In yet another effort to thwart a recall effort he likes to belittle, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has funded a phone bank to call voters and tell them not to sign the petition.
One of those calls went to Commissioner Melissa Castro over the weekend. She was out of town, on an impromptu vacation with her son, but saw the call came from a 786 number and answered it, thinking it was something important from back home.
“And he tells me that there are people knocking door to door with petitions spreading misinformation and that right now Mayor Lago needs our support. ‘He’s a great mayor,’” she quoted the gentleman on the other line as saying.
So she asked him: “Do you know him yourself?” He said no.
Read related: Coral Gables activist forms PAC to recall former friend, Mayor Vince Lago
The caller admitted he was being paid to make the call by “a group of concerned Coral Gables residents.” Castro asked who they were. “Just a group of people,” the caller said. “This is just a call center. We don’t know who they are.”
Castro asked what the misinformation on the petitions was. He couldn’t say.
Castro asked if he was reading from a script. “Yes,” he told her.
We’ll have to wait til about April 10 or 11 to see how much Lago spent on this recall defense from his political action committee, Coral Gables First, which had about $500,000 in the bank as of the last report through the end of December.
This is only the latest tactic. He’s already used text messages and police officers are out following, detaining and searching the canvassers collecting petition signatures.
So don’t let Lago keep saying that the recall effort is nothing to worry about.
Read MorePolitical Cortadito
