Hialeah: Campaign $ before safety

Hialeah's alcaldito Carlos Hernandez and his yes council would have people believe that they have to fire almost half the city's firefighter paramedics to balance the budget without raising taxes. But a closer look at the city's checkbook may indicate that what they really want is to take money from the fire department budget so they can keep on doling out millions in no-bid contracts and purchase order increases for their friends and campaign contributors.

On the agenda for tonight's meeting, two days before they consider firing 40 percent of the 270 firefighters that currently serve more than 220,000 residents, there are several items that are worth questioning. They include more than a dozen requests to waive the competitive bidding process -- which guarantees fair, not inflated prices, and an open, level playing field -- for a total of more than $800,000, which includes one for Maguire Group for inspections that have already been done on the water pump that cost the city double because it wasn't done right the first time. Maguire Group, its officers and their other companies contributed at least $4,300 to the failed Julio Robaina county mayoral campaign -- and, Ladra is willing to wager, we'll see some contributions to the current candidates on the dais (which is the long podium they sit at for meetings, for that person who did not recognize the word).

Additionally, there is a "change order" for contracts with two other companies (probably no bid contracts, also) that contributed to the Robaina campaign: Acosta Tractors ($175,000) and Overland Carriers (doesn't say how much the change is, but the contract total is $2.1 million so I bet it's at least a six-figure figure). Acosta Tractors and its related officers and companies donated $2,000 in four bundled maximum $500 contributions. Overland just $1,000 that I could find so far, but its harder than it looks to trace these contributions back and connect them to bundles. And I haven't even started to look at the seven or eight PACs that supported Robaina that might have also benefited from these benevolent city vendors.

This is how the city administration misspends your hard-earned taxes, Hialeah. Watch them as they raise no questions and rubber-stamp every no-bid contract and every change order. Council President Isis "Guttergirl" Garcia-Martinez might even give her nod with her signature enthusiastic "Absolutely!" -- just in case there is any question of how she really feels.

Then Thursday, do not let the council blame the city's hard-working employees for their own financial mismanagement and cut half of the city's firefighters and paramedics so that they can keep on doling out funds to their campaign contributors.

That's pathetic. And it should be criminal.

Kicked out of a campaign kick-off

There was a large crowd Saturday at the grand opening of the campaign headquarters for Hialeah's unelected alcaldito Carlos Hernandez and his Yes Crew Minus One. But even if it ws just the immediate families of the five incumbent candidates there would have been a big crowd.

Still, two people were very conspicuously MIA from the festivities.

More than 200 people stood sat in the parking lot or stood in the little shade they could find at the shopping center on 12th Avenue and 38th Street to listen to Hernandez as he listed his claims to fame -- stopping the red light camera program, legalizing illegal efficiencies, slashing the mayor's salary to $190,000, opening parks that the city had closed -- flanked by former Hialeah Housing Authority member Lourdes Lozano, who was the best Hernandez could do to try to force former Councilman and Hialeah Housing Authority Director Alex "The Professor" Morales into a runoff, and the entire council except one of the incumbents fighting for re-election. Visibly missing from the platform as well as the campaign literature on the table: Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Munoz, who is facing a challenge from Danny Bolanos, the former cop and son of the former chief, and last-minute entrant Tony Vega, a gun dealer who Ladra predicts will take Vivian's place on the slate. One of the few Hernandez supporters that was unafraid to speak to me in public, said Casals-Munoz -- who reportedly got there late, but Ladra is sure they would have waited if she was part of the Hernandez slate -- had made the decision to separate herself from the group. But that makes no sense and other sources say she has been left out intentionally by Hernandez and the other incumbents. Why on Earth would they leave out the official notary public of the 1st Hialeah Bank of Julito, former mayor Julio Robaina's own relative (Casals-Munoz is related to Robaina's first wife)? Hmmmm. Inquiring minds want to know if it has anything do with the federal investigation into loans made to the ponzi schemer and jeweler Luis Felipe Perez by Roberto and Mercy Blanco and Robaina. Or loans of her own, uncovered in the inquiry, that she may not have declared on her income taxes. One of the people Ladra spoke to who testified before the grand jury said "she's toast." Maybe Hernandez (once rumored to be in trouble, too, for his own loaning moonlighting, but seemingly in the clear by the way he is acting) and the council know something we don't. We've been hearing about this grand jury investigation for weeks and the rumored resolution that is supposed to come this month. Maybe after that, Hernandez will officially pull Vega -- whose signs are already adhered to Hernandez sign posts around the city -- into his slate.


