Transcript of #BecauseMiami: Making of a Miami Mafioso New

On a Navy aircraft carrier hundreds of miles at sea, everyone remains calm. 26 years in the Navy, reconnaissance missions in the danger zone, the Cold War, Balkans, Desert Storm. But my first mission was rescuing Cubans in the Florida Straits. When Putin invaded Ukraine, I knew what I had to do. You answer when duty calls. Got a van and completed dozens of humanitarian aid delivery missions across Ukraine. Driving in a war zone is It wasn't easy. Bombs dropping in the distance, fields laced with landmines, destroyed homes, and many Ukrainian casualties. Inspired by their courage, I looked home. For 8 years, politicians have stood by Trump's war on the truth. They're the Axis of Lies, spreading disinformation at all costs. They want to keep us confused to hold on to power. So once again, duty calls.

Oh boy, this lasts longer than 4 hours, I'm gonna have to call my doctor. That was damn exciting stuff there. Holy cow, my nipples are hard. Wow. This is the Because Miami program. Later on in the show, we'll be returning to Miami City Hall for all the corruption, dysfunction, and nonstop construction. But first, Phil Ehr, that is E-H-R, F-O-R, congress.us, is running for Congress again. Third time's the charm?

Fourth time.

Fourth time's the charm, sorry, I lost count there. This guy runs for Congress again, he gets a free smoothie.

I think. It's called persistence and resilience and like, we're getting the damn job done.

You are a retired Navy commander. You are running against Republican Carlos Jiménez in— is that still District 28?

It's still District 28, running for the people. And guess what, Billy? I had to show up looking like Rick Scott.

Yeah, we were a little sore, I'm told. We thought you were Jared Leto from the Masters of the Universe movie.

I'm told that's a good way to get attention around this town, but I'll tell you what, I'm done with it. I'm off with that because I'm authentic Navy, and I'm going to put on something that makes me comfortable here in this cold studio. That's what I like, my civilian flight jacket.

Top gov over here. Top gov? Yeah, I don't know, that was the thing. What was that? Oh, that that ridiculous commercial that Ron DeSantis did. Do you honestly believe that's credible? So there you go. Looking good. Wait, was Rick Scott in the Navy? Why does he always wear that hat?

He was in the Navy for one tour of duty on a ship that was dry docked for a while. Big difference. Dry dock meaning in port, not operational as I did. My whole career has been operational enlisted service and commissioned officer service in the air, at sea, and on command posts in wartime.

So you're saying he was in the Navy and never got wet? Is that what you're saying?

Never got his feet wet. You could say that. He tells a story about selling Coca-Cola for profit and thinking, "Wow, this is great stuff because I'm bringing something to the sailors." Well, what he did was he made a lot of profit off of the thirsty sailors who were doing a lot of work on the ship, as I used to do. And, you know, there's a big difference between his brand of service and mine. He knew how to start bilking the system then.

Exploiting the taxpayers early and making off like a bandit. He's a weird dude, Phil. Let's talk a little bit about you. You are running against Carlos Jiménez again.

Yes.

You previously ran against Matt Gaetz all the way up in the Panhandle in District Numero Uno.

Gracias, Matt Gaetz.

So what brings you down here for this race again?

Well, what brings me down here to start with was because South Florida is a place where I've served. My first mission in the Navy was the Mariel Boatlift because I love the diversity here.

1980.

1980, that's a long time ago. I was a 19-year-old sailor on what people call a mothership these days, or the survivors have called a mothership, and it was just an inspiring, a really inspiring mission, because we actually saved people's lives at sea. We repudiated that cruel regime of Fidel Castro, and it was a bipartisan event, meaning Carter ordered it, controversially, and the Republicans didn't like it.

Open hearts, open arms.

Yeah, yeah. And Republicans didn't like it at the time, but later on, the Republicans, with Ronald Reagan, embraced the Cuban-American community as the rest of us have, and it's been a wonderful addition to our society.

So for people who are unfamiliar with the Mariel Boatlift, you need only watch the opening of Scarface. That is the Mariel Boatlift. Over the span of what, about 6 months, it brought about 125,000 new Cuban exiles to South Florida, nearly bankrupted the 4 southernmost counties of South Florida— Monroe, Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach— and really changed kind of the face of South Florida forever. But what was happening—

you can call it bankrupted, You can call it an investment in the future, and we benefit— we're benefiting from that investment.

