Will special meeting be announced?

Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez announced just moments ago that he was going to have a press conference Monday afternoon "to address concerns that have arisen due to the outcome of the recall election and the direction the county will take moving forward."

He is likely going to announce a date for a special meeting where the commission can decide whether to appoint replacements for the recalled mayor and commissioner until the next countywide election (in early 2010) or have a special election within the next couple of months. But most people know they are going to go for the latter. Most of the commissioners have been publicly reported to favor an election. And Martinez himself said at Wednesday's Latin American Business Association meeting (photographed here at the Westin Colonnade on Miracle Mile in downtown Coral Gables) that there was going to be an election. Not may be. Not could be. Going to be.

"We will have an election, folks," he said in his casual, emcee style, and brought the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into the perspective. "It's going to cost us a lot of money... but if people are fighting over there for democracy and shedding their blood, a couple of million dollars is nothing. It's really nothing."

Ladra heard that he spent some of his time Friday finding out what dates the other commissioners would have available to meet for this short agenda. But he will also use the opportunity to assure residents that there is no interruption of government business or services while the position is unfilled, one of his staffers told us. And he will answer questions from anyone who is concerned about county operations.

Pop tunes make mayor's race

Already, the campaign for Miami-Dade Mayor has become entertaining.

The recall had not even been confirmed by the canvassing board Friday when someone released and distributed via email on Thursday four jingles that jeer at one of the front-running candidates, Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos Gimenez.

At least they split the jeers equally, two in English and two in Spanish.

One parody uses the Black Eyed Peas Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night: "He's on a yacht, in a Mercedes. That's what he's got, to impress the ladies." Ladra loves the rhyme. Said Gimenez: "I guess the baby seat in the back [of he car] is real sexy." Well, in some circles. But we know what you mean. The other English-language song is set to the music of Michael Buble's hit, Haven't Met You Yet, which is not as catchy but pokes fun at him for playing golf "every day."

One of the Spanish-language tunes uses seconds of the Ricky Martin Maria song. "One, two, three, four retirements for Carlos Gimenez. One, two, three...not one retirement more." It's going to be a theme from his opponents, but Gimenez said he only has one pension -- the one from the city of Miami is for both positions as city manager and fire chief. He would get a county pension only when he leaves, but with his $6,000 salary, that comes out to less than $300 a month right now.

"It appears that this is the type of campaign it is going to be," Gimenez told Ladra over the telephone, comparing the mayoral bid to the bitter 2006 campaign where Miami Sen. Alex Villalobos was elected despite heavy negative advertising linked to opponent Frank Bolaños.

Ladra wants to know who did them, not just for the typical transparency I seek. I also happen to think they are very smartly written and the writer is extremely talented. She or he needs to send these little clips to Sony or someone and see if they can get some songwriting gig. The singer is not bad either. They sound like parodies you hear on Spanish language radio and, in fact, Ladra would not be surprised to hear them on the Enrique Santos show this week.

Another blogger links the songs to the Dade PBA, which had opposed and campaigned against the recall of the mayor. Ladra called PBA Prez John Rivera to see if we could be the manager, er, I mean get some answers.

"We have received a copy. We will neither deny nor affirm that we did it," Rivera said on the phone, which sounds like a wink, wink, nod, nod to me. "We would love to take credit for it. I think its funny and we want to do whatever we can to propel it."

Rivera said that he was not sure the PBA would endorse one of the mayoral candidates, and though Gimenez will likely not get it anyhow, he spoke favorably about two other candidates: Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente.

Gimenez, Rivera said, "likes to talk more than listen" and though the PBA has had issues with Robaina, "at least he gives you the time of day. He listens. He may not agree, but he listens to you. And Marcelo is a hell of a gentleman," Rivera continued. "As a state representative, he was unlike other representatives. He was hands on. And I don't think he has any baggage. Problem is, he might not have the name recognition."

There is no official word if the PBA board is even going to interview the candidates. "We haven't had a chance to sit down and discuss it. I don't know. Historically, we are a group that we don't mind going for the gusto and we don't like to sit on the sidelines. I believe as an organization we will get involved. How we will do it, I don't know," he said, adding that he doubted Alvarez would join the fray after being ousted with an overwhelming 88 percent vote.