And just because Ladra didn't see Vega at the campaign party Saturday, doesn't mean he wasn't there. Ladra had to leave early after someone inside the campaign office called the police and an officer issued her a trespass warning. Yes, folks, someone called the popo on Ladra again. It hadn't happened since Miami Vice PAC chair Vanessa Brito called the cops on me during early voting for the recall at the Miami Lakes library. I was due. Officer Horacio Lopez and Sgt. Frank Agoglia were very nice and professional as they followed orders for what amounts to harassment for political reasons (read: official misconduct). Because by the time Officer Lopez, standing in the parking lot, called me over from the shopping mall promenade with his index finger, I had left the private campaign office because I was obviously not welcome. I had been inside twice earlier that day and nobody had complained until I started to take photographs of some older man suffering from heatstroke or something being attended to by, possibly, the very same Hialeah firefighter paramedics that the incumbents want to fire Oct. 1. I thought it would be poetic imagery, and you gotta admit that Council President Isis "Guttergirl" Garcia-Martinez is perfectly caught in all her angry glory. First, she tried to get in my way so I didn't have a shot. After I moved around her, she started yelling that I could not take photos and that I was not welcome there. I objected, asking if I was the only person that had been asked to leave a political campaign office event that the general public had been publicly invited to attend. But getting no answer, and having my photo, I left. About a minute later, after I was outside, is when I got called over by the police. But I was not trespassing and that should be corrected. Maybe I was going to have a cafecito. Maybe I wanted to try my luck at the illegal maquinitas at Little Vegas Hialeah a few doors away.

Ladra has asked for the public records on the police call and the radio communications -- and cellphone records, in case the normal operating procedures for such a call were circumvented -- that preceded this trespass order for such a dangerous watchdog. I want to frame it and hang it up, of course. It's a badge of honor, really.

But I wonder if it's also evidence of a false police call or making a false police report since I had already left the premises and was in the public area.

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.

Alcaldito's candidacy could be cut

On the eve of the grand opening for the West 12th Avenue campaign headquarters he shares with three of the four council incumbents (more on that later) on the November Hialeah elections, there appears to be a question as to whether Hialeah Alcaldito Carlos Hernandez can even run in the mayoral race.

Oh, Hernandez qualified by Friday's deadline. Problem is, he forgot to resign his position as councilman, the seat to which he was elected and the reason why he became the alcaldito when former mayor Julio Robaina resigned to run for the county job, which he failed to get. According to the much-discussed "Resign to Run" state law, he has to resign the seat at least 10 days before he qualifies (though he can leave Oct. 31; his mentor/master Robaina made his exit effective the day before the primary). Former Mayor Raul Martinez, who did really qualify for the mayor's race along with former State Sen. Rudy Garcia, asked about it at City Hall when he filed his documents. I would have loved to be there to see the look on City Clerk David Concepcion's face when Martinez -- who said he went to court over the issue in 1981 -- immediately called City Attorney Bill Groddnick to confirm that Hernandez was required to resign to run. But Groddnick tap-danced instead.

He danced with me, too, quoting a city charter chapter that holds that Hernandez did not have to resign from a seat he no longer held. "He is the mayor," Grodnick said. "This was a permanent vacancy. When Julio Robaina resigned, he automatically became the mayor. Not acting mayor. Not temporary mayor. He became mayor."