Well, when you get 125,000— an influx of 125,000 new arrivals and people who don't necessarily have resources, or they need food, they need education, they need water and clothing and shelter, and it's a drain on resources, but also, like I said, changed Miami in, in ways that I think are sort of unforgettable in culture and politics, and it made quite an impact, I think, nationally. I would say the Miami of today is the America of tomorrow, but you also were literally pulling people out of the water. You were— boats that were probably overfilled with people because the Castro regime was forcing everybody who brought a boat over to take more people than they probably— than was probably their ship was seaworthy for. So you literally saved a lot of lives.

Well, I was part of the teamwork that did that, yes. I was stationed on the mothership, so my personal role was receiving these folks on the ship. And there's this one scene that stuck in my mind. It was this family, a mom and a dad and two teenagers, like one 13 a 13-year-old child, and another maybe 7 or 8. And the woman in this family was just looking around the big cavernous ship and thinking, oh my gosh. I could see in her face the gratitude and the relief for having been saved from capsizing and horrible deaths under the sea for herself and her family and her future.

The Florida Straits are known as one of the world's largest cemeteries because of the people from not just from Cuba, but from Haiti, from all over the Caribbean or Latin America who have fled, in some cases on ramshackle vessels for a better life, for freedom, for democracy, for capitalism here in the US.

Opportunity.

For opportunity to make a better life for them and their families, and to enjoy the rights that many people, that we all have enjoyed, that have given us the opportunities that this country has given us. And to that end, you have a predominantly— is it a predominantly still Hispanic or Spanish-speaking or Cuban-American district in 28th?

It's 70% Hispanic, about half of them Cuban-Americans, and half from other ethnicities. And yes, yes, Yes, indeed. So we are connecting with folks on the basis of shared values of integrity and service.

I have to wonder though, because, you know, we started this conversation talking about immigration and the opportunity of America and people fleeing places like Cuba for freedom and democracy and opportunity here economically, politically, and otherwise. But we are living in a different United States now than 1980. So when you had Ronald Reagan embrace the Cuban Americans, when you had the president of the United States, Gerald— I was gonna say Gerald Ford, no, Jimmy Carter. That's been well researched. Your Freudian slip. Jimmy Carter, all the one-termers, you know. But you're in a different 28, you're in a district that really votes against immigration and against really, I mean, almost in a way to deport themselves. I'm a little confused politically what's going on here, but you are traversing, you're out there, you're one of the most out-there candidates. I don't mean out there like, like —like, in Adam's case, you are—

Well, it depends on who you talk to. It really depends.

But I mean, you are ever-present, omnipresent in the district, at events, you know, challenging the status quo. What are you learning out there from people, from this immigrant community that you are trying to represent, and how they feel about immigration?

Well, I'm learning that people are motivated by many of the same things. We are all motivated across the demographics on the idea of freedom, on the idea of opportunity, and so those things are transcending. People are tired of being told what to do from central authorities, as happens in, you know, in county government.

Third world banana republics, maybe?

You mean like Miami-Dade? Yeah, because Miami, right. These types of things are corrosive to people's faith in our country. So when I go to communities and I help fight neighborhoods against unwanted development or good management in county matters, What they are energized by is the promise of, and my credibility at, fighting corruption. It's the pay-to-play political environment around here, both locally and in Tallahassee and in Washington, D.C., where I'm going, that needs to be fought. And someone like me, new to elected office, but having a record of integrity and service, we're gonna make some changes.

Okay, so you're going with the "we have more in common" than not. We agree more than we disagree. By the way, I think that that's true even in these kind of divisive and partisan and perilous times. What do people think about the representation by current Congressman Carlos Giménez, who by my count I think is on his third public pension? Am I right about that? He was a firefighter and fire chief in the city of Miami. He was a county commissioner and county mayor, and now he's a congressman. So I think that's at least 3 public pensions.

He's gonna get 4 because he's served over 5 years in the United States Congress. And so yeah, so he's gonna have all these things racked up, getting the dole plus his influence in directing contracts locally to his family businesses. And that is part of the corruption that we're gonna be fighting here. Every dollar, federal dollar, that comes into to, uh, Miami-Dade County is gonna have federal scrutiny from yours truly to make sure there's no correlation, uh, between developers and county commissioners.

