It’s common belief in newsrooms across the globe that when covering a campaign, the clearest path through the forest of political rhetoric, promises, smiles, handshakes and kissed babies is the money trail.

Second-quarter campaign finance sheets for the 14 candidates running for four of the seven Miami Beach City Commission Seats in the Nov. 6 election were due July 10, usually covering fundraising activities from April 1 to June 30. According to these reports, campaign accounts have swelled to more than $1.05 million so far. (And that’s not counting the $1.8 million mayoral candidate Raphael Herman claims to have loaned and then repaid himself.) Ironically, the annual base salary of the mayor is only $10,000; for a commissioner it’s $6,000 a year.

The maximum allowable contribution per person, organization, corporation or other such entity is $500. But say a person really believes in a particular candidate and wants to give more. There’s an easy way. Just get your wife, kids, mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, companies, employees, employees’ families and so on down the line to each write $500 checks, and presto, the sky’s the limit.

Below is a SunPost analysis of who gave how much to which candidates. The candidates appear in alphabetical order within their respective seats. To personally review the campaign reports, log on to miamibeachfl.gov/newcity/cityhall/election.asp.

 

MAYOR

 

Four candidates are in the race to sit in termed-out Mayor David Dermer’s seat. They are Commissioner Matti Herrera Bower, Commissioner Simon Cruz, ex-Israeli soldier Raphael Herman, and Charles Smatt, a man with long white hair and beard famous for hanging a banner that offended the local gay community and many of his Alton Road neighbors.

Bower has deposited a total of $42,806 in her campaign account. Of that, $19,730 was collected in the second quarter; $100 came from personal loans. She has been given $1,000 in the form of in-kind contributions, consisting of a kick-off party from the National Hotel back on March 31 valued at $500 and $500 worth of stamps from Miami Beach secretary Marie Hernandez.

Bower was first elected to her current commission Seat 6 in November 1999, and is termed-out. “We have shown that money isn’t everything,” an upbeat-sounding Bower told the SunPost. “I feel very confident that the voters will recognize that my special interests are the residents.”

The majority of Bower’s contributions are small checks from individual residents. She does have about $3,500 from parking interests, $3,000 of which comes from New York-based companies connected with Jacob “Hank” Sopher. Sopher, who also owns Quik Park, ran against Cruz for his commission seat back in 2003 and lost. Another $1,500 came from waste management companies.

Cruz is president and CEO of Plus International Bank. He is termed-out of his Group 4 commission seat to which he was first elected in 1999. He has gathered a total of $284,229.48 in monetary contributions. Of that amount, $132,030 was collected between April 1 and June 30. He’s also received $499.48 worth of in-kind donations (from Key Biscayne attorney Robert Fernandez) and hasn’t loaned his campaign any money.

Cruz has received at least $36,000 from doctors, board members and associates of Mount Sinai Hospital, which is examining the possible sale of Miami Heart Institute. In response, the city, at the request of Commissioner Saul Gross (who is not running this year) and Mid-Beach neighbors nervous about overdevelopment, is examining Miami Heart’s future zoning should it cease being a medical facility.

“I signed on for health care; I did not sign on for a real estate deal,” Cruz said at the July 11 City Commission meeting when fighting the perception that he is beholden to Mount Sinai’s interest.

Cruz has also received at least $4,500 from Russell Galbut and his companies.

Most of the rest of his contributions come from real estate, construction and management interests.

Herman’s campaign reports show that he has moved a tremendous amount of personal money in and out of his campaign account, leaving his coffers with $18,091.04. He declared $9,110 of in-kind donations, all from himself, in the form of flag poles and American flags.

As he did in the first quarter, Herman has continued to lend his campaign chunks of money, and then pay himself back. He hasn’t received a dime in contributions. Herman could not be reached for comment.

Smatt, who officially declared his candidacy on July 6, does not show any money in his campaign account. — B.T.

 

GROUP 4

 

After appearing much more even at the end of the first quarter, Luis Salom has pulled out ahead of Jonah Wolfson in fundraising to fill the seat being vacated by termed-out mayoral hopeful Cruz.

Salom has deposited $165,023.10 into his campaign account. Personal loans account for $25,000 of that total. He collected $71,830 in the second quarter and $3,878.10 worth of in-kind contributions.

Salom, whose campaign signs are highly visible on lawns and in front of businesses from South Beach all the way north, has collected money from a wide range of residents and businesses from Miami Beach and across the county. He also got $3,000 from developer Howard Galbut in the first quarter. But it’s the $10,000 he collected from developer and outspoken Mount Sinai hospital board member Michael Adler that stands out.

Salom said that his donors associated with Mount Sinai are people he grew up with in Miami Beach and has known for years.

“I don’t have any problem standing up to Mount Sinai, or for that matter, any special interest,” Salom told the SunPost. “Any special interest that thinks they can fund a campaign to get a vote, I’m the wrong guy to do it with.”

Salom, a Republican, takes issue with what he sees as Wolfson “trying to make this a partisan race.”

“My biggest supporters are staunch, hard-core democrats like Sen. Gwen Margolis and Michael Adler,” Salom said.

Wolfson has collected a total of $121,244.50 in monetary contributions. Personal loans account for $66,466.50. He received monetary donations of $19,485 in the second quarter and declared $7,977.14 worth of in-kind donations.

Most of Wolfson’s second-quarter contributions were less than the maximum of $500. The majority came from attorneys.

Despite falling behind Salom in fundraising, Wolfson said his campaign is going fantastically and that he’ll have more than enough money to get his message out.