But Ladra is pretty sure that if Hernandez had decided not to run for mayor now and wanted his bird-in-hand council seat back, he would have a right to his elected seat, despite what the city attorney says. Because the charter is sort of vague when it says the mayor's permanent "vacancy shall be filled with the person holding the office of council president, who shall exercise all authority of the office of mayor and shall perform the duties and assume the responsibilities of that office and shall become mayor and serve out only that portion of the former mayor's term that precedes the next regularly scheduled municipal election." Did you catch only that portion? Upon which time, the council president could, one presume, return to his rightfully-elected post. Especially since Interim Councilman Pablito "Huh" Hernandez is a temporary appointment, according to the city charter (yes, Bill, see how I can read it, too). Because, the very next chapter says that if a permanent vacancy results from "death, resignation, recall, court order or other lawful action" then he is appointed as councilman. But since Hernandez never resigned, then he is acting councilman. And since Hernandez never resigned his council seat, what's to stop him from getting it back after he loses in November? Which is exactly the kind of backdoor safety net the state legislature wanted to end that led to the state law, which last time Ladra checked, supersedes municipal ordinances.

Ladra thinks that Hernandez, who has proven already to be not so bright, simply messed up. And Grodnick, who has proven already to be not so honest, is simply covering up. In fact, it's sorta his job. The city attorney has to protect the city's best interest, that includes the mayor du jour. But Grodnick got caught with his pants down (that's how it is apparently officially said around these parts) and now is pointing at the ceiling so you don't look at his skinny, bare thighs. Well, don't blame me Bill if I try to get a second opinion from some real attorneys who will defend the law and the process, not the politician. Is there a constitutional attorney in the house? Ladra needs an independent legal opinion. Stay tuned to the latest plot twist in As Hialeah Churns.

Because this also presents an interesting possible scenario. Say Hernandez cannot run, that his qualification, without that resignation, is null and void. (No, really. Go ahead and say it out loud. It feels good, right?). He has to be gone from the 4th floor office by Nov. 1, but he can go back to being a councilman after either Garcia or Martinez are elected. Because, c'mon, who is George "Who?" Castro, and with a name like that how can he expect to get elected to anything in Hialeah, of all places? Actually, it could be fun to see Hernandez up there with either of the two -- though Martinez makes it much more merry. Then, there's the domino effect: No race in Pablito's prestado Group 6 seat and he and the candidates who qualified to challenge him -- former Hialeah water department customer service employee "Ditzy" Daisy Castellanos and Sweetwater Mayor Manny Marono's former chief of staff Frank "Sinatra" Lago, whose blue eyes and GQ looks are a political operative's dream -- could be up a campaign without a ballot. Could Lago sue if this moron mayor's mistake costs him his first and oh-so-coveted elected office? This seat is his for the taking and he might be a little upset if he's left out of the race after he resigned his $70,000 a year job in Sweetwater to run. And after talking with him for a bit Friday, and watching him play well with others (more on that later), Ladra may be a little upset, too. Even though I still don't like all his past political pals, Lago -- who lost a bid in May to replace Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo in the state legislature -- looks more and more like a good turn for Hialeah, especially in that race.

But the disappointment, I admit, would not be big enough to overshadow the pure joy it will give Ladra to see Hernandez shut out of the mayor's race (read: Robaina shut out of City Hall).

Tainted endorsement out, back in

As expected, the endorsement from the Unity Coalition for the Miami city election in District 2 went to Kate Callahan -- who pays the group's political director, Vanessa Brito, $4,500 a month to manage her campaign against incumbent Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.

What was not expected is that the organization took it back four hours later.

As Ladra predicted, Callahan scored the recommendation after last week's screening before the LGBT group, which also interviewed Donna Milo and Michelle Niemeyer (Sarnoff said he was neither invited nor notified). And while he may not have announced it, UC President Herb Sosa did tell Milo in an email sent at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday that a decision had been made: "After much discussion and review of credentials & positions on issues of importance to UC|CU, we felt that both yourself and Ms. Niemeyer were extremely impressive and we would be proud to have represent our city and its needs, but it was determined that Kate Callahan was the overall choice for our recommendation, due to the fact that she will be a full-time commissioner, seemed most in line with our organizations positions on issues of concern as well as offered to host various LGBT community workshops once elected," Sosa wrote (at least he is a fan of long sentences).