MCM, the company that actually built the FIU bridge that collapsed and killed 6 people, just innocent people driving by in their cars on Tamiami Trail, as well as construction workers on top of the bridge, that was built by the cousins of Carlos Jiménez's wife, whose sons also worked for the company at various points. And they changed their name from— it's still MCM, but it was like Magnum Construction Management to something, but it's still the same initials, and they get tens of millions of dollars in county, municipal, and state contracts to this day. It's a tragedy that really deserves greater diving into.

And your audience should take a look at what's going on in Morningside with this company. Oh, they're paving the park, aren't they? And there's a seawall that is very controversially being built, and it's just It's just, it's just wrong in the way that the county commission is awarding contracts to the Jiménez syndicate.

So this doesn't necessarily make you very popular, even amongst your own party, because it's one thing to have to run against Republicans in a red district, but you seem to have to run against the Democrats as well.

Well, I'm running against corruption. You know, the— you know, that's, that's, that's just bipartisan, bipartisan. And it's a— and again, I think you had a bipartisan—

I didn't I didn't actually mean to do that, but it kind of worked, I think. It was a slip of the—

If you say so. Slip of the finger there.

All right, so we're talking about bipartisan fuckery.

Yes, we are, and we're talking about bipartisan pay-to-play environment where the developers, you know, that party affiliation matters a lot in Washington, D.C. It shouldn't, but it does. Same in Tallahassee, where there's been a one-party system up there ruling and preempting local control for a long time, and then here in Miami-Dade County, it's less of an issue, and the more relevant division is what group of developers are you with?

That's right. It's not red or blue, it's green. It's not Republican or Democrat, it's the pocket party or the pocket book party. Absolutely. So to that end though, there is a— I call them this cabal of consultants. Yeah, consultant cabal. It is the kind of political grifters that have seized a hold of the— not just the Democratic Party, there are their own grifters on the Republican side, but there are some bipartisan grifters who I think are a cancer on the Democratic Party and are the reason, or among the reasons, why the Democratic Party has been a nonentity in this state since the turn of the century, since Jeb Bush was governor in 1999. You've now, very late in the season, because you've been at this for a while, right, in this campaign—

You need to build trust with folks, and yes, we've been at it building trust with folks.

And you have just drawn a Democratic primary challenger in Hector Mujica, Correct. Who I understand is part of— well, I mean, he's being represented by Christian Ulvert, and Christian Ulvert is a, as I was saying, a cancer on the party who has done more to diminish the stature and the power of the Democratic Party in the state of Florida for his own profit, and now runs Republicans as well as Democrats and gets Democrats to endorse Republicans. So I'm— but yet puts himself out there as some sort of progressive guru and Democrat vote whisperer. And I think he loses. He may lose as much as he wins, but he never loses. Loses, because ultimately, he's getting that Green Party money. So what is going on in this race? Because you have to get through a primary now in order to get to a general election against Carlos Jiménez, all of a sudden.

Right, so there's so many things to say, Billy, about this. Let me just start with— Say them all! Say them all! Christian Olver has been responsible for the county commission turning red, specifically in the appointment of Ms. López as county commissioner, when Eileen Higgins ran for the City of Miami mayor.

Yeah, I want to clarify this real quick because this has been a Democratic talking point in this, not only in the state but all over the country and all over the world. And I get the Democrats need all the wins, all the Ws they can get in this town, in this state. But to say that Eileen Higgins turned Miami blue is simply not true because the county commission is still majority Republican. But what Eileen Higgins did do, to your point, is turn the county commission Red. City Commission. Oh no, County Commission red, which is a blue. And this— and no, the City Commission is still red, dude. Yeah, what I'm saying is the Democrats won nothing other than Christian Ulbricht now gets to hijack both the city— good point— budget of nearly $3 billion and the county budget of $13 billion. So what's better? What's better is we have a Democrat who doesn't give a shit about anybody, who's already betrayed immigrants, environmentalists, and people of color at the city, or is it better that we have a Republican majority controlling a $13+ billion budget, which as we know, most of the Democrats are also Christian Over clients, so they're stealing from everybody over there at the county commission too.

I'm sorry, I'm gonna get off my Billy Coulter rant.

No, well, you're right, because when you're coming in with these facts, and they are facts, you're reminding us all that it's not just a game of, you know, Eileen won by 18 points in her—

Huge victory. Huge victory.

