In the last couple of weeks, absentee or vote-by-mail ballots have gone out to Miami-Dade voters, campaign ads and mailers started falling from the sky right after, one judicial race has stood out because of its political undertones, South Florida has come out in droves to help survivors of the Venezuelan earthquake, the county’s annual budget conversation began, the controversial Crystal Academy Residences was approved in Coral Gables and Alligator Alcatraz was offered for sale.

And that’s just part of what we’ve covered in Political Cortadito in the last few weeks. I’m going to try to make these recaps weekly but this is the first one so I reaching back a bit further, in case some of you haven’t stayed up on your reading.

Speaking of which, it’s not enough to subscribe here. You should also subscribe there. That way you get the Fresh Colada in your email every morning. When it’s fresh.

We’ll call this Sunday’s wrap-up Cafe Con Leche, tall and dark, por supuesto. Here are the sips, er stories, in the order they were last posted:

How a sleepy Miami-Dade judicial race woke up as one of its most political — For decades, judicial races in Miami-Dade have been the political equivalent of background music. They’re on the ballot. Most voters know they’re there. Few know or care much about the candidates. This year, that changed. The race for 11th Judicial Circuit Court Group 67 has evolved from a little-noticed contest into one of the most closely watched judicial campaigns on the county ballot — not because judges suddenly became celebrities, but because the race now sits at the intersection of experience, national politics, campaign strategy and the growing question of whether judicial elections are becoming just another partisan battlefield. Read more.

Miguel Gabela’s pricey Cuba rally raises familiar questions about public money — Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela wants us all to believe that Bayfront Park Management Trust is simply running a public park, efficiently, despite invoices that seem to indicate bloated expenses for PR, multiple logos and an app from obscure companies that were just formed or re-activated last year and who seemingly have no online presence — or other clients. Well, another stack of invoices has just landed on Ladra’s desk suggesting that this is a pattern. This time, the paperwork comes from April’s “Salvar a Cuba” or “United for a Free Cuba” rally, a massive production promoted by Gabela himself and held at Bayfront Park. Read more.

Controversial Crystal Academy luxury condo project approved in Coral Gables — If there was one thing Coral Gables commissioners made clear Tuesday, it was this: Nobody wanted to be remembered as the person who voted against children with autism. And that’s exactly why Crystal Academy became the centerpiece of one of the city’s most controversial development battles. Not the nine-story apartment building. Not the density. Not the height. Not the traffic. Not the destruction of the Garden of Our Lord. Not the fact that a project many neighbors insist simply doesn’t belong in the neighborhood was about to receive the zoning and land-use changes it has been chasing for years. No. The conversation became about the school. Brilliant strategy, really. Because once you wrap a luxury residential overdevelopment in children with special needs, anyone asking uncomfortable questions suddenly risks looking heartless. The result? A predictable 3-2 vote, with Mayor Vince Lago, and his pocket vibes” also known as Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara approving the package over the objections of Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernández. Read more.

Ladra sniffs a familiar scent: Developers suddenly rediscover Vince Lago’s PAC — In Coral Gables, the campaign finance reports can read like a City Commission agenda. After months of collecting exactly zero dollars, Mayor Vince Lago‘s political committee, Coral Gables First, suddenly found itself on the receiving end of a fundraising blitz once the November ballot was set. Almost overnight. Between June 23 and 26 the PAC brought in $134,500. That’s all of the committee’s fundraising for the reporting period packed into four days. Nothing illegal about that. Political committees can accept unlimited corporate contributions and checks far larger than candidates themselves can receive. The contribution that jumps off the page belongs to Chicago developer Steven Fifield, who personally gave $10,000 to Coral Gables First on June 25. Just days later, the City Commission approved the long-debated Crystal Residences project at 110 Phoenetia Avenue, including the land-use change, rezoning, Planned Area Development and site plan after hours of public testimony and neighborhood opposition. Read more.