"I would love for him to [run]. I mentioned it to him, but I can't speak for him. If you are truly an honest person of integrity this system can wear on you very quickly and it can devestate your mental and psychological and physical being. It plays havoc on you."

We don't think the mayor would be so bold or wasteful with his time as to take a stab in this anti-Alvarez climate. And we don't think he would like the songs that might be written for him.

Speaking of which, here are the lyrics for the jingles that were not (wink, wink) produced by the PBA, but are funny nonetheless. But Ladra and I love parodies. You should come hear me do Ke$ha or Enrique Iglesias' Tonight I'm Drinking Juice on Karaoke night.


The BEPs Tonight parody tune:
Carlos Gimenez
Is so very condescending
Has an ego that's never-ending
He should not be our mayor
No, no way
He's on a yacht... and a Mercedes
Thats what he's got to impress the ladies
Carlos Gimenez, should just go away
We raise our voices, that's what we say
Sung to Buble's Haven't Met You Yet:
Carlos Gimenez wants nothing but praise
Cuts every salary, but gives himself a raise
He's power hunger, wants things his way
Relaxes a lot and plays golf every day
And now our buddy wants to be mayor
So he can get another pension later
With Carlos Gimenez in office, a mess is what you get
cuz we just cant trust him yet

Sung to the tune of Maria, by Ricky Martin:
Ya no mas Gimenez, ya tu no convienes,
Y la gente paga por ese lujo que tu mantienes
Un, dos, tres... cuatro retiros pa Carlos Gimenez
un, dos, tres... ya ni un retiro mas
Carlos Gimeneeeeez... anda buscando otro retiro
Mientras tu y yo... damos otro pasito pa' 'tras
(Voice in the back, purportedly Gimenez': "Me voy a jugar golf. Epa!")

Sung to the tune of Guantanamera:
Carlos Gimenez,
Guajiro Carlo Gimenez
No es un hombre sincero
De donde saca tanto dinero'
Carlos Gimenez
Ese guajiro Carlos Gimenez
Alcalde no eerreeesss
Ya basta Carlos Gimenez

Alvarez still gets paid 70%

Don't think recalled Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez is taking it too hard.

One of the reasons that people voted the mayor out this week was because of his outlandish salary and perks. Ladra bets a bunch of them didn't know that he will still take home more than $14,000 a month in his pension. That amounts to more than $168,000 a year.

Does that come out to about 70 percent of his salary? Not bad in any case.

Thanks to Univision 23 and reporter Jenny Padura (who got the information from the state's retirement system in Tallahassee) for providing this information in their early morning show today. She also told us that county manager George Burgess, who resigned Wednesday after his boss was recalled, would have gotten $15,700 a month pension if he had left next June. So his is maybe $1,000 or a bit more less now.

Recalled Commissioner Natacha Seijas will take home a paltry amount in comparison, at $293 a month, for her two decades of service. But that's because her salary was tiny ($6,000 a year) compared to Alvarez (more than $200,000) and Burgess (around $400,000).

There's another thing that voters and people like Norman Braman should be really concentrating on, instead of moving around the chess pieces on the board: the broken pension system in the state and in our municipalities and fixing it. Ladra certainly won't pretend to know how. But even she knows that it should be a priority, before trying to get your cronies in office.

Gimenez says he'd cut his pay

Kudos to Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos Gimenez -- and not just because he reads my blog. And not just because he said he would cut his own salary as mayor (we are going to hold you to that, Commish). And not just because he got Brian Goldmeier, a team leader for gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink's South Florida campaign, as his finance manager (read: fundraiser).

Okay, Ladra admits her tail wagged Wednesday when she learned Gimenez -- whose actions and words in his quest to become the next county mayor have drawn our public growls -- was up on Political Cortadito. But my cheer is not because he likes smart writing. It is because he candidly welcomed scrutiny into his own office budget spending and pointed out a difference between them and discretionary funds (in line item and semantics, because those funds can still be used with little oversight). It is because he invited me to his office and said I had carte blanche to look over his documents. It is because he was polite and amicable when he agreed to disagree on the definition of discretionary funds. (I use the word as an adjective. Not as an administrative label.)