And that was the national Democratic Party's branding. Coming here locally and mobilizing, you know, some things to make her win. And it was, it was that. It was great, positive for Democrats across the country, but it spoke less to local issues than it did to the national trends.

Sure, but also, I mean, you're hopefully, I mean, you're gonna count on national trends or a blue wave in the general if you, if you make it against Carlos Jiménez. And I always say Florida tends to be immune to the sanity and reason that impacts other other states. I mean, Texas and Georgia are more purple states than, arguably, than Florida is. But talk to me about this primary, this, this surprise primary. Surprise primary.

Well, look, my Democratic opponent has just been forced out, or he fled, the U.S. Senate race. Then he put his hand in the air and he said, "Oh, where can I run?" And he looked at what's happening in District 28, South Dade and the Florida Keys, and it is turning more blue because people are tired of Carlos and they're also excited about yours truly and their own agency in taking back our federal government. So this guy, this guy who lives in Broward, who lives in Hollywood, Florida.

He lives in Broward.

He lives in Broward, his residence. And he's running in Dade County. He's running in Dade County without any, any, you know, commitment to move his family into our district.

And for the record, that's legal. It's legal. It's usually frowned upon.

Yeah, it's frowned upon, and we're tired of that. Carlos Jiménez lives in Coconut Grove.

Carpetbagger, total.

Right, and he, Jiménez, and Mojica are carpetbaggers that are taking advantage and exploiting. They're not living the daily experience of the traffic here, of the watching these developments go up without the proper infrastructure that goes along with it, and the overall corruption, the encroachment into the Everglades that goes on and on and on, and we're tired of it. So for my primary, I'm gonna tell, I am telling the people that we watch out for people who are outside side who are going to be not living what you are living, who are saying that they are more viable, and frankly, he is not. He is maybe resting on his Hispanic surname. My connection with the people across the board, including Hispanics, is stronger than his, and we are proceeding and we are taking him out. He has hired this Kristian Overt character, who is a Republican operative, or who is and who is resulting in turning the county commission red, is cavorting with the Republicans, the like of Vicki Lopez, cavorting with and playing—

Phil Levine, Jeffrey Epstein's BFF. Right, right.

Phil Levine, who is on a host committee for Vicki Lopez until just recently dropped out. You know, Billy, I've been fighting pedophiles my whole life. Matt Gaetz was my opponent in 2020. Now I'm fighting Carlos Giménez, who's told the world that, oh, we should just move on, move on from from the Epstein files. Well, that is completely— it's wrong and it's disgusting. And that my Democratic opponent and other senior Democrats who hire folks that have abided by, by this type of behavior is, is something I will always stand against.

So as I understand it, your path to victory in the district is you actually live in the district, which your primary opponent does not, which your general election opponent, Republican Carlos Jiménez, does not and never and never has. And again, I don't know I don't know Hector Mujica. I don't know that I've ever met him that I can remember. I don't know what his motivations are. I don't think it's unsafe to say what you were, I think, getting at earlier, which is that Christian Ulbricht may very well be helping to run him in this race to diminish you and to help the Republican in the race.

Some quarters of the Democratic Party— you can see this in the national fiasco that is the report from the last cycle— but some just don't like military candidates. I mean, you can bring out, you know, Alex Finman or Mark Kelly out in Arizona, but there's a lot here that don't like me for military reasons and because I'm an outsider, as you said. I have not come up through the ranks. I'm coming up through—

Yeah, you're not a party mainstream.

—experience in the federal government. I'm coming up, you know, and you said my basis might have been that I live here. Yes, that is true, but it's also because I know how to represent I know what the issues are and I show up. I show up in my body, in my mind, and in my problem solving and leadership abilities. We are looking toward a future that is much better for South Dade, who's always been the bottom of the totem pole for resources coming from higher authority, be it the county or the state or the federal government. And we can do a lot of change with hard, authentic representation. And I'm offering that to the people here.

Well, so far you're winning the jacket race in this primary. Yeah, I'm going to extend an invitation to your primary challenger, Hector Mojica, to join me and to have the same conversation, you know, that we just had. And whoever wins the primary, I look forward to having a conversation about the issues that impact the district and what Carlos Jiménez has or has not been doing about those things.

And it's cost, it's health care, it's groceries, it's energy, it's responsibility in the commitment of military forces. And it is the cruelty on the streets from the, the unprofessional immigration enforcement that's going on. It's these many, many issues that are eroding trust in government, and we are here to bring it back.