Here come the ads: Danielle Cohen Higgins, Ashley Gantt hit the airwaves — Campaign season in Miami-Dade has officially shifted into another gear now that absentee or vote-by-mail ballots are about to drop. Not one, but two of Democratic strategist Christian Ulvert‘s high-profile South Florida clients launched very similar five-figure advertising buys this week, signaling that campaign season has gone from warm-up stretches to full-contact political sport. The game is on. Both Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, seeking what would be her second and final full term representing District 8, and State Rep. Ashley Gantt, who’s hoping to move across the Capitol rotunda from the House to the Senate by succeeding Sen. Shevrin Jones, announced Monday that they had released campaign videos that could soon be on a TV or digital screen near you. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just what happens when one consultant has a dance card that’s as full as Ulvert’s appears to be this election cycle. Read more.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava will have two budget ‘town halls’ — So let me get this straight. Miami-Dade County is staring down what could be one of the toughest budget seasons in recent memory. A projected deficit in the hundreds of millions. Hard choices. Potential service cuts. Taxpayer anxiety. And the grand plan for public engagement is…two town hall-like conversations? That’s it? Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that she will host two “Conversations with Cava” about the county budget this week — one Monday evening at the Dennis C. Moss Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay and another Wednesday at the North Dade Regional Library in Miami Gardens. There is also a Zoom option for Wednesday’s meeting. Read more.

Miami-Dade absentee ballots go out this week — so do the campaign attacks — The first real sign that an election is here is not a yard sign. It’s not a candidate selfie at a ventanita. It’s not even the first mailer accusing somebody’s opponent of being a communist, a crook or a secret developer puppet. It’s the absentee ballot drop. And this week, Miami-Dade Elections will mail out its first big batch of vote-by-mail ballots for the Aug. 18 primary and municipal elections — 167,563 of them, according to elections spokesman Juan Mendieta, packed into 16 huge carts and headed to voters who already asked for them. That is not a typo. Sixteen carts. Almost 168,000 ballots. And that is just the first wave. There will be smaller batches mailed out throughout the month and in the days leading up to the election, as more requests come in. Voters can request a ballot to be mailed to them until August. 6. Read more.

21 vie for Miami-Dade Superintendent job, but only three candidates matter — The Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent search is down to the part where everyone pretends it wasn’t always going to be an insider. After spending $30,000 on a national search and collecting 21 applications from educators across the country, Miami-Dade School Board members are about to begin narrowing the field for the next superintendent. But while 21 people applied, the chatter around School Board headquarters suggests the race may already be much smaller. Ladra keeps hearing the same three names: Jose Bueno. Rafael Villalobos. And Alex Marrero. Read more.

As Venezuela grieves after earthquakes, Doral becomes mission central for hope — When disaster strikes Haiti, Cuba or Venezuela, South Florida doesn’t just watch the news. It gets to work. That’s exactly what’s happened since two powerful earthquakes last week — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude just seconds apart — struck northern Venezuela. Entire neighborhoods crumbled into piles of concrete and steel. While rescue crews continue searching for survivors, another operation for humanitarian relief unfolded nearly 1,400 miles away, in the city of Doral. Volunteers fill warehouses with donated supplies. Churches, businesses and community organizations have become collection points. WhatsApp groups that usually buzz with neighborhood chatter have turned into lifelines, connecting families searching for loved ones and coordinating relief efforts. Read more.

FOR SALE: One slightly used Alligator Alcatraz; serious conservationists only — Looks like Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is finally ready to unload one of the county’s most controversial pieces of real estate. After spending the better part of the last year fighting Gov. Ron DeSantis over what became known around the world as Alligator Alcatraz, the mayor is now pitching the old Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport — along with its 17,000 surrounding acres — as the ultimate conservation acquisition. Forget commercial aviation. Forget detention camps. Forget future development. Levine Cava — who once called herself the water warrior and wore a cape to promote conservation — wants the land folded into Everglades preservation forever and ever, amen. Read more.

Okay, so that’s what Ladra has been up to. We have an election in a month and the next couple of weeks will be dedicated to the races that are on the ballot. We are also going to dive into budget season and keep looking at how public money is spent in Miami and across the county.

If you have a tip or an idea or even just a question, feel free to drop me a line at edevalle@gmail.com because, while I take all the credit, Ladra doesn’t do all this by herself. My eyes and ears in the community are crucial partners. So don’t be shy.

This concludes my first recap of Political Cortadito on Substack. Stay tuned.

Just when Florida Democrats have spent months trying to convince voters they’re the reasonable alternative, one of the state’s most influential labor organizations has handed Republicans a talking point that practically writes itself.

The Florida AFL-CIO has endorsed every Democratic incumbent in Congress seeking reelection — except one: U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz.

But that’s not the gift-wrapped present to the GOP. The gift is who they have chosen: Democratic socialist congressional candidate Oliver Larkin, who lobbied hard for the nod. The endorsement may ultimately be reversed. Broward labor leaders are already asking the federation to reconsider, and Moskowitz still enjoys broad support from local unions and remains the overwhelming favorite in the Democratic primary.

But politics isn’t always about what happens in the end. Sometimes it’s about the headline.

And this one practically screams: Florida labor rejects establishment Democrat after campaign by Democratic Socialist.