Gimenez gave us more one-on-one time than we expected moments before he spoke to a group of more than 100 people in Coral Gables at the Latin American Business Association's monthly meeting (here he is photographed at the Westin Colonnade Rotunda). Ladra salutes the group for giving their members and the public an opportunity to ask hear from candidates or activists and ask questions themselves (and for having Morton's bring those awesome tiny steak sandwiches!). LABA does not endorse any candidates, though some members do support campaigns from time to time. But in a group like this, with a number of movers and shakers in the business and legal communities, that is bound to happen. So they are transparent about it.

Gimenez also acknowledged that he could not take back any of the three main things that he said drove the recall. (1) There will still be a stadium. "But I can hold their feet to the fire to make sure they are abiding by their deadlines," he told me. (2) Nobody can roll back this year's taxes, no matter what anybody else claims. And (3) he likely can't go retroactive on the outrageous salary increases made by the mayor. But he said he would cut the number of departments and salaries for top administrators, including himself."

"I would cut my salary as mayor. I would eliminate some of the perks, like the car allowance. You have to lead by example," Gimenez said, noting it would give the administration a better position to negotiate with the labor unions, whose contracts expire at the end of this year.

And, yes, he drives around in a taxpayer-paid 2009 Mercedes Benz ML 350 W4 SUV. But as mayor, he says, he would drive his own car. Commissioners, who each make a salary of $6,000, get an $800 a month car allowance and Gimenez pays $805 for his Mercedes. And as mayor, he told Ladra, he would cut his salary to under $200,000, drive his own car, and reduce his monthly expenses ($3,500 now) to be more in line with that of other commissioners ($2,000).

Gimenez told the crowd he has opposed most if not all of the unpopular measures that made Alvarez a target for the recall and that as mayor he would sell Miami to Latin American businesses and increase commercial use of Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami.

But it was what he didn't tell them that also makes him a candidate worth considering. He didn't make promises to quick fixes. He said he was going to count on his experience and his ability to hit the ground running to sell his candidacy.

"I don't like to over promise and under deliver," he told me earlier. "I like to under promise and over deliver."

Okay, Commissioner. Let's see how you deliver Monday when I stop by to look at those records.

Gimenez beats Burgess to punch

It didn't take long for the front-running candidates to replace recalled Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez to start jockeying for pole position. They were already making grandiose statements about the choice of the people, as if people had much of a choice.

But Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, who has an obvious in-the-know advantage that the other candidates will soon envy if they do not already, is leading that race after he issued a press release this morning announcing the county manager's resignation even before the county manager made it public. Gimenez probably got a head's up sent to all the commissioners before Manager George Burgess makes it public in about a half hour in a press conference at county hall. Way to get the scoop, Commissioner. (Should have predicted that!) If I were one of the other mayoral candidates, I would be trying to get in that email loop.

And maybe then they could have taken credit, too.

"George Burgess resigned his position as county manager today -- knowing that my first move as mayor of Miami-Dade County would have been to fire him," said Gimenez, who already has the election won in his head.

He called Burgess "the architect of all the failed policies of the Alvarez administration, including this year’s bloated budget that necessitated a tax increase, the disastrous Marlins stadium deal, poorly negotiated union contracts, and numerous other management decisions that cast a negative light on county government as a whole and eroded voter confidence."

Wait,where was the recall Burgess effort? Now it wasn't Alvarez? It was the manager?

Gimenez calls the resignation "a step in the right direction as our county moves toward recovery" but warns that "we must work to make sure that new leadership is installed to prevent any of this from happening again."

He means himself, of course, and it looks like he already feels this election is in the bag: "I look forward to leading this effort as Mayor and thank you for your support."

Ladra has always liked Gimenez and we have been friendly in the past, but I find many of his statements and moves -- like Tuesday block the last discretionary fund allocations by 24-year Commissioner Natacha Seijas as she left the building -- are self serving. Ladra cannot help but wonder how Gimenez -- who also requested a disbursement on Tuesday, but whose timing was not questioned, even though he is running for office -- has used his discretionary budget. Public records requests for those documents (read: follow the money) will be filed with his office today.