Phil Eyre, that is E-H-R-F-O-R, congress.us. Thanks for being here. Good luck to you.

Thank you, Billy. All the best.

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Limited time offer. Sabina Covo lost Miami's District 2 commission seat last November, but what she did as the incumbent is now under investigation.

We all ran against the problem that's there at City Hall, which is the corruption piece.

That's former candidate James Torres on Because Miami's podcast after last November's elections. He talked about Covo coming to him for his support in her runoff.

What is it going to take, and can I offer you a position at the Omni CRA as a contractor making over $120,000. I was taken aback by that because I'm like, is this the right thing? Like, this is— doesn't sit— it was just weird.

And if true, possibly illegal, which may be why Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office launched an investigation, which was transferred to Broward because of a potential conflict of interest. James Torres is the president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance in Miami, the DNA. He was a two-time candidate for the District 2 commission seat back in 2023, first in a special election, then in a regular election. You might remember, Roy, we covered that quite extensively on this program. Yes, we did. Some song— there was a lot of songs about that, a Sabina Kovo song, real catchy one at That was actually a Christian Ulver puppet, Sabina Kovo. And she was running against Damian Pardo and lost. And funny, the last time James Torres was here in the studio, you were here with Damian Pardo. It was between the general election and then the runoff, which was going to be between Pardo and Sabina Kovo. You and I were both supporting Pardo at that point. That is something that we have in common. We have a lot not in common. I didn't— I did not support you in either of your runs for commission. and we disagreed quite a bit on quite a lot.

But we did agree at that time that Damian Pardo was the best option in the runoff.

So we thought in 2023.

And since then, your appearance on this program, I would say, propelled Damian Pardo to victory by what, about 230 votes? 230. Against Sabina Kovo. It led to a criminal investigation of Sabina Kovo for bribery, which ended in no charges. I'm remiss to say she was exonerated because I read the closeout memo by the Broward County state attorney's office, who had to take over, by the way, Roy, the Miami-Dade state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, had to recuse herself because of conflict of interest because she was also represented by Christian Olbert. It's this incestuous cesspool of corruption. So Christian Olbert, who may have been a material witness, a potential accomplice, no one was sure at the time the investigation started. Kathy Rundle had to say, I can't investigate this because I'm be investigating my own political puppeteer here. So kicked it up to Broward, and Broward has the most ludicrous, incompetent public corruption division. I've— it makes Miami-Dade County State Attorney look like we have a public corruption unit. But they just— it's a woefully inadequate closeout memo. These are the same people that cleared Alex Diaz La Portilla and cleared Joe Carollo of corruption. So, you know, they are not sending their best at the Broward State Attorney's Office public corruption division.

But James, we are here because just last week— so, James, are you currently running for office?

I am not currently running for office, but I can tell you that every day that Damian Pardo sits there, I regret the fact that we put him in there.

So you turned on him quick, and I want to get to that. Sure. But what happened last week, Roy, is this: a PAC, a political committee tied to Damian Pardo, last Thursday and Friday started text blasting. I received it, and I don't live in the city, but I imagine people in District 2 received it, which is where Damian is the commissioner, where you previously ran theoretically against him before you supported him. But this PAC has been text blasting shit about James Torres, which, by the way, makes me a little jelly. Not gonna lie, no one's shit text blasting me, but it's a little wild because James isn't running for anything. He's basically a private citizen. He's a vocal private citizen who shows up to events. And, you know, we'll talk about the implications of this, but the first one came out Thursday, and they're stealing my shit, dude. It says, Miami, a sunny place for shady people. James Torres. And there you are, very unflattering, sinister-looking black and white photo, some clip art of a sun with sunglasses crying because it's a sunny place for shady people. It says, they say Miami's a sunny place for shady people.

James Torres, born and raised in Arizona, moved to sunny Miami to escape his shady criminal past. According to the Miami Herald, in March 2000, James Torres was charged with endangering the life and health of a minor and aggravated assault. Yes, you read that correctly. James Torres was charged with endangering the life and health. I'm not laughing because it's funny. I'm laughing because they're repeating themselves again. Life and health of a minor and aggravated assault. The same James Torres who claims to stand up for downtown residents was criminally charged with endangering the life of his child. So a third paragraph that mentions that. The next The next day, there was a second text blast with this artwork, similar message with different messaging. It says, James Torres running from his criminal past. It's got some AI art of you, the crying sun again with the sunglasses, a police car, and you running across the country from Arizona to Florida. I have to admit, I kind of dig this art. It says, everyone knows Miami attracts all kinds of people, including those trying to leave their criminal past behind. James Torres moved to Miami in an effort to move on from his criminal history, according to the Miami Herald.