Larkin isn’t trying to hide who he is. Quite the opposite.

He’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has openly argued that his campaign represents the future of the Democratic Party. His platform includes Medicare for All, a $25 federal minimum wage, expanded Social Security benefits and higher taxes on billionaires. He has even compared his campaign to the recent success of democratic socialist candidates in New York, saying the movement is creating “positive pressure” to push Democrats further left.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the political winds shifted a little last week in New York.

A string of victories by candidates aligned with New York City’s Democratic socialist movement and new mayor Zohran Mamdani has Republicans across the country sharpening an argument they’ve been making for decades: that the Democratic Party is drifting steadily leftward.

Whether that’s true is almost beside the point. Perception is often as powerful as policy.

And in South Florida, perception carries even more weight.

This is a community shaped by people who fled authoritarian governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Mention the word “socialism” at a campaign event in Miami-Dade, and chances are someone is going to get into a fight.

For years, Republicans have warned that progressive policies were evidence of a slippery slope toward socialism. Democrats dismissed much of that rhetoric as fearmongering.

Now, Republicans don’t have to rely solely on campaign ads.

They can point to a Democratic Socialist of America candidate who proudly embraces the label, successfully organized opposition to an incumbent Democratic congressman inside Florida’s largest labor federation and says he wants to move the Democratic Party in a more progressive direction.

That doesn’t mean Florida Democrats are suddenly becoming democratic socialists.

Far from it.

If anything, the party’s statewide strategy has moved in the opposite direction. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, a former Republican congressman, has positioned himself as a pragmatic centrist. Other statewide candidates have likewise emphasized electability, coalition-building and appealing to independent voters in a state where Republicans now hold a significant voter registration advantage.

That’s what makes the AFL-CIO vote so politically awkward.

Instead of reinforcing the image of a disciplined, centrist Democratic Party trying to win back Florida, it exposed an ideological tug-of-war that Republicans will almost certainly exploit. Especially at the local level in South Florida.

Expect to hear about how los comunistas are coming. Again.

Don’t be surprised if campaign mailers, fundraising emails and speeches begin connecting New York’s democratic socialist victories to Florida races. Whether that comparison is fair may matter less than whether it resonates.

Meanwhile, Moskowitz’s supporters insist the AFL-CIO vote was less a rejection than a misunderstanding fueled by criticism over his brief association with the congressional DOGE Caucus—a bipartisan effort that never actually convened but became an easy target for critics because of its association with Elon Musk and federal workforce reductions.

Local labor leaders remain firmly behind him, and a statewide endorsement could still come.

If it does, this story won’t disappear.

It will simply evolve into another chapter in a larger fight over who gets to define the Democratic Party’s future — or who gets to define it first.

For South Florida Republicans, the message almost writes itself.

For Florida Democrats, the challenge may be making sure someone else doesn’t write it for them.

Today is about more than fireworks, barbecue and trying to keep the dog from hiding under the bed.

It’s about celebrating an imperfect but remarkable experiment in self-government and remembering that democracy doesn’t run on autopilot. It survives because we the people insist on asking questions, demanding answers and refusing to accept “because we said so” or “I know best” as an acceptable response.

The Constitution, which establishes the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, was actually ratified 1791 — 15 years after the colonies separated from Great Britain. But that doesn’t stop us from celebrating those rights, which were in formation, today. Among them, two that matter especially to this newsroom: freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Those aren’t perks for journalists. They’re protections for the public.

They exist so government doesn’t get to decide which questions can be asked, which documents should remain hidden, or which stories deserve to be told. They exist so residents have someone willing to sit through the marathon commission meetings, read the agendas, pull the campaign finance reports, request the public records, follow the lawsuits and notice the details that connect the dots that sometimes get buried beneath the headlines — or never make the increasingly shorter stories in the mainstream news at all.

That’s what Political Cortadito has tried to do for years. Independently.

Sometimes that means asking uncomfortable questions about multimillion-dollar public deals. Sometimes it means following the money behind political campaigns. Sometimes it means reporting on lawsuits that public officials would rather ignore, or covering the debates over immigration enforcement, development, public safety, campaign contributions, ethics and accountability before everyone else discovers they mattered.

Over the last few weeks alone, Political Cortadito has dissected the debate over the Miami-Dade Center for Mental Health and Recovery, tracked the fallout from the PortMiami fuel depot debacle and the leadership shakeup that followed, questioned decisions involving the spending of the Bayfront Park Management Trust and deals with public land and school district redevelopment, examined a half-hearted effort to fight the Live Local Act, reported on the funding behind federal, state and local campaigns and continued reporting on issues like the City of Miami’s 287(g) agreement, where the most important story wasn’t just the vote that didn’t happen — it was the fear, uncertainty and legal questions voiced by the people living with the consequences.

