Wait? Is this a Coral Gables commission meeting or a Miami commission meeting? | Opinion

Has the circus pitched its tent at Coral Gables City Hall? It’s sure felt that way recently. Angry voices, decorum out the window, attacks from the public and between commissioners seated on the dais.

Bad blood spilling everywhere.

The setting is Coral Gables, but the atmosphere is starting to feel like Miami. It’s undoubtedly a new chapter in the usually staid politics of the City Beautiful.

Insults and accusations

During a four-hour Coral Gables Commission meeting last week, everything flew: insults, accusations, threats, a request for the commission to call the FBI and an invitation for the mayor to take a lie detector test — and more.

It all ended with the commission’s censure of Mayor Vince Lago, who was also accused of making an antisemitic remark at the meeting for referring to Miami activist Billy Corben as “Mr. Cohen” — an offensive dog-whistle pointing out that Corben is Jewish.

“What did you call me?” Corben demanded of Lago, sitting on the dais. “Mr. Cohen,” Lago repeated without batting an eye. “You might as well have called me a Jew!” Corben shot back from the speaker’s podium.

Corben is the stage name used by Cohen, who was once a child actor. He is a local documentary maker, activist and podcaster.

Corben had a similar back-and-forth about his name last year with Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo. Unfortunately, heated exchange in the Gables took place days after Hamas attacked Israel, when tensions are high and sensitivity must be practiced, which Lago failed to do.

It came at the end of a testy exchange where Corben blamed Lago for bringing Miami-style politics to the Gables, criticizing him for what he called “pay for play” politics, pushing the annexation of the High Pines/Ponce-Davis neighborhoods to bring more development into the city and “bullying” commissioners who voted to give themselves 78% raises, a 71% salary increase for the vice mayor and a 54% salary increase and car allowance for the mayor.

Opposed raises

Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson had posed strong objections to the raises, maybe too strong on Lago’s part. It was a fiscally responsible stance, but several commissioners were livid at Lago for criticizing their raises on Spanish-language radio.

Lago said on air that his colleagues were unprepared for office, they “reached into residents’ pockets” and they “live off their wives,” a rather sexist reference.

“Bring out the popcorn — and I say that in jest,” Javier Baños, an attorney and long-time city activist who unsuccessfully ran for the commission, told the Editorial Board.

Last month, Baños launched the Gables Insider, a newsletter where he promises to monitor the growing drama at City Hall. It seems he’ll have plenty of fodder.

In 2021, when the Editorial Board made recommendations in the city elections, a recurring theme was keeping the specter of Miami-style politics out of the Gables, as several candidates had ties to the city. For example, Lago and Miami’s Mayor Francis Suarez are childhood friends.

Last week’s meeting ended with the commission formally censuring Lago and giving him a collective piece of their mind.

“This is absolute anarchy here,” Lago told the Miami Herald after the commission publicly rebuked him. He called out the crazy, not us.

The censure of Lago was the latest development in the shifting power dynamics on the City Commission, where Lago once had little resistance and found unanimous votes for his initiatives.

Now, Lago only has Anderson’s vote on the dais. The shift began in April when Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez defeated two candidates who had the mayor’s endorsement. Lago now seems to have lost the support of Kirk Menendez, who is said to be unhappy with the mayor’s criticism of the raises. Menendez, Fernandez and Castro voted for the raises and also rejected Lago’s push to move city elections to November.

It’s now Lago against three commissioners of the four commissioners.

Coral Gables leaders are resembling Miami’s in other ways, too, some possibly running afoul of ethics mandates.

Like Miami’s Suarez, Lago did business with embattled developer Rishi Kapoor, who rented space from Lago while pushing to build a Gables high-rise. Lago denies any wrongdoing.

On Saturday, the Miami Herald reported that Commissioner Castro, whose business helps clients secure building permits, should no longer accept work within the city, according to a draft opinion from the Miami-Dade’s Ethics Commission.

She sought the opinion. It’s hard to believe the commissioner expected any other answer.

But Baños is convinced the chaos in Coral Gables are just temporary.

“We are a city known for our collegiality and congeniality,” he said.

We hope so. The people of Coral Gables should expect far better, especially from such handsomely paid city commissioners.