Donald Trump has based his entire, race-baiting presidential campaign around the fact that foreign immigrants are coming to America, stealing people’s jobs, and destroying the economy. Not only is this demonstrably false — there’s been ample evidence since Trump started campaigning to show he doesn’t practice what he preaches. His…
Miami’s Third District Court of Appeal yesterday declined to put a citizen-backed campaign-finance reform bill up for a public vote this November, according to documents published by blogger Al Crespo. The decision likely ends a summer-long fight between a union-backed group pushing the county to get money out of politics,…
Miami is in the midst of the most spirited debate it’s had regarding campaign-finance reform in years. Barring the results of legal appeals and a counter-suit filed this week, a group of activists has forced Miami-Dade County to let its citizens vote on a measure that would cut political donations…
Sixteen years ago, hanging chads sent the nation into a spiraling constitutional crisis. For a month after the November 7, 2000 election, America panicked. Would Texas Gov. George W. Bush or Vice President Al Gore become the new commander-in-chief? Election night ended in a virtual tie. Bush had the edge,…
Less than 48 hours ago, nine Miami-Dade County Commissioners hemmed and hawed over a citizen-backed initiative that would have cut campaign donations to just $250 per person and banned people who get huge checks from the county from donating. Those same commissioners decided Wednesday afternoon to prevent voters from getting…
Just a few short months ago, only a few anti-mosquito wonks had ever heard of a pesticide called naled. But now, thanks to the onslaught of the Zika virus, the mosquito-killing compound has become the touchiest issue in Dade County since LeBron James’ defection back to his hometown. As activists…
More than 127,000 people signed petitions demanding that Miami-Dade reform its campaign finance laws to keep big money out of local politics. So why did the commission vote 9-4 last night to effectively kill the measure? Mostly because the group that collected the petitions, Accountable Miami-Dade, used its own big…
As Zika has swept through Miami, residents have raged almost as much at Gov. Rick Scott as at the hated aedes aegypti mosquito. And with good reason. Scott slashed mosquito control budgets statewide then tried to blame Obama for the outbreak. And to top it off, his wife owned undisclosed…
Mike Fernandez has not been shy about his contempt for Donald Trump. The Miami health care billionaire took out full-page ads in December calling Trump a “narcissistic BULLYionaire” and comparing him to Hitler. In July, the Cleveland Plain Dealer refused to print Fernandez’s latest ad, featuring a scorpion in a…
Why is it so hard for liberal candidates to get elected in South Florida? Tim Canova’s loss to Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District primary last night is a good place to start answering that question. Going into yesterday’s primary, Canova had quite literally everything going for him…
Statewide, Florida voters mostly did themselves proud yesterday. They rejected terminal blowhards Carlos Beruff, Dan Bongino and Alan Grayson, and backed a common sense solar power amendment. Our Jacksonville friends even booted longtime Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown, who is under indictment on corruption charges. So what exactly were Republicans in southwest…
Primary polls opened across Florida today, but voter turnout was not expected to be high, and the races pretty much seem decided already. The highest-profile incumbents running — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz — are likely to score decisive victories. Still, the…
Today marks the statewide election primary, which means a slew of high-profile federal and local races across South Florida end today. Thankfully, by around 10 p.m. tonight, South Florida will likely be done hearing about Alan Grayson’s cowboy boots (and domestic violence accusations), Andrew Korge’s attempted non-bribery of his opponent, and accusations that Debbie…
‹ Left Center Right Resize Cancel Crop 67 x 100 ?i › Back in February, State Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla used his powers as chairman of the State Senate’s Judiciary Committee to prevent the senate from voting on two controversial pro-gun laws. One would have allowed 1.5 million…
The Miami-Dade County Commission will hold a special meeting on Monday to start counting 127,000 petitions demanding that the county reform its campaign-finance laws. It only took a week’s worth of protests (including a sit-in at county hall), a national Twitter campaign, and a full-on lawsuit for that meeting to…
We now live in a day and age where a former congressman running for his old job can’t peruse the sex toy aisle at Spencer Gifts in peace. Just ask Joe Garcia, who is leading polls in the Democratic primary for the 26th congressional district currently occupied by Carlos Curbelo,…
In Florida, Sean P. Jackson is about as rare as an August afternoon without a thunderous downpour: He’s a black Republican official who is proudly backing Donald Trump’s bid for the White House. But the head of the Black Republican Caucus of South Florida says Trump’s state campaign doesn’t seem…
Politicians have always found creative ways to deal with bubbling rumors that they’re up to no good. There’s the classic “I am not a crook!” finger wag on television, or the passive aggressive sprint through the hotel kitchen to avoid reporters with tough questions. Last night, North Miami Beach…
Time to play a guessing game: How much would it cost Miami-Dade County officials to search for a week’s worth of emails from commissioners, and then to print those messages out and hand them to someone? Would $21,600 sound reasonable? In what might be the most expensive printing operation ever…
Hop off your starfish-shaped bicycle from Burning Man and take a break from your home-schooling classes: Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is coming to Miami tomorrow! Before this year, Johnson had mostly been famous for vetoing hundreds of bills as governor of New Mexico, smoking weed at a regular clip…
It’s not just about Hillary and Dim Donald. Florida’s August 30 primary is just around the corner. Though most local media attention has been focused on the race for Miami-Dade County mayor between incumbent Carlos Gimenez and School Board member Raquel Regalado, there are other local races significant to the…
When an activist group called Accountable Miami-Dade sent the county 127,000 petitions, each demanding the government reform its campaign-finance laws to help stop public corruption, the county — by law — had 30 days to start counting up the signatures. But so far, neither the commission nor the mayor will…