Many of these stories don’t often lead the evening news but they can end up shaping our communities for years.

Many of you have told me that Political Cortadito has become the place you check because I notice what falls between the cracks. That’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly.

As many of you know, this Substack became our temporary backup newsroom after PoliticalCortadito.com was knocked offline by a technical problem. We’re going to keep it, and use it to recap important stories and offer exclusive behind-the-scenes content that, again, is protected by the Constitution.

There’s an additional platform. But the mission hasn’t changed.

We’ll keep asking questions. We’ll keep digging. We’ll keep holding public officials accountable, regardless of party, title or influence.

And we’ll keep defending the public’s right to know, because that’s not just good journalism. It’s part of what Independence Day is all about. Every day of the year.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone.

Stay safe, enjoy your families, and thank you for reading.

— Ladra

Just in time for another Coral Gables election season — the city’s first in November of even-numbered years — Commissioner Melissa Castro is bringing forward an ordinance that would ban campaign contributions from real estate developers.

Except this legislation wouldn’t take effect until after this year’s ballots are counted.

Castro’s proposal, on the agenda for Tuesday’s commission meeting, would amend the city’s ethics code to prohibit developers from giving money to city candidates. It’s modeled after Miami Beach’s stricter campaign finance rules.

But only the part that applies to real estate developers. Miami Beach’s restrictions apply to vendors and lobbyists and also political action committees. So an elected can’t say “don’t give it to me, give it to this committee” and bypass the rules.

Baby steps, Castro told Political Cortadito.

“This is about whether residents can trust that development decisions are being made for the public, not for the people who can afford to finance political campaigns,” the commissioner said Friday. “When a developer has a project before the City, or may need another approval after the first vote, a campaign contribution does not just raise questions. It undermines confidence in the entire process.”

She said Miami Beach has had the protection in place since 2003.

“Coral Gables should not be behind the curve when it comes to protecting residents from even the appearance that access, approvals, or favorable treatment can be influenced by campaign money,” Castro said “I would have gone further if I had the authority to fully regulate PAC money as well, because residents deserve to know who is financing political activity and then compare that information with the voting records of the people they elected. But this is a serious and necessary first step.

“If someone believes developers with projects before the City should be allowed to finance the campaigns of the people voting on those projects, they should explain that directly to residents,” Casto said, because she knows the excuses likely to come out Lago’s lackeys, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara.

The ordinance would take effect in December, so it won’t affect current campaigns. Still, it’s going to be an uphill battle.

Castro is introducing the legislation pretty much for fun, because everybody knows she couldn’t get an ordinance to save a puppy from a guillotine passed, simply because it was her idea.

On paper, it’s pretty simple: If you’re asking voters to trust you with zoning decisions, variances, land-use changes and millions of dollars in potential value, maybe you shouldn’t also be taking money from developers who benefit from such decisions.

Crazy concept, right?

And because ordinance wouldn’t even take effect until after this election cycle, nobody would have to give back a dime. Nobody would have to cancel a fundraiser. Nobody would have to explain yesterday’s checks.

It simply says that going forward, developer money and City Hall political campaigns should no longer cross paths.

And somehow, that’s likely to be controversial. Imagínate.

That’s been the dynamic on this commission. Ideas have become less important than who happens to be introducing them.

So Tuesday’s discussion will answer two questions.

Do commissioners believe developers should finance city campaigns? And if they don’t, are they willing to say so when Melissa Castro is the one asking?

Those are not necessarily the same question.

Castro was first elected almost four years ago on a mostly anti-development wave. Development has always been the third rail of Coral Gables politics.

Trees are sacred until someone wants to build. Traffic is unbearable until someone needs a variance. Residents are told every project is unique. Developers are told the city is open for business.

And campaign finance has always hovered in the background. Everybody knows there’s connections. Nobody wants to talk about them.

Castro’s ordinance forces the conversation. Not by accusing anyone of corruption. Not by alleging anyone has done anything illegal. Just by asking a simple question: If there is nothing inappropriate about developers financing the campaigns of officials who will later vote on development matters, why would anyone object to prohibiting it.

The next campaign finance report for the Coral Gables candidates and political committees are due July 10th. Ladra will bring you an update on them then.

Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Tomás Regalado certified the county’s preliminary taxable values Tuesday, and while the days of double-digit growth appear to be over, nobody should mistake “slowing down” for “slow.”