That did not ring right to Milo, a Republican transgender lesbian who lost a congressional bid last year against U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Dem/District 20). Milo told Ladra it was a done deal by the time she got to the screening Sept. 1. "I feel it was predetermined. They had their minds made up," she said, adding that she was later told there were some arguments within the group. "Obviously, it was crooked.: While Brito abstained from the vote, the campaign consultant and chairwoman of the Miami Voice recall PAC -- which may be warming its engines (more on that later) -- did collect the questionnaires and contact the candidates. Brito (read: Callahan) had access to all the questionnaires before the screening. Milo and her campaign manager, Emiliano Antunez, had issues with her involvement and influence. Last year, other November candidates and supporters felt UC's recommendation of the Brito longshot slate -- wannabes she worked for and/or with -- was inappropriate if not downright fishy. Nobody can deny that it is at the very least a perceived conflict of interest. Not even Sosa -- eventually.

While he told Ladra Tuesday that it was an insult to even suggest anything might be perceived as unethical. But an hour after I called him on the phone to follow up on the endorsement, he sent another email to Milo and every other candidate in this year's elections, as well as the UC board members, saying that the organization would not endorse anyone and, in effect, rescinding the Callahan recommendation. "Due to unfortunate, misleading and irresponsible actions beyond our control by some in the media and the community, Unity Coalition/Coalicion Unida will not be issuing political recommendations in any local race for November 2011 elections," he wrote, using all caps, but it was just too loud so I changed it. The rest is as is: "We value our process, take the highest of respect & care to ensure total transaprency [sic] and professionalism in our political recommendations since 2002, but unfortunately this year our process was violated and compromised by misinformation put out prematurely and irresponsibly by others, and therefore we feel we have no choice but to NOT ISSUE ANY POLITICAL RECOMMENDATIONS for the 2011 elections at this time. Thank you for your time and attention. We wish all the candidates in the City of Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Miami Lakes & beyond - the best of luck."

Just what does "our process was violated and compromised by misinformation put out prematurely and irresponsibly" mean, may I ask? Maybe it is code for "our tainted process was exposed just in time and with a great deal of legitimate context and therefore we have no choice but to not issue any political favors for our friend because it's too obvious and might be difficult to defend or deflect from." And if Ladra is among the "some in the media" that made this happen, well, then, wag my tail. Because that second email was sent out at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, an hour after Ladra questioned Sosa about the obvious and blatant conflict of interest in a telephone conversation that he recorded after I gave him permission, as required by law, because I have no reason to object. He was not happy when we were done, I guess. Hence the email subject line: "UPDATE on UC|CU Political Endorsements for 2011 - THERE WILL BE NONE!" And it was 35 minutes after I sent Sosa an email asking why he had said that Brito had not been to a UC meeting in six months and had not been at the screening when she announces it on her facebook profile page and posts a mobile photo of her candidate client talking to the board.

Ladra, 1. Sosa, 0.

But I still want copies of the UC's last three annual 990s (forms non-profits are required to file with the IRS and produce copies of upon request). Ladra has questions about the expenses and proceeds (if there were any left) from a Haiti earthquake relief fashion show in Miami Beach last year that Brito organized. But since Sosa, who seems afraid of what we might find, flat out refused to provide them, I will have to make the public records request via the IRS in D.C. and that could take weeks. "Our records are clear. We have audits. I'm not going to share them with you. It's none of your concern," Sosa told me, but maybe he changed his mind about that also, like the endorsement.

Because it is my concern, Herb. This community needs organizations like UC to vet candidates and make recommendations based on the group's criteria and agenda, and I hope that UC will resume that tradition -- after it creates a cleaner process that is not violated and compromised by conflict of interest, real or perceived. And those organizations must be transparent and accountable to the community. So I hope that you change your mind and provide me with copies, as required by law, so that any perceived problems can be cleared up.