“If money was the only thing that mattered, [State] Sen. [Alex] Villalobos wouldn’t be serving the people again,” Wolfson told the SunPost.

Wolfson has the support of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Teamsters Local No. 769 and Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Joe Garcia. — B.T.

 

GROUP 5

 

This year, Group 5 is the only race in which an incumbent is defending his seat — not from one challenger, but two. The incumbent: Michael Gongora, an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, who was elected in November 2006 to complete the last year of Commissioner Luis Garcia’s term. (Garcia was elected to Florida’s House of Representatives.) The challengers: Ivor Rose, best known for owning the Coral Rock House at 900 Collins Ave., and Edward Tobin, a partner with the law firm of Ratner and Tobin.

Rose filed to run for commissioner back in July 2006 — four months prior to Gongora’s election. Yet his campaign account consists of $100 he loaned to himself and an in-kind contribution from Miami Beach artist Dena Stewart: an election sign valued at $200. In the second quarter, he raised no money and filed a waiver report.

Tobin, on the other hand, officially entered the race on June 12 of this year. However, he already has a campaign treasure chest of $95,400. Of that amount, $40,000 was loaned from Tobin to his campaign. No in-kind contributions are listed.

A huge chunk of the monetary contributions comes from the address of 1800 Sunset Harbour Suite 2, an office located behind the Sunset Harbour Condominium, which is shared by Oded Kaiser’s Ocean View Realty, property owner Fred Karlton and the law firm of Ratner and Tobin. According to campaign records, $2,500 was contributed from Karlton, his companies and his family; $1,000 was given by Kaiser Oded and Ocean View; another $2,500 was given by Ratner, his wife and family and his company, 5th Street Associates.

Other large cash blocks included $11,500 from James Goldsmith and his companies, including the North Miami Beach-based Gator Realty and Management; $5,000 from Gumenick Family Investment; $2,500 from Phillip Levine of Onboard Media and his various companies; $2,500 from property owners Fryd Family Associates; and $2,500 from contractor and property manager Scott Robins.

Tobin said the big contributors to his campaign are his personal friends. He said he grew up with Karlton and Robins, that philanthropist Randy Gumenick (whose family donated a building to Mount Sinai Medical Center) is the godfather to one of his children, that he’s known Goldsmith for the last 30 years and Levine is the sort of man “you would want to be in a foxhole with.”

Tobin, who describes himself as a “nonpolitician” who wants Miami Beach to “evolve as a city,” said many of those who contributed to his campaign would have given generously no matter who he was running against. But Tobin, a vocal critic of Gongora’s attempt to circumvent the “certain appearances prohibited” ordinance so that his law firm could appear before city boards, said many in the community “supported my choice of who I am running against.”

Gongora, on the other hand, said that the backing Tobin is receiving from his friends is “honorable.” He said that the $118,351.28 money he raised, $45,075 of which was in the second quarter, comes from a variety of people. “I really don’t have many bundled checks compared to my opponent,” Gongora said. “… [Some of] the checks are as low as $5.”

Gongora, though, did receive more than $5,000 from companies owned by developer Russell Galbut. Gongora also got $4,500 from property owner James Cavanaugh and his companies. Gongora said both men know him from his days as president of the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce. Gongora said Galbut also respected him for his work on the Beach’s Zoning Board of Adjustments and the Design Review Board.

Gongora loaned $50,000 of his own money to his campaign; refreshments valued at $477 from The Shore Club and $410 from the Harrison Hotel were also donated. — E.B.

 

GROUP 6

 

With five candidates running and no incumbents to speak of, Group 6 is arguably the most competitive race this election.

At the top of the funding raised is accountant Deede Weithorn, who ran last year against Gongora. Total campaign chest thus far: $67,523, of which $39,023 was raised in the second quarter. Of the total, $50,000 was loaned from Weithorn herself. Other contributors spanned the gamut of various professions from accountants and lawyers to doctors and retirees. However, garbage hauler Ben Bush and his partners contributed $3,000. Fryd Family Associates also kicked in $1,500.

Elsa Urquiza, a former EEOC employee who also ran against Gongora in 2006, has the second-largest campaign chest in the race with $65,325, of which $15,325 was raised in the second quarter and $50,000 was loaned by Urquiza. Parking companies kicked in $2,000. Developer Russell Galbut gave $2,500.

Frank Kruszewski, a Realtor and president of the Sunset Harbour South Condominium Association, gathered $50,315, of which $8,945 was raised in the second quarter and $21,050 was loaned by Kruszewski. Sunset Harbour Condominium residents kicked in $6,700 in contributions ranging from $10 to $500.

Linda Grosz’s campaign account totaled $40,375 as of the second quarter, with $6,175 raised during that period. She also loaned her own campaign $25,000 and received a $500 in-kind contribution from The Shore Club for a fundraiser. A past vice president of the Venetian Islands Homeowners Association, she gathered $3,250 from those who listed addresses on DiLido or Rivo Alto drives. A Realtor, Grosz nevertheless received $2,425 from individuals who claimed “M.D.” or dentist as a profession. Grosz also raised plenty of funds from individuals and businesses that listed Coral Gables or South Miami-Dade addresses: at least $3,000. Lawyer James Ferraro gave $1,500 through himself and his companies.

Michael Stern, who co-owns the partially demolished historic Coral Rock House at 900 Collins Ave. with his uncle Ivor Rose, has so far raised no money. During the second quarter he filed a waiver. — E.B.

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