In fact, Ladra will be requesting all the commissioners' disbursements from discretionary funds -- and Gimenez should say his first move as mayor would be to propose eliminating those. But I bet he doesn't do that.

Braman's words empty, mean nada

Norman Braman, who is leading the effort to recall Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, just got 30 minutes of free advertising on WLRN public radio (91.3 FM) in the Tropical Currents show.

Braman (pictured here at a Latin American Business Association meeting in January) went on and on about the bonds (voted in by a majority of the voters), JMH, the Marlins stadium, the exorbitant salaries and outrageous raises, ballooning pensions, the overruns on the airport expansion and the hike in real estate taxes -- "the straw that broke my back" -- as the reasons for the recall.

He called the effort a "referendum on the type of government they want instead of empowerment."

Except it's not. It is exactly the opposite, in fact, because it doesn't change the government at all. It just changes who is empowered within the same government. None of those things are likely to change or go back to pre-Alvarez conditions. The only thing this recall would change would be the face, the personality, the power.

If I had been allowed to call in (I did, but the nice producer who answered the phone this afternoon said it was not a call-in show), I would have asked Braman why he didn't take a petition to the streets that would give voters more control over public spending through charter amendments that would have made a real difference no matter who is elected. Voters could have been asked, instead:

• Should the county charter be changed so that any raise of a public employee of more than 5 percent (or 8 percent or 10 percent or whatever the voters decide is a good number) be approved by the voters through a referendum vote?
• Should public or public/private projects costing more than $XX million in taxpayer funds be approved by voters through a referendum vote?
• Should the use of public land larger than XX acres be approved by voters through a referendum?
  
• Do these questions seem like they make more sense and are really what we need?

Okay, that last one was a gimme. But I am sure the readers get the idea, which is that we could have made some real changes. However, come March 16, if Mayor Alvarez is recalled, there is no guarantee that the guy Braman wants in his place will not do the same kind of things, or worse. That person's salary will still be what Alvarez makes today. Other salaries will not go back to what they were. Yeah, surely some people (many who deserve it and some who don't) will be fired. Others will be hired. But they can get paid whatever someone else decides. We still have no say in pay and perks.

Nothing changes except the face.

It's not like Braman could not have gotten those things on the ballot instead. He bragged on the show hosted by Joseph Cooper that someone without his resources wouldn't be able to pull off a petition drive because of the considerable resources they would need.

The car dealer millionaire said he didn't "even know yet" how much money he had poured into the campaign. "It's very substantial."

Very, indeed. How about around $1 million. And that's through two political action committees in many separate donations -- $300,000 here, $100,000 there, another $150,000 there. And he isn't even keeping count? I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. He just didn't want to say he spent a cool mil on his grudge with Alvarez to woo voters who are upset because of economic hardship and increased taxes. Though I am sure Braman is upset about taxes, too. After all, he owns several properties on Biscayne Boulevard where his dealership sits -- all together assessed at more than $10 million -- and a $5.8 million waterfront home in Miami Beach. Pretty big tax bill. No wonder he is upset.

I guess it must not bother him to spend that money on the recall effort instead of footing his fair share of the bill for services and programs that the tax increase -- a result of decreasing property values -- saved.

"But it's my money," Braman said on the air. "At least I am paying for it with my own money."

Really? I mean, I know he is a millionaire, but he didn't become one being stupid. There are plenty of people who would be happy to give him money for this. And nobody will know because he can say it's his money and everyone will believe him. Ladra ain't saying it ain't his money. She's just sniffing and pacing like she does when she doesn't think something is up to snuff.

And it's easy to hide money in these type of recall elections, so wannabes who cannot win as candidates in traditional elections get an advantage. Because PACs have different rules on contributions and there is no limit -- like there are maximum contributions for candidates -- on how much money one single person or group (read: special interest) can use to buy change that makes no real change.