In the meantime, he did say he would not provide them to me. He was very specific. "I'm not giving you anything." So if anyone else would care to do the honors and get the public documents for Ladra, we would wag harder. Sosa can be reached at sosa37@bellsouth.net or 786-271-6982.

Hialeah mayor's political homicide

The man acting as mayor in Hialeah must have forgotten that voters did not put him there. If he had remembered that he is but a temporary placemark puppet placed in power by his mentor/master Julio Robaina -- who Ladra feels somehow still pulls the strings at City Hall -- he may not have dared to think he can take 70 firefighter paramedics away from the people.

But that's exactly what Alcaldito Carlos Hernandez has proposed to do, again making the firefighters his number one target in his desperate campaign to keep his $200,000-a-year job and everything he and Robaina and the council did in the last six years under wraps.

Hernandez unveiled his plan for the 2011-2012 city budget Wednesday at a hastily called press conference by focusing on the fire department, one day after the union announces its endorsement of his opponent, former mayor Raul Martinez. He whines to reporters yet again that the fire union will not negotiate -- when it is the city that declared a premeditated impasse in July (less than two hours into negotiations) and that time and time again has been legally found to violate fair labor standards. He again used threats (read: extortion) to bring the union back to the table -- after being the one who threw them out of the room. "We will negotiate, or there will be cuts," he said to a Channel 41 reporter.

Deep cuts, actually. He proposes reducing the 282 budgeted positions for firefighter paramedics (of which 271 are filled) by 35 this December and 35 more next year. As if Hialeah -- which this week was rated among the top ten cities for worst drivers -- has a surplus of first responders. In fact, the sixth largest city in the state and the second largest in Miami-Dade, has one of the busiest fire rescue departments per capita in the region. Let's do some math: We have about 230,000 people (according to the Census) who rely on about 80 firefighter paramedics on any given 24-hour shift, which equals one first responder for every 2,875 people or so. Hernandez wants to raise that ratio further to one paramedic for every 3,700 residents. His plan calls for the dismissal of one of every four firefighter paramedics. Current service levels cannot be maintained with a 25 percent reduction in personnel. As it is, Hialeah has to call in help from other cities when it has more than one critical mass incident at a time. These cuts mean that stations could close, response times will grow longer, insurance rates will increase -- and more people will die that may have been saved. Period.

Now, most people say Hernandez was nicknamed "The Rock" when he was a city cop for his brains, not his self-agrandized brawn, and Ladra has seen first-hand his inability to see the forrest for the trees. But he can't be that stupid that he thinks this is the best idea for balancing the budget while his rubber-stamping council approves dozens of his recommended change orders to increase (never decrease) the cost of no-bid or fixed-bid contracts at each meeting and he gives a reported $15,000 raise to a unqualified crony employee who had taken a leave of absence to help Robaina with his mayoral campaign (more on that later). Can he? Or, rather, can Robaina? Because almost everything Hernandez does has the former mayor's stench on it (more on that later). But even if he is as stupid as he is making himself out to look, this targeting of the firefighters is a campaign stunt by a man who is desperate to hang on to his $190,000 job. He had the nerve to call fire union President Mario Pico, the most patient, kindest gentlemanly bear of a man I know, "a politician" when Hernandez is the one who has turned their contract negotiations into his number one platform issue and excuse for his financial failures. Why else would he distribute a news article and photograph of a famous 2003 billboard fire union members paid for to trash Martinez? What does that billboard critical of cuts that forced ladder trucks to roll with three firefighters instead of the national standard four (which increases their own safety as well as the public's), have to do with the budget?