And it's the same thing again that you were charged with, injuring the life and health of your child and aggravated assault in March of 2000. The same James Torres, who now presents himself as a voice for downtown residents, was previously charged, etc., etc., and says that you are just— Torres is just another self-serving, opportunistic Miami Politico hiding his criminal past from downtown Miami residents. I will tell you that when you ran for office, I asked you about this. I'll give you an opportunity to address the substance of the, the texts themselves, because it's not factually inaccurate, but I'll let you address that. But what I thought was interesting about it is the punching down. You are not arguably a political rival at the moment, and I'm not so much worried about you. You and me, we have thick skin. We can take it. But the chilling effect that this might have on free speech when you have a moneyed politician who has amassed a war chest, both not only from private donors and developers and lobbyists, but also he has not been spending his $2 million, correct, in district discretionary funds so that he can basically amass a taxpayer war chest for his reelection next year and start to legally make it rain on his constituents to buy their votes.

It's a really compelling thing, but I think it's wild that he's coming after you this way, which is why you're back on the show, mostly because I'm jealous. But, um, don't be jealous.

But first, let's answer the first thing that you're kind of— the substance, right, is of the arrest, the whole thing. When you look at the Miami Herald article, right, because after I received the endorsement, they called me and said, hey, we need to address this. And I addressed it front and center, right? Because you were endorsed by the Herald, is that right? That was endorsed by the Herald. So we addressed it, and at the end of the day, when you look at it, is, you know, that was, uh, quashed. You know, they did their research, they looked at it, and they addressed it.

But what does that mean though? It was quashed. You were arrested, right?

No, I wasn't arrested, and that's the beautiful thing about this thing, right? It was simply the fact that I was going through a very bad divorce My ex-wife decided to— any opportunity as she had, she would call the court system and/or the law authorities and say he's doing A, B, C, or D, right? And, you know, we finally got hauled into, um, into court in Maricopa County, and we addressed this, right? And the judge finally looked at it and said, look, you guys are disputing something that should not be disputed, right? Here's the issue. You have joint legal custody. Move on with life, right? So any accusation that she made is what she was doing. So that's it. So it was not an arrest?

What was it then? They say it was an arrest.

No, it was the issue that I was brought in. I was summoned to come into the court, and that was basically what it was, to address these allegations from your ex, sir. Correct. The only thing that I ever had that made an issue is where they claim false swearing, right? Because that's the other thing that came up, and I addressed that, is that the fact when I purchased the vehicle, I had window tinting in the vehicle vehicle in Arizona at the time, you needed to have a permit. I did not have the permit, and that's the way the vehicle was purchased. I was hauled into, um, the, uh, court system and had to pay a $185 fine. And all of this is well documented with the Miami Herald. If you look at the article, it was clearly addressed that at the end of the day, there's no there there.

So you're saying it wasn't an arrest, it was an accusation in a divorce proceeding?

Correct. And then I think— I find it interesting that if this was the case, why did Damian Pardo ask for my support to help him out if I'm such a bad guy, right?

Well, so why— so, so let's move on then. Why is he coming after you now? I mean, this was— this text blast went out at least twice on Thursday, then there was a new one on Friday of last week. So what is— why now? I mean, you, you turned on him early and quick, so talk about that. Why did you turn on him so quick after he took office, and why is he coming after you now? Flash forward, like, what, like 3 years 3 years later.

