Bad Mayor Gimenez: No bid, just favors for friends. By Geniusofdespair

I remember Carlos Gimenez's first campaign for mayor. He had this heavy guy as his chauffeur and the heavy guy's wife was a longtime lobbyist.  This is the heavy guy I remember, now exposed in the Miami Herald.

Ralph Garcia Toledo, whom, as repoted by the Miami Herald, is "Raising money for the mayor, and making money from his administration".

He helped Carlos Gimenez raise nearly $4 million while billing $200 an hour on a county sewer contract that pays him to meet with administration officials.

Through April, G-T Construction has billed $672,000 for work that began in late 2014. Roughly $430,000 of that was billed as overhead — the added cost Miami-Dade lets contractors tack onto bills for employees’ work to cover both operating expenses and profit.

 Read the article, I am on a cell phone blogging -- too hard. This isn't new behavior on the part of Mayor Gimenez. Here is what I wrote in 2013 about Ralph Garcia Toledo getting favors:

Ralph Garcia Toledo the Mayor's right hand man during his campaign.

There is a big Water and Sewer contract under the Cone of Silence (probably one of the biggest to be awarded this year). Is Ralph Garcia Toledo, your right hand man, getting some sort of paid consultant job on this mega contract with the engineering firm CH2M Hill Mr. Mayor? Tell me someone is giving me bad information PLEASE!!!

These guys/lobbyists are just too close to Gimenez according to the June 6th Miami Herald, also on the Mayor's trip were:

Several Gimenez supporters are traveling as well: lawyer Marcelo Llorente of LSN Partners and his managing partner, Alex Heckler; and Ralph Garcia-Toledo of G-T Construction Group and his wife, Vicky Garcia-Toledo, a partner at the law firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod. Gimenez’s daughter-in-law Barbara Rodriguez-Gimenez, director of client relations at the law firm Genovese Joblove & Battista, is also a delegate. All are registered as lobbyists at County Hall. 

Jorge Luis Lopez was also in Spain with the Mayor. 

All three of these guys ARE JUST TOO CLOSE. Llorente, Ralph Garcia-Toledo's wife Vicky are lobbyists for CH2M Hill on this giant contract. Regarding what is going on read these two articles:

The Miami Herald on this contract. 


THIS WHOLE THING SHOULD BE LOOKED AT WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB. TOO MANY FRIENDS INVOLVED. Too much hanky panky. I thought Mayor Gimenez was different but he is just like Alex Penelas always with a bevy of lobbyists at his side. Also read Miami New Times, Francisco Alvarado on Toledo, very good article.