Since the latter part of Manny Diaz’s last term as mayor of Miami, his name has been thrown about for a number of potential political positions: an appointment to President Obama’s cabinet, a run for congress, candidacy for governor or senator. None of them panned out, but Diaz is being buzzed about again as…
To most in Miami, the name Miller Dawkins just sounds a little dirty: like smegma, street tacos, or the infamous Rick Santorum. But to residents of Liberty City, Dawkins remains a hero more than 13 years after he pleaded guilty to using his position as cty commissioner to extort $200,000…
Following in the footsteps of Marco Rubio, Republican Governor Candidate Rick Scott has found himself flirting with the birther movement. When speaking today at a rally in Central Florida’s uber-retirement mecca, The Villages, he was confronted with a question over the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate he admitted he didn’t…
Is the Tea Party racist? The NAACP thinks so. And the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white pride group, agrees. Of course the Tea Party is racist, crowed a blog post on the Council’s website yesterday — and it would be proud of its racism if it weren’t wussy…
Scott Galvin has served for years on the North Miami City Council and came out publicly in 2004 with little consequences and was re-elected. Now he has set his sights on a congressional seat and is running in the district Kendrick Meek is vacating. He’s the only openly gay and white candidate seeking the Democratic nomination, but…
Marco Rubio, Tea Party pretty boy
Tea Party fave Marco Rubio has been urged by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to boycott a North Florida event headlined by Brigitte Gabriel, a fiery anti-Islam speaker. But the event’s organizer says Gabriel is staying on the schedule — and Rubio should think twice about declining his invite because…
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has released a list of “Crooked Candidates,” which, according to the organization, includes “the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010.” The list includes only 11 names, and three of them are running for Florida’s vacant Senate seat. Yes, Charlie Crist, Marco…
School board candidates are typically a veritable who’s that of local gadabouts or gray-haired teachers with little recognition outside home room. In District 6, which covers parts of Coral Gables and South Miami, there’s Eduardo Zayas-Bazan — a grandfatherly professor and Bay of Pigs veteran — and Maria Peiro, a…
As Rick Scott and Bill McCollum battle for the Republican nomination in the gubernatorial race, is Democrat Alex Sink silently waiting to pounce? New poll numbers suggest she’s increasingly viable again as the Republicans duke it out and potential independent spoiler Bud Chiles gains steam. The same poll also shows…
It seems so simple that Republicans have taken it as fact: tax cuts will lead to greater economic strength. Lower taxes mean people have more money to spend, businesses have more payroll to add jobs, and hence our economy should get a jolt, right? It’s no surprise that Marco Rubio…
You know what so many gays love? Lady Gaga! You know what most gays hate? Closeted politicians who vote against gay rights. These two passions have remained largely separate. Well, along comes drag queen Sherry Vine, who has never met a Lady Gaga video she didn’t want to spoof, to…
Bill McCollum can’t catch a break. He has twice run for senator, both times unsuccessfully. Finally found himself in the Attorney General’s chair, and is now running for Governor. He was ahead in the polls, too, until billionaire Rick Scott started attacking him from the right with his big help…
Either billionaire Senate candidate Jeff Greene is surrounded by so many scandal-plagued celebrities that it is impossible for him to remember them individually, or he is straight-up avoiding questions and deliberately being misleading about his apparent friendship with Lindsay Lohan. Even as more pictures have surfaced showing Lohan in a revealing swimsuit on…
Billionaire Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Greene sure has some interesting friends. Mike Tyson (convicted of rape) was the best man at his wedding. “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fliess (convicted of tax evasion) was a yearlong house guest.Now, it appears he once joined Lindsay Lohan (headed to jail for 90 days for violating…
Used to be when a politician had an embarrassing kid, he or she would exercise what’s known as the “Rosemary Kennedy option.” Nowadays, you just put your crazy kid in your commercials and let him sing, dance, and get his Glee on in the hopes it will somehow get you elected. That’s what Republican Florida…
Billionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott visited the Little Havana Activities Center today to schmooze with Miami’s older Cuban-American constituency. He kept your abuelos entertained by playing dominoes, and he danced with your abuelas. Shockingly, though, Scott cannot dance. His moves are about as stiff as a domino. Is his…
Wanted: The Community Redevelopment Agency, in charge of revitalizing the blighted downtown and Overtown districts, seeks publicist. Pay: $27,000, including a $2,500 expense account. Only well-connected flacks apply. After that call went out in April, three firms applied for the job with the agency chaired by Marc Sarnoff, city commissioner,…
Yesterday, state. Rep David Rivera, who is running to replace seat-jumper Mario Diaz-Balart in congressional district 25, made headlines in the Herald for his friendship with Ariel Pereda. Pereda is the principal of the Havana Group, a firm that advises companies on trading with Socialist Cuba. This, of course, is tantamount to…
The Republican primary for the governor’s chair is quickly heading toward full-out insanity. Yesterday, billionaire “conservative outsider” Rick Scott attacked his rival, Attorney General Bill McCollum, for supporting “pro-homosexual” Rudy Giuliani. Now McCollum’s campaign has struck back by pointing out that gays use a social networking site Scott had invested in.Yes, it is 2010…
When Bill McCollum ran in the 2004 Senate Primary, Republican opponent and eventual victor Mel Martinez sent out a campaign flyer calling him the “new darling of the homosexual extremists. Now insurgent billionaire candidate Rick Scott is attacking McCollum for supporting supposedly “pro-abortion and pro-homosexual” Rudy Giuliani in the 2008…
Jim Greer, the disgraced former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, is already in trouble for allegedly misdirecting $200,000 of party money to a company he owned. Now, during that investigation new, weirder allegations have popped up. Mainly that Greer held fundraiser events and meetings with a “No Girls…
