Conexion Miami / Lopez-Cantera: Miami’s latest illusionist 

The latest in a long ling of Miami illusionists wants Marco Rubio’s senate seat. It must be the water in Miami… Over the weekend Florida Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera touted job growth and tax cuts under Gov. Rick Scott for the fine state Florida is in. At least that’s what he’s selling. As a result of the fine work he and the governor are doing Lopez-Cantera said he is “strongly considering” a run for senate in 2016. “We’ve proven conservative fiscal policy works [in Florida],” said Lopez-Cantera. Really?!

Jeb had a lousy week

Jeb Bush just finished a tough week in his unannounced bid for the presidency in 2016. The way he changed his story over a four-day span, it seems Jeb is now the mentee and Marco Rubio the mentor. Rubio, by the way, has leapfrogged over the former Florida governor in the polls. Bush had about three different answers regarding a rhetorical question about the Iraq invasion: Would he have attacked Iraq knowing what we now know? Jeb is either not as smart as we thought he was or he refuses to trash his brother’s lousy record on Iraq. No matter the answer, it’s not working for him.

Miami Beach cops are at it again

The Miami Beach Police Department’s lousy reputation just got worse. Sixteen Miami Beach cops sent about 230 emails that contained racist and sexist jokes and pornography from 2010-12, it was reported last week. As a result the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office is combing through more than 150 criminal cases of black suspects arrested by Miami Beach police officers. One meme showed a “Black Monopoly” board game on which each square had a police officer directing the player to “go to jail.”

It will be winner takes all in Florida

The Republican presidential primary will be held on March 15, 2016, in Florida. It will be a winner takes all event. In other words, a majority is not needed for victory. The candidate with the most votes wins. That’s good news for both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, both well-known names in the state, which should help them when they tally the votes.

3 fireplaces, in Miami?

If it’s not who has the biggest, then it’s whose is most expensive. At times it seems this is what Miami has come to. This week it’s the Gables Estates home of auto dealer Alan Potamkin that hit the market for $67 million, making it the most expensive listing in Miami-Dade County. Built in 2000, the home’s three levels include a main floor with both a chef’s and separate family kitchen, a formal dining room with a 1,500-bottle wine room, a family room, corporate office with private bath, ‘a his office/den and hers office/library,’ children’s playroom, three powder rooms and a guest bedroom and bath. It has an elevator, three fireplaces, two built-in saltwater aquariums and an aviary.

Miamian in Washington

Miami native Ana Pupo, who was born in Cuba and moved to Miami at age 12, completed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s highly competitive Graduate Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C. Pupo was one of 22 fellows chosen out of hundreds of applicants from across the nation. She spent nine months working in the nation’s capital. Ana was placed at the National Council of La Raza Economic Policy Project for the first half of her fellowship and the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Government Contracting for the second half.

Art exhibit at Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil Americas, also known as BB Americas, invites you to an art exhibit beginning June 12 titled “Color beyond Symmetry and Horizons.” BB Americas has invited curators Maria A. Naples and Jade Matarazzo, who have assembled a trio of artists: Robert Swedroe (USA) and Didi Marchi (Brazil) and the sculptor Othón Castañeda (Mexico). The exhibition will be held at their Brickell Avenue office in Miami: 800 Brickell Avenue, Suite 103. Admission is free.

Miami School Board looks to develop prime land

The Miami-Dade County School Board wants to develop ten acres of prime Downtown Miami land they own. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho envisions a partnership with a developer for a mixed-use project that could provide long-term revenue for the school district while incorporating the district’s facilities.

Rubio cashes out

The Associated Press this week reported that Sen. Marco Rubio cashed out most of his retirement savings last year as he prepared to run for president. Records released show Rubio sold six retirement funds in September for about $68,000. He also reported at least $100,000 in his checking account and another $50,000 in a money market account at year’s end. Rubio is 43 years old. It’s unusual for people his age to liquidate their retirement savings. He earned $226,000 last year in addition to profit from the sale.

A phallic pool

We thought we’d seen it all. Now it’s a penis-shaped pool in a Miami home on sale for more than $5 million.

A healthcare funding commission

Gov. Rick Scott created a nine-person commission last week to tackle the state’s health care and hospital funding issues. Its job is to review how tax money and government policies like Medicaid contribute to the quality and access to care, the profits and losses of health-care organizations and its impact on costs to families. It would also compare the health outcomes of Medicaid patients to other patients and investigate how much taxpayer-funded hospitals pay for lobbyists, advertising and political campaigns. The group includes local politicians, former bank executives and a microsurgeon.

Mayor ‘Giveaway’

Elaine De Valle, in her Political Cortadito blog: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez‘s plan to privatize Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, transferring operations to a non-profit board like the one at the county-owned Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (PAC). It comes just as the public park and tourist attraction considers a $50-million plan to renovate its existing space and expand across the street. The deal makes it easier for members of the mayor’s friends and family plan to get in on the project, she says. De Valle reminds us that Gimenez diverted $5 million toward the PAC Trust for roof repairs, and a construction company that employs the mayor’s son (a lobbyist) got a $4 million no bid contract. The semi-independent PAC board — whose members do not have to file financial disclosures — awarded the job with no public input or even notice.