHA (the first one where all 11 candidates participated). He was publicly beaten up by future Mayor Gimenez on his flip flop over the baseball stadium. He ran out afterwards as fast as he could. And he's skipped a bunch of forums and debates where he knows he won't be received as well as, say, at the LBA.

KFHA President Lee Zimmerman holds out hope that Robaina shows up. "Polls highlighted in news reports show voters are thirsting for leadership," Zimmerman said in the announcement. "Our organization believes it's important that voters have the opportunity to reach out and talk to the candidates, to hear and respect opposing points of view. And we afford the candidates the chance to win over voters, one at a time.

"We're taking this race away from TV ads and robo calls and making it personal for Miami-Dade voters," Zimmerman said.

Ah, that's it. It's personal. Julito likes to keep his campaign all business.

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