So before that, I realized who he was early on, right, in terms of, you know, his policies and procedures for the district. When we had conversations, there were things that we asked for as a community, which was basically, hey, help us out, pick up the phone, anything that we need, right? Where the straw broke the camel's back early on was the whole thing with Joe Carollo, that there was beef there as it relates to the park issue, the gym equipment. I don't know if you recall some of that. Oh, out here at Bayfront, right? Park, and Damian decided to go to, to Europe to go see the Euro Cup or whatever he went out to do over there. And I questioned him, and I'm like, these are two very important votes. You're going to allow Joe Carollo to take a vote, and all of a sudden we're not going to have a voice in this thing. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened, right? So it stemmed from that, right? And then it just kind of kept compiling, right? And where I look at it is the whole election scam that happened as well, that we're on the hook as taxpayers that were—

you mean last year? Another thing we covered on the show extensively last year, Damian Pardo tried to cancel cancel the 2025 election and postpone it to 2026, gifting himself and his colleagues an extra year in office in the process. Instead, it was challenged legally by Emilio Gonzalez, who was running for mayor of the city of Miami last year. He won. And then there were multiple appeals that the city took on. But we're paying for it, amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees that not only the taxpayers had to pay to defend disenfranchising themselves, but now the city has paid over $150,000 in attorney's fees to Emilio Gonzalez, his attorney, for prosecuting that case successfully against, against the city. So that's what you're just talking about.

And then you go into another thing, right? The assault on our tree canopy, right, in District 2. He's just been literally allowing all these things to happen in District 2 as it relates to the trees, right? Um, Help Me Howard— there was an article done by Help Me Howard that went to Morningside and literally called Damian Pardo out and said, "You said one tree when it's been thousands of trees that have been hacked throughout the entire district." So these things are close, near and dear to me personally, right? So I advocate for our community, and from time to time I go into other advocates and help them out as well on things that need to be done. And I think that's where this entire thing that Damian Pardo with Alex Miranda and everybody else that are ganging up and trying to create a false narrative.

Alex Miranda, I guess, runs that PAC or is involved. He's—

and now mind you, he also ran Damian Pardo's campaign. Right. He was tied to Ralph Rosado as well, right?

He was Damian Pardo's political consultant, I think, on both of his campaigns, and I imagine is going to be on his reelection campaign next year. I feel like there's a missing piece to the story here. I don't know what it is, but like, is it really just over gym equipment? You know, like two summers ago in—

I think it has a lot more to do with just the gym equipment. Is I'm very vocal, right? I'm very vocal. I champion ideas for our community and addressing things, and he has very thin skin. To me, he is the worst commissioner ever to take that position. Jesus. And on top of that, well, well, you know, you look at Joe Carollo, he makes Joe Carollo look like Mother Teresa. And let's look at that, right?

Let's talk about that, because Joe loves drag.

Well, that's between Joe and drag, right? But when you go to city commission, and you've been there several times before, and God forbid you mention Damian Pardo's name You tell me what happens there. It's called suppression, right? You experienced it, and those things are not right. He's unhinged.

It happens that we have that clip queued up, and I'd like to— I want to play it because I think it's important to what I was talking about earlier, which is that I'm less worried about— you're clearly not going to shut the fuck up because you're— this text blast went out last week and you are here talking about it, but I'm concerned the message that that sends to the rest of the community. Community who might not think that they have a voice or don't have as thick a skin, and they'll be like, well, if he's willing to send text blasts and punch down on a concerned citizen who's active, involved in government, maybe he'll do it to anybody. Take a look at my confrontation with Damian Pardo at a recent city commission meeting. Finally, I want to thank you, Chairwoman, for your new moderate take on the unreasonable ban on the public saying the names of public officials in public meetings. Sometimes you get complimented, sometimes you get criticized. But I think the flexibility is important and I appreciate it. And shame on you, sir, for trying to censor us and silence us today. I know there's a policy not to mention a commissioner's name specifically so they're not weaponized.

And I think, I think, I think that that should be followed. If that's the policy, you're living proof that you don't change the system. The system changes you. And the system has changed Still, it was pretty shocking to see a commissioner who, when he ran for office, we thought was going to be a voice of reason and sanity and accountability. And when he was sworn in, thank the activists, encourage us to keep staying involved, encourage us to keep coming and speaking up and speaking out. And he should have been the kind of guy who was against that policy. The, the city commission has this insane unconstitutional policy that you cannot use the name name of any individual commissioner or the mayor when you're talking about them. Now, of course, the enforcement of that is wildly selective, because if you're complimenting them, they don't say anything. And then if you're criticizing them, suddenly they're like, oh no, no, we had this rule. And like I said, it's wildly unconstitutional, has yet to be challenged, but should be. It's also at the county, uh, in Miami-Dade. It's also at the school board. It really, really needs the ACLU to to sue the shit out of these folks.

But Damian Pardo should have been the guy that came in and said, "We need to eliminate that policy." Instead, he's trying to use that policy as a force field to protect himself from public criticism, and now he's using his PAC to go after you. So what's going on here?