A tale of two contrasting recalls

Maybe the two separate recall efforts in Miami-Dade are marked by two main differences: Money and margin of error.

Norman Braman, who spoke to a group of business leaders at the Biltmore Hotel about his recall effort against Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, is pretty certain he can withstand any challenge to the validity of the 107,000 or so petitions approved by the county clerk last month.

While the mayor's team is reportedly going over the petitions to look for a loophole or challenge, they will have a hard time: Only about 52,000 of those, or less than half, have to pass muster.

But the millionaire car dealer has less confidence that another group's recall of Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas will stay on the ballot. Maybe because they need at least 3,571 of their 4,370 or so petitions to clear inspection.

"They just didn't get enough and sure signatures," Braman said, after mentioning earlier that the process should be changed to make it less burdensome and expensive.

"I paid for a valid process. I had 14 people working full time only on that, making sure that al the Is were dotted and all the Ts were crossed," Braman said. "I don't think Vanessa [Brito, the Miami Voice PAC chair] had the ability to do all that. But I wish her luck, I really do."

Lawyers for Seijas have gone to court to challenge the petition process undertaken by the Miami Voice PAC saying they found what are potentially far too many invalid signatures for the group to have met their required threshold of 4 percent of the registered voters in District 13.

Said Braman: "If they lose, they lose on the process."

Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi is representing the Miami Voice PAC pro-bono and moved to block the review of the process and testimony from petitioners earlier this week. But Circuit Judge Amy Steele Donner set a Feb. 7 hearing and told Seijas attorneys' to send the subpoenas.

One of two public notaries responsible for 85 percent of the petitions will be questioned Friday.

Braman gets equal time with LABA

Norman Braman, the man behind the effort to oust Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez from office, faced had a tough crowd at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables Wednesday night where he spoke to more than 100 business owners and executives at a Latin American Business Association meeting.

Light, polite applause was rare and mostly when Braman acknowledge that Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, who announced he would run for county mayor, was in the room and at the end of his speech, when he quoted Jose Marti. Even Marili Cancio, one of the original recall and a failed hopeful for the Republican box in the U.S. house race won by David Rivera, acknowledged that the crowd was not too receptive. "I was the one who started the clapping every time," she said.

Braman made the visit to the group for equal facetime (Alvarez was there in November) and went over the reasons why he had sought the recall: the tax hike, administrative salaries over $200,000, mismanagement at JMH, the Marlins stadium deal and the proposed port tunnel topped those. "I could go on and on," he said, and did, adding misinvestment of federal monies and foreclosure rates.

Then he went over a list of accomplishments the mayor had been cited for and one-by-one ridiculed them or diminished them. Electronic voting machines? "I applaud the mayor for that. I give him full credit," Braman said. "I expect them to work on March 15."

He talked about other resources and obscure initiatives and asked people who used or benefited from them to raise their hands. "One person. Oh, two."

The sarcasm was met with silence.

"I have mixed emotions," Raul Garcia told Ladra later, echoing many others who spoke on condition they not be quoted.

Barbara Howard, a government consultant who sits on the LABA board and does not support the mayor's recall, was the only person who asked a question publicly -- and her tone might have been mistaken for almost hostile.

"Was it not possible to wait until his term was up? He cannot run again," Howard said. "Is it worth what it's going to cost the county."

Braman had estimated the special election will cost the county $5 million. But he added that the mayor's term does not end for another two years. "That's two more budgets. I don't think we can afford to more budgets.

"And $5 million is a very inexpensive price to pay for a change in government," Braman said.

LABA Vice Chairman Rick Rodriguez Piña confirmed to Ladra that much of the group was still on the fence about the mayoral recall. "They're undecided," he said, although he thinks it will pass because the people who signed the petition will be more motivated to vote than those who didn't.

"This is a good group. It is a business organization. These are people who are impacted by this initiative," Rodriguez Piña said. "We heard Mayor Alvarez. It's important for our community to hear Mr. Braman's position. Now let us make our own decision."

LABA will likely have Robaina and Marcelo Lorens, another mayoral candidate, speak at the next meeting, Rodriguez Piña said.

"We want to educate our business community and let them hear from the candidates."