Raising cash for county commission and school board races in Miami-Dade is like making it rain at the strip club. The more loot you fling, the more popular you are! As voters start going to the polls for early voting, Banana Republican compiled the top five ballers greasing the wheels of politics. These civic minded individuals have donated a combined $97,000 through themselves, relatives, business partners and companies they own. Their beneficiaries include incumbent county commissioners Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Sally Heyman, Dorrin Rolle, Rebeca Sosa, and Javier Souto; school board members Perla Tabares Hantman and Marta Perez; and newcomers Annette Taddeo, Carlos Curbelo, Raquel Regalado, and Ronda Vangates.
No 1: Al Maloof
Total Contributions: $25,100
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Diaz, Heyman, Rolle, Sosa, Souto, and Vangates.
Claim To Fame: As managing director of GJB Consulting LLC, Maloof represents companies vying for county government and school board contracts.
No 2: Pedro Munilla
Total Contributions: $25,000
Beneficiaries: Diaz, Heyman, Perez, Regalado, Rolle, Sosa, and Souto
Claim To Fame: Munilla is the man in charge of MCM Corp., a local construction firm that regularly wins lucrative multi-million dollar contracts from the county commission and the school board.
No. 3: Demetrio Perez Jr.
Total Contributions: $18,500
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Diaz, Hantman, Perez, Regalado, Rolle, Sosa, Souto, and Vangates
Claim To Fame: An ex-school board member who pled guilty to five counts of defrauding a federal subsidized housing program, Perez is now running charter schools that require approvals from the county commission and school board.
No. 4: Michael Adler
Total Contributions: $15,000
Beneficiaries: Diaz, Rolle, Souto, Taddeo
Claim To Fame: A prominent Miami developer, one of Adler's companies has a 70-year lease at Opa-Locka Airport to run a corporate jet facility.
No. 5: Ronald Book
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Diaz, Heyman, Rolle, Sosa, Souto, and Vangates.
Claim To Fame: As managing director of GJB Consulting LLC, Maloof represents companies vying for county government and school board contracts.
No 2: Pedro Munilla
Total Contributions: $25,000
Beneficiaries: Diaz, Heyman, Perez, Regalado, Rolle, Sosa, and Souto
Claim To Fame: Munilla is the man in charge of MCM Corp., a local construction firm that regularly wins lucrative multi-million dollar contracts from the county commission and the school board.
No. 3: Demetrio Perez Jr.
Total Contributions: $18,500
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Diaz, Hantman, Perez, Regalado, Rolle, Sosa, Souto, and Vangates
Claim To Fame: An ex-school board member who pled guilty to five counts of defrauding a federal subsidized housing program, Perez is now running charter schools that require approvals from the county commission and school board.
No. 4: Michael Adler
Total Contributions: $15,000
Beneficiaries: Diaz, Rolle, Souto, Taddeo
Claim To Fame: A prominent Miami developer, one of Adler's companies has a 70-year lease at Opa-Locka Airport to run a corporate jet facility.
No. 5: Ronald Book
Total Contributions: $12,500
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Hantman, Heyman, Sosa, Souto, Rolle, and Vangates
Claim To Fame: A uber-lobbyist who represents several municipalities and Miami-Dade County before the Florida legislature, Book is chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and the man largely responsible for the sex offender camp that was under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
Beneficiaries: Curbelo, Hantman, Heyman, Sosa, Souto, Rolle, and Vangates
Claim To Fame: A uber-lobbyist who represents several municipalities and Miami-Dade County before the Florida legislature, Book is chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and the man largely responsible for the sex offender camp that was under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
