Two moves fill out Hialeah races

Longtime Hialeah Planning and Zoning Board member and council candidate Ramiro Sicre sat on a bench on the third floor outside the clerk's office at City Hall Friday afternoon and waited.

And waited. And waited.

Sicre, sitting here next to former councilwoman Cindy Miel, who filed to run against Council President Isis "Guttergirl" Garcia-Martinez in the only head-to-head, was one of the first and few funded candidates to jump into November's council elections. But he became the last one to qualify by the 5 p.m. Friday deadline. He later told Ladra that he wanted to see what Frank Lago, former Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño's chief of staff (at the other end of the bench), would do. If Lago switched from the Group 6 race against incumbent Pablito "Huh" Hernandez and longtime water department worker Daisy "Duh" Castellanos, Sicre -- who was once appointed to the council to fill a vacancy -- would jump into the Group 6 race. Instead, he jumped into the Group 2 contest to make a three-way now with incumbent Jose Caragol and former mayor Julio Martinez (who could quickly lost Back to the Future slate status with Sicre around).

But one thing was certain: Sicre was going to jump out of the Group 1 race vacated by termed-out Councilman Pepe Yedra, which is largely seen as Professor Alex Morales' seat despite several other wannabes, including last minute entrant Lourdes Lozano, a former Hialeah Housing Authority member who was among those who voted to fire Morales, the onetime director, at the behest of former Mayor Julio Robaina. Lozano has been cast as a plant by Hernandez (read: Robaina) to force Morales into a runoff so he has less time and money to help his slate mate, former mayor Raul Martinez, who wants his old job back.

He's not the only one who switched the seat sought. Tony Vega, who had also indicated he would run in the Group 1 seat vacated by termed-out Councilman Pepe Yedra, jumped into the Group 3 race against incumbent Vivian Casals-Muñoz and former cop and police chief's son Danny Bolaños. "My shot is better here," Vega said, which could be a strange thing to hear from a gun dealer. "A merchant of death," as he calls himself. Vega owns Miami Guns on West 84th Street, which he says the city is trying to close down (but Ladra needs to dig into something about a gun range and city permits). "Because it's such a crowded field," Vega added (read: "Because that is Professor Alex Morales' seat.").

"I'm running because of my terrible dealings with the city as a businessman," Vega told me, minutes after he qualified Friday morning (photographed here with City Clerk David Concepcion as he switches). "It can run a whole lot better. There is no customer service here. There's apathy."

But while he has spent much of the last year complaining about the administration and writing letters to the editor about the city trying to shut him down, Vega seems to be simpatico with Alcaldito Carlos Hernandez. He almost echoed Hernandez on the union position. "There's a big push to satisfy the unions who don't want to take any steps down," Vega said. "They want what's best for their members, but not what the city needs." And there also have been Vega signs spotted on the same posts Hernandez signs (unknown, however, if it was the ones with the little evil-eye-warding mirrors).

Su Alcaldito (Ladra adapted another nickname, this time to mimic his own slogan and return address) is rumored to be distancing himself from Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz. Ladra smells a riff between the incumbents and the official notary for the 1st Hialeah Bank of Julito, who may be off the slate and left to fend for herself. There are no Casals-Muñoz signs or materials at the incumbents shared campaign headquarters on West 12th Avenue, which is, coincidentally, a couple of doors down from Little Vegas in Hialeah, a game room with more than 50 illegal slot maquinitas, likely permitted and operated by one of Hernandez's campaign contributors (still more on that later).

Maybe there is one way to find out for sure whether Vega is the new slate mate or the incumbents are going to stick together: Let's see which one shows up for the photo ops at the Hernandez Et Al campaign office grand opening Saturday morning.