Campaign Finance Documents Show $10,000 Political Donation After A Flipped Vote Endangering The Everglades
Miami-Dade County’s Urban Development Boundary (UDB) is a border that was put in place in 1983 to minimize urban sprawl and traffic, while protecting the Everglades and the county’s dwindling farmland. The Boundary is praised by environmentalists and community planners, with the low density areas outside it recharging our drinking water aquifer and endangering decades-long investments to restore the Everglades and Biscayne Bay.
So it took developers Stephen Blumenthal and Jose Hevia five tries in 2022, but in the end they won approval for their controversial proposal to build the “South Dade Logistics & Technology District” outside Miami-Dade County’s Urban Development Boundary. Blumenthal, principal of Coral Gables-based Coral Rock Development, and Hevia, president of Miami-based Aligned Real Estate Holdings, progressively won over county commissioners by tweaking plans and sweetening the proposal.
Miami-Dade’s charter requires a two-thirds supermajority vote of the commission to move the Urban Development Boundary. Normally, that would mean 9 out of 13 votes. After Gov. Ron Desantis suspended Commissioner Joe Martinez in September 2022 due to pending bribery charges, Miami-Dade county lawyers determined that a supermajority could be achieved with just 8 votes.
Commissioner Raquel Regalado, the former school board member and scion of the Regalado political dynasty, made headlines when she flipped her vote in November 2022 from initially opposing moving the UDB to a vote in favor of building on the sensitive land outside of the UDB.
New campaign finance records reveal the large donations the development companies, Coral Rock, and Aligned Real Estate Holdings, and their principal lobbyist, Jeffrey Bercow of Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin + Tapanes, made in the wake of the vote to move the UDB.
Initial Support for the UDB in September 2022
Raquel Regalado initially positioned herself as a defender of the Urban Development Boundary. In public statements and votes, she emphasized the importance of maintaining the boundary to protect Miami-Dade’s vulnerable ecosystems from urban sprawl. In fact, in her own words, she said, “The way that this application was presented at first, in my view, was a complete abomination.”
In a vote in September 2022, Commissioner Regalado posted on Facebook, “I voted no today to moving Miami-Dade County's urban development boundary (UDB). As a staunch advocate for our environmentally endangered lands, I urged my fellow Commissioners to increase funding to buy, restore, and preserve our EEL properties. Natural resources are part of our County infrastructure and should be protected.”
With her no vote in September, the approval failed 7-5 (it needed 8 votes to secure a supermajority). Other commissioners voting no: René Garcia, Sally Heyman, Danielle Cohen Higgins, Eileen Higgins. Commissioner Jean Monestime, who had voted against the project in the spring, voted yes at the September meeting, saying he wasn’t convinced by planning staff that land was available inside the UDB to accommodate the industrial space Blumenthal and Hevia want to build.
However, even though the developers did not have the required supermajority to approve the project, they only needed a simple majority to delay the final vote, giving them time to tweak their proposal, which they did over five times over the course of the year.
“If we really are concerned about the environment and the final outcome, I think we have to give applicants as much time as possible to state their case,” Regalado said before voting for the deferral. “If we don’t want to move the line, we don’t move the line.”
The First Major Shift: November 2022
In November 2022, the developers finally succeeded, and the Miami-Dade County Commission made headlines by voting to expand the UDB, a decision that overrode a veto from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. This vote was significant because it represented a major policy shift that many believed would pave the way for increased development in previously protected areas.
“This is the wrong project at the wrong location,” Lauren Jonaitis, conservation director for the Tropical Audubon Society, told commissioners during more than two hours of public comments before the vote.
Regalado, who had previously supported the UDB, voted in favor of the expansion, surprising many of her constituents and colleagues by flipping her vote.
Backlash and Justifications
Following the vote, Regalado faced substantial backlash from environmental groups and concerned citizens. Critics accused her of bowing to development pressures and disregarding the environmental impact of her decision. In her defense, Regalado argued that the expansion was necessary for economic growth and that it included provisions to mitigate environmental damage. She emphasized the need for balanced development that considers both ecological and economic factors.
The lead lobbyist for the project, Jeffrey Bercow, argued that “Demand in Miami-Dade County is showing no sign of slowing down. Asking rental rates are the highest ever recorded,” said Jeffrey Bercow, a lead lawyer and lobbyist for the development team.
The Financial Connection: April 2023
Campaign finance records show that on April 28, 2023, the law firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes LLC, which lobbied for this project, made a $10,000 contribution to Regalado’s political committee, "Citizens for Excellence in Miami-Dade County Government."
This is after the firm had already made a $5,000 donation to the same committee a year earlier on March 7, 2022.
And in the final days of her race to win the commission seat in 2020, the firm donated $2,500 to her political committee and $500 to her candidate committee, both donations occurring on October 29, 2020.
The donations that Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes report from the six months after the UDB vote are:
- Nov. 2022: $4,000 to “Transparency and Accountability for Miami”
- Dec. 2022: $5,000 to “Beautify Grove Miami”
- March 2023: $5,000 to “New Dade”
- March 2023: $1,000 to Daniella Levine Cava
- April 2023: $5,000 to “South Florida Vision” on 4/24/2023
- April 2023: $10,000 to “Citizens for Excellence in Miami-Dade County Government”
- May 2023: $5,000 to “South Florida Vision” 5/19/2023
- (South Florida Vision had already given Raquel Regalado’s political committee a $7,500 donation on 8/19/2022 and another $5,000 donation on 1/31/2022.)
(Explore Raquel Regalado’s campaign finance data here).
A Tangled Web
The donations from the lobbying firm raise serious questions about the integrity of Regalado’s vote and whether financial contributions influenced her decision-making.
Raquel Regalado’s journey regarding the Miami-Dade UDB is a complex tale of political maneuvering, environmental concerns, and financial influences. Her initial support for the boundary, followed by a pivotal vote to expand it and subsequent financial contributions from interested parties, highlights the role of influential law firms and the unlimited checks they are write to political committees affiliated with the politicians they are lobbying. As Miami-Dade continues to grapple with the challenges of growth and conservation, the actions and motivations of its leaders remain under close scrutiny.
Sources:
- Local10. "Miami-Dade Commissioners Override Mayor’s Veto of Urban Development Boundary Expansion." November 15, 2022. Local10 News
- CBS News Miami. "Miami-Dade Commission Votes to Move Urban Development Boundary; Mayor Levine Cava Not Happy." CBS News Miami
- “Miami-Dade commission OKs project that critics say threatens Everglades restoration” November 2, 2022. Miami Herald
- Miami-Dade commissioners vote against project extending Urban Development Boundary - WSVN 7News September 22, 2022
- “Incredible land grab”: Miami-Dade OKs project outside UDB, The Real Deal, November 1, 2022
- Florida Governor Suspends Joe Martinez After Miami-Dade Commissioner’s Arrest NBC 6, September 20, 2022
- In quest to move the UDB, developers get multiple chances to win final vote, October 17, 2022, Miami Herald