Political group backed by Miami Dolphins, Miami Marlins puts out anti-Norman Braman TV ad

For weeks, Miami auto magnate and civic activist Norman Braman has been airing television and radio ads in English and Spanish against four incumbent MIami-Dade commissioners. Braman recruited a slate of candidates to try to oust Commissioners Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan and Dennis Moss.

Now an electioneering communications organization backed by the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins is fighting back.

Miami Dade Citizens for Real Reform is airing a television spot featuring a red curtain with a spotlight. The curtains open to reveal a puppetmaster with Braman's face on it pulling the strings of the candidates he's supporting: Luis Garcia, Alison Austin, Shirley Gibson and Alice Pena.

Here's what the ad says:

"Shame on Norman Braman for trying to hijack democracy, trying to buy the election, trying to put his cronies in office, trying to bully the commission. Shirley Gibson... Alison Austin... Alice Pena... Luis Garcia... Shame on you for allowing Braman to pay for your campaign. If he pays for you now, he'll own you later."

Alex Diaz de la Portilla really doesn't like Esteban Bovo...or are broader delegation politics at play?

Your former Florida Legislature colleague finds himself ensnared in news about an absentee-ballot fraud case, even though police say they have found no connection to him. What do you do?

If you're former state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, you start a drive to recall former state Rep. Esteban Bovo.

An electioneering communications organization run by Diaz de la Portilla has printed a flier to oust Bovo, who is now a Miami-Dade commissioner. On Friday, the ECO, Citizens Desiring Accountable Government, put out a robocall proposing recalling him.

Diaz de la Portilla, who is on Tuesday's primary ballot running for a House seat, has said he's fighting for government integrity. Bovo's former aide has admitted to police that she dropped off 164 absentee ballots at a post office last month after ballot brokers known as boleteros and voters dropped them off at Bovo's Hialeah district office. The ex-aide, Anamary Pedrosa, said neither Bovo nor his staff were involved, according to police.

State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera says he will sue Miami-Dade police union chief over attack ad in property appraiser's race

The television attack ad against state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a candidate for Miami-Dade property appraiser, is ominous.

The ad, which has no narration, alternates a black screen with white text asking questions ("Who is responsible for raising Florida Driver's License fees? Raising vehicle tag renewal fees? Raising construction permit costs?") with a black-and-white photo of Lopez-Cantera. Raising his right arm. At an apparent 45-degree angle.

This is the photo, taken from Lopez-Cantera's Florida House website.   

But in the ad, you can't see his thumbs-down gesture, urging fellow lawmakers to vote against a proposal on the House floor. The cropped photo in the ad makes Lopez-Cantera looks like he's, well, hailing Hitler -– though the uncropped photo clearly shows that he's not.

Lopez-Cantera, who's mother is Jewish, called the ad illegal because it does not cite any sources when making its claims. He said two local stations, WPLG-ABC 10 and WJAN-Channel 41, did not air or stopped airing the spot. WFOR-CBS 4 aired it Sunday morning; Lopez-Cantera indicated he may send the station a cease-and-desist letter asking them to stop broadcasting the spot.

Private eye who blew open Hialeah absentee-ballot fraud case had been there before

The private investigator who broke open the Hialeah absentee-ballot case that has vexed Miami-Dade’s two highest-profile elections is so paranoid, he won’t part with his keys because someone might break into his car and steal his computer.

“My computers have been hacked. You know theywant to get into my car. They might be listening to my phone calls and they have my GPS,” said an animated Jose “Joe” Carrillo. “Ever since that day, my life has been hell.”

Who would have enough interest to spy on him? “I don’t know.”

What is known is that since Carrillo informed Miami-Dade Police in mid-July about the actions of a Hialeah woman he was hired to follow, the county’s mayor and state attorney have been fending off questions about improper absentee-ballot collections, political operatives have been fired, and a 56-year-old woman known as aboletera has been charged with ballot fraud.

In short, what had been a relatively calm election cycle with somewhat intriguing mayoral and state attorney races has spun into a telenovela filled with intrigue playing out in Hialeah, a city that has long been recognized as the Rubik’s Cube of politics. The election for mayor, state attorney, and several other local and state posts is Tuesday. More from Charles Rabin here.

Bank records raise questions in Hialeah legislative race

A Florida House candidate may have broken campaign-finance laws by spending more money than he raised, back-dating checks and potentially using money from another campaign managed by the same political consultant, bank records from a lawsuit show.

The suit against Maykel “Miguel” Balboa was filed by his Republican primary opponent, Rep. Eddy Gonzalez of Hialeah, who failed Friday to persuade a judge to toss the political rookie Balboa from the ballot or shut down a political committee managed by consultant Sasha Tirador — who is also Balboa’s boss.

“He’s just pissed off because Balboa, with very little money, is literally beating Eddy Gonzalez,” Tirador said of Gonzalez’s lawyer, J.C. Planas.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jerald Bagley said he didn’t feel comfortable regulating political speech or disqualifying candidates so close to Tuesday’s election. He pointed out that Gonzalez had other remedies — namely an elections complaint — to stop Balboa’s allegedly unlawful conduct.