The county’s taxable value climbed to $540.1 billion for 2026, another $27.8 billion increase over last year’s $512.3 billion tax roll. That’s a 5.4% jump in just one year.

Regalado called it what many economists have been predicting: stabilization.

After years of runaway appreciation, especially in residential real estate, the market is finally catching its breath. Older, non-luxury condominiums are cooling off, new construction has moderated, and commercial and industrial properties continue to carry much of the load.

That all sounds perfectly reasonable.

But here’s the part that’s hard to ignore.

Five years ago, Miami-Dade’s taxable value stood at roughly $342 billion. Today it’s $540.1 billion.

That’s an increase of almost $200 billion — nearly 58% — in five years.

Read that again.

The county’s tax base has grown by almost sixty percent.

UMSA, or the unincorporated municipal services area, leads the with the largest amount of the pie — followed by Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Doral, in that order. Negative growth was only recorded in two municipalities: El Portal (-3%) and Virginia Gardens (-5%).

Yet every budget season, residents are told there’s not enough money and county commission chambers are packed with different colored t-shirts and people competing for limited funds. Besides the non-profit industrial complex that is propped up with public dollars, there are lots of needs.

Roads need fixing. Transit needs funding. Parks need improvements. Affordable housing remains out of reach. Water and sewer rates keep climbing. Tolls go up. Transit fees go up. Park fees go up. Permit fees go up.

And elected officials spend months warning about painful budget choices as if we’re living through an economic depression instead of one of the largest property tax windfalls in county history.

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It’s enough to make you understand why property tax reform has suddenly become one of the hottest political issues in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders have spent months floating everything from dramatically expanding the homestead exemption to eventually eliminating or sharply reducing property taxes on homesteaded properties altogether. Local governments recoil every time the subject comes up, warning it would devastate counties and cities that depend on property taxes to pay for police, firefighters, parks, libraries and everything else residents expect.

They’re probably right. Property taxes remain the financial backbone of local government.

But these annual valuation reports aren’t exactly strengthening their argument.

When taxable values have increased by nearly $200 billion in five years, taxpayers naturally begin asking where all that additional revenue has gone. If government keeps collecting more every year simply because property values rise -- even when tax rates stay the same -- people expect to see the results.

Instead, they mostly hear about deficits.

Regalado himself appeared to acknowledge the changing political climate.

As he certified the new tax roll, he urged local governments to “consider the impact their decisions have on taxpayers” and called for responsible budgeting during this period of market stabilization.

He also pointed to the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would expand property tax relief for homesteaded properties while also lowering assessment limitations for certain non-homesteaded properties. If voters approve it, property owners would see additional tax relief, but local governments would also see less revenue.

That prospect has city halls and county administrators sweating.

And maybe they should be.

Because while ending property taxes altogether may sound more like campaign rhetoric than sound fiscal policy, the steady explosion in Miami-Dade’s tax base has made taxpayers increasingly skeptical every time government says it needs more.

The numbers speak for themselves.

In 2021, the county taxed about $342 billion in property.

Today it’s taxing $540.1 billion.

Maybe the bigger question isn’t whether taxpayers deserve relief. Maybe it’s whether government has done enough to convince taxpayers it’s making the most of the money it already has.

Because after a nearly $200 billion growth spurt, the annual budget panic is starting to sound less like fiscal responsibility and more like a bad family tradition.

If you’ve landed here, chances are you’ve been a reader of Political Cortadito over the years. Due to a temporary technical issue affecting PoliticalCortadito.com — which the server is looking into — we’re publishing all new reporting here until the website is fully restored.

The reporting hasn’t stopped. It’s just moving to a different platform for now.

You’ll find the same watchdog journalism, political scoops, campaign coverage, public records reporting and analysis that readers have come to expect from Political Cortadito. From County Hall to City Hall, school board meetings to campaign finance reports, our mission remains the same: holding public officials accountable and telling readers what others won’t.

This newsletter is free to subscribe to, and every new story will be delivered directly to your inbox while our website is unavailable.

Even after PoliticalCortadito.com returns, this newsletter will continue as a direct line between the newsroom and our readers, bringing breaking news, exclusive reporting and behind-the-scenes analysis of Miami-Dade politics.

If you’ve relied on Political Cortadito over the years for watchdog reporting, campaign coverage and government accountability, please subscribe so you don’t miss any updates.

Our next story is coming soon. Right here. On Political Cortadito on Substack.

Thank you for sticking with us. The platform may be temporary, but the journalism isn’t.

— Ladra