Nothing. But the petty, pathetic move has everything to do with Hernandez's motives. He said something about how the firefighters had endorsed Martinez even though they were once enemies and suggested the former mayor would raise taxes to keep firefighter benefits. "He is implying, I suppose, that we'll sell our souls to the devil," Pico told me later. But anyone who has watched them knows that their support of Martinez has not come easy and was thought out and weighed thoroughly. In fact, if anything, that billboard story (which is a really good one and Martinez still winces about it) shows that the firefighters group is not vengeful or so narrow-minded that old wounds would stand in the way of healing and growth. Hernandez might learn from that. But no, he can't. Because he fears it. That is why he has targeted the firefighters in a race where he is absolutely no match for either of his opponents. Problem is, he ain't a match for the bomberos, either. And Santa Barbara knows he has tried.

But it's not all about Martinez, either. Hernandez (read: Robaina puppet) has been building his case against the firefighters, who dared to back Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez in the bitter race against their homeboy Julito. (Here they are riding in a caravan for Gimenez on West 49th Street before the runoff). It probably started even before some out-of-the-blue press release two months ago where he first whined about the firefighters not wanting to meet with him. In two decades covering government, Ladra has never seen a mayor or city manager tell the media that they can't get the union to sit with them. It was an obvious set up for the impasse days later, on the same day the mayor submitted a letter (didn't say write because someone else wrote it) to the editor of the Miami Herald that attacked the union president and was so full of lies and misinformation and propaganda that it probably should have had a political ad disclaimer.

He also blamed them for a nearly $8 million shortfall in this year's budget (a deficit he later claimed he never claimed and, yes, it gets that ridiculous) because, he said, the $5 million in negotiated concessions never materialized. Only that was never calculated into the 2010-2011 budget -- but nobody ever calls him on his bluffs. On Wednesday, he told the press that he firefighters had cost the city $10 million when, in fact, I am sure it is the city administration that has cost taxpayers $10 million with its illegal firing of 17 firefighters last year and its two upheld rulings of using unfair labor practices -- which the city legally exhausted all its ridiculous appeals of (read: kaching for attorneys). In fact, on Thursday, one day after the mayor's hullaballoo about the bomberos and their soooo-budget-related billboard, the city sat down with the fire union again over arbitration about how to pay the 17 firefighters that the city was forced to bring back and ordered to repay for the five months they were illegally laid off. Hernandez apparently doesn't want to do that and is looking for ways to pay them with additional vacation time and perks. But you can't pay mounting bills or loans taken out to pay mounting bills with perks. This is another example of the city wasting more money. The ruling will go with the firefighters. Because they are right again and the city is still acting illegally. And I bet Hernandez will add that to the $10 million tab he wants to unload on someone else. And Ladra wants to see a line by line accounting of these costs.

Oh, that's right. Hernandez won't show me. He won't show me anything. But he won't show this to anyone. Because then he can spew inflammatory lies and not back them up. Don't let him get away with this bluff, people. Not this one. Because this time, he is playing with life and death: If Hernandez makes good on his threat and fires one of every four firefighters, people in Hialeah will die. Punto y aparte. This moron mayor's move might be political suicide (read: one can hope). But it's definitely political homicide.

After all, Hernandez is gambling lives so he can keep the view from the mayor's office and his $16,000 monthly paycheck.

(To tell el Alcaldito that it is not nice to play with people's lives, email mayorchernandez@hialeahfl.gov or call him at 305-883-5800. And fill council chambers in City Hall at the public hearings at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, and Monday, Sept. 26.)

And then there was one...officially

The first endorsement is out in the Hialeah mayor's race -- which is becoming more contentious (read: interesting) by the day -- and the firefighter union's pick of former mayor Raul Martinez is both surprising and expected.

It may surprise those who remember Martinez's reign and hostile "If-you-don't-like-it-here-go work-at-the-city-of-Miami" rapport with the firefighters that the fire union would recommend their former foe. It is likely expected by some watching Hialeah politics more closely. Not only were Martinez and his slate mates allies during the hard-fought county mayoral campaign against former mayor Julio Robaina, where the firefighters used their flex to help Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, the man who held the position for more than two decades is seen as a financial guru who can pull the city out of an alleged fiscal emergency that the current administration won't address or disclose.

