The Miami Heat owe Miami taxpayers millions in cost overruns to capital improvement projects on the American Airlines Arena. So says Miami-Dade Inspector General Chris Mazzella, in an audit report that hasn’t been publicly released yet but which sources close to the review have confirmed to Riptide.Mazzella has been pouring…
Does anyone know how to make a good political ad in this state? We mean, between Connie Mack IV’s monkeys on cocaine ad and Dave Weldon’s weird running video, we are starting to wonder. Turns out Democrats can’t do much better. The web attack ad they released connecting Senator Marco…
The GOP primary for the Senate nomination has been nothing short of tumultuous this year, with several candidates jumping in and out of the race. For a while there, it seemed Rep. Connie Mack IV was about to cruise to victory thanks largely to the name he shares with his…
Marco Rubio’s wife Jeanette has kept a relatively low profile despite her husbands growing national profile. While he’s in Washington, Jeanette Rubio usually stays behind in West Miami raising the couple’s four children. Though, she just gave her first extended interview in conjunction with her hubby to Politico. The timing…
Mitt Romney may preach smaller government, but he doesn’t mind the government getting all up in your body fluids. The Republican presidential candidate said today that he “doesn’t disagree” with Florida Governor Rick Scott’s controversial plan to drug test state workers…
It’s only May, but South Florida super-lobbyist Ron Book is already having one hell of a year in Tallahassee. This week, lobbyists filed their reports for 2012’s first quarter and since January, Book has already topped $1 million in fees. Who’s paying him all that cash? Along with every other…
Howard Knepper wants your vote for president. He also wants to invade Cuba. Most importantly, however, he wants you to tell you a story about a chimpanzee named Jerome and his donuts.The completely unheard of Republican businessman from North Miami doesn’t seem to have raised any money. And he doesn’t…
When Cindy Hewitt thinks about what happened here at this now-defunct laboratory near the Miami River back in 1998, she shivers with disgust.She was a human resources manager for a medical company called Dade Behring when Bain Capital began tinkering with its bottom line. Under CEO Mitt Romney, Bain shut…
Today, Rep. Connie Mack IV announced his “Social Conservatives for Mack Coalition” in a bid to shore up some far-right-wing support for his troubled Senate campaign. In the press release, his campaign declares that Mack “is one of the most conservative and hard-working members in the United States Congress.”Well, that’s…
Speculation that Marco Rubio could be the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee dates back to pretty much his first day in office as senator, and even Mitt Romney has mentioned Rubio as a possible candidate. Politico, however, reports that Senator Rubio is not being seriously considered as a potential running…
On a muggy autumn afternoon, 400 of Miami Beach’s most prominent names packed into a luxury Loews Hotel ballroom. As waiters hoisted trays of food, WSVN’s Belkys Nerey took the stage and introduced a big-screen video. With a cinematic splash and to copious applause, billionaire Norman Braman, Miami Beach Mayor…
There are worse things for politicians to be than boring moderates, sure, but Bill Nelson is a boring moderate through and through. So, it’s really no surprise that his stance on gay marriage is predictably off in some vague, boring, moderate middle land…
Back when the Bush administration was using “enhanced interrogation techniques” on suspected terrorists — also known as “torture” to most of the West — the most hotly debated trick was waterboarding. That’s the one where you make a prisoner think he’s drowning by slowly pouring water over his face while…
We already know what Mitt Romney thinks of gays. They should not be allowed to marry, and their long hair should be forcefully cut by prep school bullies such as himself. What does Ol’ Mittens think of gun rights? According to his website, it’s quite contradictory: As president, Mitt will…
Not everyone is happy with President Barack Obama’s announcement yesterday that he personally supports the idea of gay marriage, least of all the evangelical Florida pastor who is an important adviser to the president. Rev. Joel Hunter, leader of an Orlando-area megachurch, says he is “disappointed” by Obama’s decision…
Miami Beach residents are happy, the city is a well-oiled machine and — despite a string of embarrassments by the police and a mass FBI corruption bust last month — the majority of city employees do good work. That was City Manager Jorge Gonzalez’s upbeat message, at least, to an…
In an interview with ABC News, President Barack Obama announced this afternoon that he now supports gay marriage. It’s a striking change from the commander-in-chief on the same day that North Carolina’s voters followed in Florida’s footsteps in passing a gay marriage ban. “I think same-sex couples should be able…
Plan B is not actually an “abortion pill.” It’s an emergency contraceptive intended to be taken within three days after intercourse to prevent pregnancy. However, many Republicans aren’t deterred from referring to it as a form of abortion. Mitt Romney, in fact, has referred to medicines like Plan B as…
Bad news, you guys: it appears the chances that Sofia Vergara will ever be Florida’s first lady have dwindled. “Wait,” you ask, “there was a serious chance Sofia Vergara could have been the first lady of Florida?”Well, she was dating Nick Loeb, some rich guy from a powerful and politically…
It’s official: Gov. Rick Scott’s biggest single fuck-up in office is not his spectacularly failed plans to drug test everyone in Florida, his botched ideas for fixing the economy or even his refusal to pee in a cup when the Daily Show asked him so nicely. No, his biggest catastrophe…
Left-leaning Floridians are probably not too enthused that the Republican Party is descending on Tampa to crown Mitt Romney as its official nominee in August. But don’t worry, you hippies — there’s now something for you to get excited about, too. The Daily Show has announced it’ll tape a week’s…
Mitt Romney will be tearing through Florida next week and hopes to leave the state with somewhere between $5 and $8 million in his campaign’s coffers. He’ll be making stops in Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Tampa, Jacksonville and Boca Raton during the fundraising flourish on Wednesday and Thursday, and Miamians…