I can't really tell you what's going on, right? But when you look at it at face value, is we know there was a poll that was taken recently, and it showed him very unfavorable. And I think, you know, it's called holding him accountable, holding his hands to the fire. And I think that's important. I don't think any advocate should give up. I think the message should be very clear: if you come to a common goal on advocating, follow through. Call them out. He is not the reformer. He is not the reformer. And I keep saying that, and I push that. You go to my social media, you'll see that, you know, everything that he's done has not been for the better of our community. It's always been self-serving and self-interest for him. And that's the wrong thing because we should be able to take our government back and listen to government, right? And we're not doing that. And he's running, right?

James is running. You're totally right. So Damian Pardo is running. You've run for this seat twice in 2023. I mean, and then next year, 2027, Pardo is running for reelection. This is, this is, and you've been, everybody figured as soon as you turned on him early that, that you were gonna run against him in 2027. But this is a little early for him to start attacking you via text?

I think his whole objective, and this PAC's objective with these individuals, is to try to silence us, right? Anybody. But he's trying to do damage to you politically so you won't run against him next year? I think that's their mentality.

But you're going to run against him next year.

Well, what I'm going to say here, what I'm going to say here is once my decision is made, I will make that announcement with you personally on this show.

Well, I'll invite Damian here. I'll invite Sabina Kovo. Might as well. I'll invite Christian Over it, I'll invite— it'll be a whole, it'll be a whole party.

But you have to look at one thing too that, that's true to facts here, right, is he is not who we thought he was. You and I both pushed him over the edge to get to where he's at. He came across as that reformer, as that individual that wants to change the city, but instead he changed himself. Especially when you try to change an election, which is very unconstitutional, that's a problem. Now they're trying to do it yet again, as you know, right? So I understand those things, but I don't understand his unhingedness of trying to do things, Billy.

You'll remember last week, Roy, we had David Villano from the Coconut Grove Spotlight, and he said that they've contacted Damian Pardo's office 14 times in recent weeks or months with absolutely no response, and we're told that his office has a policy to not speak to the Coconut Grove Spotlight, which is one of his most important constituencies in his district. So I stand by what I said to him at that meeting, that you don't change the system, the system changes you. And he's certainly been a profound disappointment to all of us who thought he was going to be this anti-corruption crusader that he was elected to be. Everything he ran on, he sort of has done a shift. And I've been thinking, Roy, of doing like some mini-docs online about him called The Making of a Miami Mafioso. Uh-oh. Because if you want to understand like what happens to you once you get elected to office in this town, he is living proof. The how it started, how it's going. The videos of him running for office and after he was first elected as a real advocate for the people, and what he's been saying in like the last year and a half or so, I mean, it's like 180 degrees.

And I'll add this to the mix, uh, when we came to him on the Downtown Development Authority double taxation, the hostage tax, right, we pointed out all these inconsistencies of that specific agency, right? He turned his back on us, right, where we provided proof and documentation that Downtown Brickell are the only places in the entire city of Miami where you're paying an additional tax levy.

He's running, right? He's totally running.

But think about it. Think about it. When you bring something to a commissioner to address it, because as 60 years that this tax has been implemented, and he's the biggest cheerleader to the DDA, along with Ralph Rosado.

You've opened up a whole other can of worms that we'll have to get to at another time, but I will say I think it's important that when you are a representative representative, that the people you represent set the agenda. Correct. And if you come to him with an issue that's not on his agenda, he is not interested. And that's not true.

You're going to get a text. You're going to get it.

You're going to get a text blast about you. James Torres, president of Miami's Downtown Neighbors Alliance. I feel like this is just the beginning of this conversation. James, he's running. He's totally running, isn't he? Yeah, don't kind of—

kind of, you know, there's a couple of elections coming up. Oh wow. You know, there's the Gavela issue, there's the Pardo-Gonzalo issue.

All these cans, holy shit, all these cans are about to crack tomorrow.

I think you're going to see, quote unquote, a regime change there in next November.

He's looking at the one-termers, a lot of one-termers there on the dais. In the words of Pastor Gregory Thompson, one term, one term. James, thanks for being here. Look forward to having you back again with Sabina Kovo and Christian Ulverd and Damian Pardo. Higgins. Can't wait. Eileen Higgins. Can't wait. Cocaine.