In the end, union President Mario Pico -- who has been battling the city through tenuous negotiations without having a clear picture of the city's fiscal standing -- urged his membership to forget the history and concentrate on the future financial recovery of the city. "When it is all said and done if this city does not float we all drown," he said.

To be fair, the firefighters invited all four candidates to the screening by a political committee comprised of some of the executive board. But acting alcaldito Carlos Hernandez declined. Pico said Hernandez told him he had something else to do, more or less. My words. I think he told Pico something like, "If you haven't heard, I'm running a campaign." To which Ladra would have replied, "If you haven't heard, you are wasting your time and Jesus Navarro's money." But Pico is polite and diplomatic. Ladra is less so.

And then there were three. But George "Who?" Castro, who hasn't raised any money and doesn't stand a chance, was taken off the table of consideration quickly enough. He isn't, er, ready.

And then there were two. And then there were two for hours and hours. And then there were two for days. But, really, there were two from the very beginning. Firefighters were as ABC (read: Anyone But Carlos) as Ladra and were only going to consider Martinez and former State Sen. Rudy Garcia, who I hear impressed the screening committee with his speech. But grandeur thoughts of industrial trail lines across Hialeah and a planned hub of recycling industry businesses take years to materialize, let alone make an impact, said one firefighter. "We need someone to take care of what's going on right now." Garcia's words also seemed rehearsed and practiced next to the unpolished, less-stellar interview with Martinez, who said things that started with, "You might not like my answer," and "I'm not going to lie to you or mince words..." He came off as "rough around the edges," as one firefighter said, and rubbed some guys the wrong way when he defended his hardline past by justifying that while he never gave them raises, he also did not take their pay or benefits away. But one has to remember that the audience is a group of firefighter paramedics who have repeatedly won legal orders against the city for unfair labor practices and who are now threatened with up to 25 firings this October and more later this year. Union leaders say Martinez did not sound practiced. "I don't need a friend at City Hall," said union Vice President Eric Johnson, who is also founder and president of the Raul Martinez fan club at the union. "I need a financial manager to fix things so that I can take care of my wife and children and their future is secure."

To be sure, there were unpaid boosters lobbying on behalf of both candidates inside the union. And that is why the group deviated from its regular process to take two votes and make sure that the board's decision would represent the membership and could not be challenged as hurried or biased. The first vote of the screening committee (between 40 and 50 people) was reportedly so lopsided, that the union decided to take another vote at the general union membership meeting later that night. Again, it was reportedly overwhelmingly pro-Martinez. Pico went to further lengths, visiting stations over the weekend to make sure that the decision would represent a unified stand from the majority of the 271 firefighters. He announced the decision Tuesday.

"This is the most important city election that this union membership has ever voted on," Pico told Ladra. In his note to the members, he told them that Martinez edged out Garcia on his knowledge and experience with city finances. But he acknowledged it was a difficult decision. "He has the reputation of being a great financial administrator. He has guided the city through difficult financial times, not once but twice. He also has the reputation of being hard at negotiations," Pico wrote adding that the past "is not important right now. What matters now is the one constant focus Mayor Raul Martinez has always had, and that is the prosperity of the city." The email went out after Pico spoke personally with both candidates and delivered a letter and a check for $500 from the union PAC to Martinez.

But everybody already kinda knew. Like Ladra said, they got people on the inside. Garcia and his people had been downplaying the importance of the endorsement since Saturday. "It's sad that after what they heard from me and told me how great I did and what a great job I would do, that's the result they have," Garcia said, quickly cutting off as he walked and knocked on doors Tuesday evening. While Martinez said he "never expected anything" from the union, Ladra knows he was surprised the nod for him didn't come sooner. "I'm very appreciative of their confidence," he told me. But he will value their sweat even more as he expects the firefighters to help his campaign as they did on the successful county mayoral campaign for Gimenez.

"The firefighters have always been the toughest, hardest-working in any campaign for or against -- and I have been on both sides of that," Martinez told Ladra late Tuesday, completely aware that he was maybe a bitter pill to swallow.

"It's not about me," Martinez said. "It's about the future of the city of Hialeah."