Gonzalez plans to file such a complaint on Monday and send the records to the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, Planas said.

“What we have found is a serious violation of the campaign finance laws,” he said in an email.

Planas, a former state representative, attached to the email subpoenaed bank records of Balboa’s campaign account — a move Balboa and Tirador’s lawyer, Joe Geller, called a blatant political maneuver days before Tuesday’s election. More here.

Obama's $700 billion Medicare-cut problem

A glimpse of the Mitt Romney campaign's pushback against President Obama's Mediscare plans surfaced Sunday morning on Face the Nation.

And Obama's spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, did all the talking Republicans needed.

At issue is the fact that, while Romney running-mate Paul Ryan wants to transform and cut future Medicare expenditures by about $700 billion, President Obama's healthcare plan cuts $700 billion over a decade. Cutter might have stumbled when asked about it on Face the Nation.

"You know I heard Mitt Romney deride the $700 billion cuts in Medicare that the president achieved through health care reform," she said, noting the "savings" in ObamaCare.

Two words are key here: "cuts" and "achieved."

The 10 second clip starting reverberating in the conservative blogosphere. A headline from Townhall.com tells you all you need to know: Sorry Seniors: Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Calls Gutting of Medicare an Achievement.

Unmentioned by Townhall was that the Ryan plan could also cut as much money. In fact, one veresion of the Ryan plan passed in 2011 appears to copy the ObamaCare Medicare cuts dollar for dollar. Is that "gutting" the program, too? And unlike ObamaCare, the Ryan plan's changes could cut more services by decade's end because of the way it structures its "premium support" system, which Democrats call a voucher.

Still, Democrats might find it tougher to make an attack on the Ryan plan stick because ObamaCare isn't popular, either. And the argument that ObamaCare won't affect services is tough to swallow. Cutting reimbursement rates affects the businesses who provide Medicare services.

There is a big difference, though, in the thrust of the reductions bewteen Ryan and Obama's plans. ObamaCare specifically calls for no reductions in benefits (though, again, if you squeeze providers, benefits will be harder to receive) because it's essentially a defined benefit plan. Ryan calls for a defined contribution plan. And under Ryan's scenario, there's a good bet that the contribution won't be enough to cover health expenses that ObamaCare seeks to guarantee.

Scott, Romney offering conflicting messages about Florida economy

Numbers may not lie, but Republicans Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Scott are using them to portray two very conflicting points of view about Florida’s economic picture.In a new television ad, the Romney campaign plays melancholy music as it describes “Obama’s Florida” as a state with “8.6 percent unemployment, record foreclosures, 600,000 more Floridians in poverty.”

Scott greets the same 8.6 percent unemployment number as a sign of rapid improvement, proclaiming on his website that it is “the lowest it’s been since December 2008!”

Unlike Romney, Scott has carefully avoided criticizing the president and instead turned the data into promoting his record of creating jobs.

The governor also tells audiences “the number of unemployed has gone from 568,000 to 320,000,” “median home prices are up,” and Florida’s job growth rate “has been positive for 23 consecutive months.” It’s a dissonance that may become more distinct as Romney and Scott take the stage during the Republican National Convention this month and Romney tours Florida Monday, with a late-day stop in Miami.“What I’m going to talk about is pretty much what I do every day, what I ran on,” Scott said last week when asked what he’ll say during his convention speech. “It’s how do we get our state back to work.”But the numbers he cites don’t jibe with the narrative Romney’s campaign wants Floridians to hear. As the expected Republican nominee for the presidency, Romney’s team is carefully scripting a convention playbook that would persuade voters that the economy is still in the tank after 3 1/2 years under President Obama.

Read more here: 

It's Scott vs. Romney on the economy. See how the two interpret Florida's economic picture with this chart:

Scott vs. Romney chart

--Mary Ellen Klas and Toluse Olorunnipa

 

 

Series: Citizens Insurance's campaign to raise rates and drop policies

Patricia Temple’s annual insurance bill soared by more than $2,100 after an inspector knocked on her door earlier this year. The bill came from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and the inspector was one of thousands fanning the state on Citizens’ behalf, often with sudden and jarring results for homeowners.

The state-run insurer is using a massive home inspection program — along with dozens of coverage cutbacks and policy changes — in an aggressive campaign to bolster its bottom line and reduce its level of risk. The campaign — which has intensified at the urging of Gov. Rick Scott — has already cost homeowners hundreds of millions of dollars. And the pocketbook impact could easily reach the billions as more and more homeowners are affected.

For Temple, a 79-year-old retired librarian who lives alone on a fixed income, the premium hike is taking a large bite out of her limited budget.

“I was shocked and I called my agent,” she said from her three-bedroom home in Coral Gables. “I’ve never had an insurance claim on anything.”

Her insurance premium jumped from $4,882 to $7,028.

Read more here: 

Other parts of the series:

Senior citizens go without homeowners insurance amid soaring premiums

Insurance ‘sticker shock’ for home buyers

@ToluseO