But the amendments petitions may be on target
The effort to recall Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may not reach the minimum threshold. We won’t know until Monday, at the earliest, but it certainly seems to have hit a snag.
Meanwhile, if we are to believe a group chat message sent by a Lago supporter, that group is close to announcing that they have the necessary signatures to put three charter amendments on the ballot — to change the voting date to November, make future commission raises subject to voter approval and keep the reserves safe with a super majority requirement to dip into them.
The problem with the recall petitions is that some of them are reportedly duplicates, including the one signed by recall organizer and longtime Gables activist Maria Cruz, chairwoman of the End The Corruption political action committee. And she believes it could be sabotage.
The Miami-Dade Elections Department on Friday confirmed that of the 1,719 petitions submitted last Friday (the 13th!), 1,533 signatures had been validated. “This number is subject to change until certified,” said Elections spokesperson Ivan Castro. Neither he nor Elections Supervisor Christina White could say how many petitions had been pulled out as non valid or how many were left to review.
“We are in the process of performing quality assurance and hoping to certify the number of valid petitions by Monday,” White told Ladra. The group needs 1,650 signatures, or 5% of the 33,000 regifted voters at the time of the last election, to be validated in order to move on to the next step.
It sure seems like it’s taken a long time to verify the signatures, but the process is painstaking. Two people review every single signature on the petition to see if it matches. If they don’t agree, it is put to the side for a third person to judge. Any petitions that are duplicated are thrown out. All of them. So none of them count, including the one that Cruz signed in front of the city clerk.
“We are puzzled as to why it is taking so long,” said recall PAC attorney David Winker. “And we are aware there are duplicate signatures that appear to have been intentionally placed.”
Cruz, a 48-year resident of the Gables and former ally of the mayor’s, believes that a Lago supporter fraudulently signed her name to other petitions — at the farmer’s market or at Publix — in order to “sow chaos” and create duplicates so that the election department would have to challenge every petition. She thinks they forged other duplicates, also. And she told Gables residents so in an email blast sent Saturday night.
“The Lago supporter led scheme to de-legitimize valid petitions and undermine the will of the voters is yet another example of the deceitful nature of our mayor,” Cruz said in the email.
Read related: Coral Gables activist forms PAC to recall former friend, Mayor Vince Lago
“While we have not received any official response from the Elections Department, they have made us aware of this scheme and that the actions of these dirty trickers may cause the effort to fall just short of the required number of un-challenged signatures needed.
“Adding insult to injury, Florida Statue does not provide a remedy or a method to deal with these fraudsters,” Cruz says in the email, which still boasts a half victory.
“Here is what we do know. In under thirty days, roughly 1,600 Coral Gables residents signed valid petitions calling for the recall and removal of Mayor Vince Lago. Lago’s secret deals with a corrupt Coral Gables developer have broken the public trust in him. Lago’s intimidation and bullying tactics are now well known throughout the city. Our city’s Police and Fire Departments have publicly stated that Lago has undermined public safety through his words and actions placing residents at risk.
“Even if the Mayor’s tactics undermine the recall process, this will not be the last you hear from those of us who are frustrated and embarrassed by our mayor, who we once supported.”
Meanwhile, one of the mayor’s supporters allegedly sent a text message congratulating a pro-Lago group on collecting the required petition signatures for the amendments that the mayor wants to put on the ballot, including one to change the voting date to November.
“Good afternoon group,” it starts. “I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you who participated in this amazing effort. Amazing what we accomplished in such a short period of time. It shows what the members of this community are really made of, the strength and determination, and it also clearly expresses our disdain for KFC.”
Read related: Coral Gables police, fire union: Lying Vince Lago is no pal of public safety
KFC is the cute nickname that the new anonymous blogger that only attacks them (read: probably Sam Lawson, who also wrote the text) gave the new three amigos — Kirk Menendez (K), Ariel Fernandez (F), and Melissa Castro (C), who have created a new majority that has left Lago utterly powerless.
“We will not sit back idly, we will fight and we will prevail.
“Also, may of you reached out, wanted to participate, but were unavailable for this job, due to work or personal,” the ext goes on. “Some of the personal things you are going through are exceptionally difficult, and I pray the best for you. We all do. Others of you might just be sitting back, watching, but you have not exited, so I know that means you’re interested and supportive. That means everything.
“We have very clearly, from all indications, surpassed the target. As for how many signatures, I won’t have that number until next week sometime. But while I promised to give you that number as soon as I got it, a very astute member of our group messaged me with some sage advice: Don’t release the exact number just yet, because if it got leaked, it could put us on the back foot again with our opponent. I know that NONE of you ant that. We are here to win. As far how that information could be use to our opponents advantage, unfortunately, if I went though that logic here it would accomplish essentially the same thing if leaked and show our hand.
“The total count will become public information at an upcoming commission meeting and that is the right time to release it, when it is a surprise,” the text says.
A surprise, huh? Like a sneak attack?
“But yes, we have met the target, that means that even if the commission votes against our charter amendment requests, the city of Coral Gables still must put it on an upcoming ballot (August or November — will be shooting for November).
“We have some important projects to work on together, and I will share those with you very soon. All of these projects are determined to change the political landscape in Coral Gables.”
Sounds like a shadow government is trying to run the City Beautiful.
Read related: Letter to the editor in support of Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is laughable
“I would like to leave you with some positive information based on a fairly data-driven observation,” the text goes on. “We were able to recruit one of the End the Corruption canvassers over to our team. This person was a canvasser for one day exactly. During the 11 hours this person was walking through the Gables, trying to get signatures, almost no one signed. The overwhelming majority were in favor of Mayor Lago and opposed to the smear campaign aka recall campaign. This ‘data’ coincides with what we saw during the Move the Vote to November agenda item and the Fire the City Manager agenda item, where a super majority of the citizenry were vocal ad highly opposed to the KFC efforts.
“We are on the right track!”
The text was accompanied by a flow chart graphic about the dark money funding the recall that seems like it came from a disturbed mind.
Las malas lenguas also say that there was at least one or possibly two Lago plants in the End the Corruption group, so maybe the stuffed the box with fake petitions.
“There are so many strange things happening. I am not a conspiracy person, but it’s very strange,” Cruz said. “How long does it take to count 1,700 petitions? And we still don’t have the answer.”
Read MorePolitical Cortadito
