In Miami-Dade District 12 race, Doral mayor faces self-funded bid by ousted commissioner

The race to succeed Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz pits one of the longest serving mayors in the county against an ousted former city commissioner who has spent nearly $900,000 of her own money pursuing a political comeback.

Sophia Lacayo lost her Sweetwater commission seat in 2020 after pleading guilty to perjury over a room she claimed she had rented to meet the city’s residency requirements for holding office.

Now she’s self-funding a race for the District 12 seat being vacated by the term-limited Diaz, spending more than $875,000 in personal funds or money from companies she owns. That represents about 95% of the $907,000 raised by her campaign.

The other candidate in the race, four-term Doral Mayor Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez, has raised more than $875,000 from donors.

“I have no choice but to raise a lot,” Bermudez said. “Because my opponent has so much money.”

The only two-person race for the Miami-Dade commission this year, the District 12 contest offers a test of how much political experience will matter in an area that’s been the source of multiple flare-ups with county government.

Last year, Doral fought an annexation plan to let Sweetwater take 1,200 acres of commercial property that Doral wanted, too. Miami-Dade commissioners approved the Sweetwater annexation.

Diaz this year helped the largest city in District 12, Hialeah, prevail in opening a shuttered overpass connecting to the other side of Interstate 75, a move opposed by Miami Lakes in District 13 next door.

On July 19, county commissioners took a surprise vote to keep the county-owned incinerator plant in Doral, where neighbors complain of smell and traffic from the facility run by the Covanta company.

District 12 stretches from the Dolphin Expressway to the Broward County line, with the Palmetto Expressway to the east and the Everglades to the west. Along with Doral, the district overlaps with Hialeah, Medley and Sweetwater.

The population of about 225,000 is 89% Hispanic, according to a November county report related to the commission’s redistricting process.

With two candidates matching each other’s spending ahead of the Aug. 23 election, the contest is awash in placards, advertising and events.

“They’re spending so much money,” said Rafael Pineyro, a business consultant who tried to unseat Diaz in 2012 and now is seeking a spot on the Doral council. “Everywhere you look, it’s either ‘JC’ or ‘Sophia.’ ”

Sophia Lacayo

Lacayo, 44 and the owner of a tax-preparation business and other companies, is running as an outsider, touting “New Ideas” and “New Leadership” in campaign mailers.

“Unfortunately, some people claim to be public servants but never come down from their ivory towers to participate with the community and, therefore, don’t understand our residents’ needs,” she said on her campaign website.

She said she wants to increase funding for affordable housing in the county, and expand Miami-Dade’s existing “Mom and Pop” small-business grant program.

“I intend to work closely with my colleagues and the private sector to make the county government a true partner to small businesses,” she said on the website.

While not an accountant herself, Lacayo owns and supervises tax-preparation and accounting businesses, and also owns an insurance company, according to her 2019 interview with state investigators in the perjury case.

Between 2016 and 2019, courts issued about $350,000 in judgments against Lacayo Trade Group, the Doral company that owns her Solasi tax-preparation business. The Solasi website shows seven locations in the Miami area, along with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

The litigation from six civil suits alleged debts for an American Express credit card, rented business equipment, commercial loans and legal bills defending against an employee’s claim of unpaid overtime and lost wages. Court records show five of the cases settled, with litigation ongoing for the sixth case.

In 2020 and 2021, Lacayo companies qualified for a combined $1 million in forgivable federal loans from the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program, according to a Pro Publica database. “Because of that money, I was able to keep my companies open and not let go of ANY employees,” Lacayo said of the PPP loans in an email Monday.

Her financial disclosure form filed in June depicts lucrative businesses. She earned $900,000 from Lacayo Trade Group and four other companies sharing the same Doral address. She estimated a net worth of $24 million, most of it tied to the book value of her companies and real estate holdings.

That includes the five-bedroom house in Doral where she lives, purchased by her Lacayo Real Estate Group for $2.8 million last fall.

The mother of two children from a previous marriage, Lacayo last year married Nelson Rubio, a well-known broadcaster in Miami who recently left Radio Mambí for Americano Media. He has promoted Lacayo and criticized Bermudez on his programs.

Lacayo won her Sweetwater seat as the city’s first Nicaraguan-American commissioner, galvanizing that community in her successful campaign unseating incumbent Manuel Duasso and defeating a former commissioner in that race.

Lizzet Martinez, a Miami-Dade County judge, administered the oath of office for Lacayo on June 3, 2019, saying she was a candidate “who I witnessed work tirelessly in her campaign trail so that she can stand here today.”

Lacayo agreed to speak to a Miami Herald reporter at a recent campaign event, answering the first question in Spanish after an aide translated it from English. Asked if she could answer in English, Lacayo said, “I speak English very well” but declined to continue, saying the event was private and not the time for an interview.

Lacayo also requested state investigators question her in Spanish in 2019 in an investigation of allegations she didn’t meet Sweetwater’s two-year residency requirement ahead of that year’s city election.

Investigators determined Lacayo lied when she said she had been renting a room from a Sweetwater family nine months before the election. The owner told police Lacayo never lived in her home.

Her plea agreement spared Lacayo from a guilty verdict, imposing a one-year probation, $3,750 in fees, and a requirement that she resign her Sweetwater seat.

Juan Carlos ‘JC’ Bermudez

Doral’s founding mayor in 2003, Bermudez, 60, comes to the race after years as a local leader on county and municipal issues. He’s in his second stint as president of the Miami-Dade League of Cities and serves as vice-chairman of the county’s Transportation Planning Organization, which oversees federal transit and road funds.

Bermudez has endorsements from his fellow mayors of the District 12 cities: Hialeah’s Esteban “Steve” Bovo; Hialeah Gardens’ Yioset De La Cruz; Medley’s Roberto Martell; and Sweetwater’s Orlando Lopez.

Diaz, a former Sweetwater mayor, hasn’t endorsed anyone in the race.

The incumbent commissioner fought with Bermudez on multiple county issues. That includes annexation attempts by Doral that Diaz opposed, and Diaz’s efforts to build a replacement incinerator in the same Doral location as the current one.

Bermudez said the incinerator is the top concern for Doral residents, and he plans to push for Miami-Dade to consider other sites if he’s elected.

“I would like to have all sites considered, to see what decision is best for Miami-Dade County,” Bermudez said. “I certainly would like a process where options were analyzed.”

Bermudez was active in the 1990s in the effort to form a city in the growing suburban area then under county control.

He served nine years as mayor after his first election in 2003 before term limits under the new charter forced him to leave. Unhappy with his replacement, Luigi Boria, Bermudez ran again in 2016 and won. He’s now in his fourth term as mayor, and there’s a special election in November for a replacement.

Born in Cuba and the father of three children, Bermudez reported $205,000 in income this year, half from his salary as mayor and half from his law practice. His wife, Vivian, is a special education teacher.

As Doral’s mayor, he’s on friendly terms with the owner of the city’s largest hotel: former President Donald Trump. Trump was a donor to Bermudez’s Committee for Responsibility in Government PAC during past mayoral campaigns. Bermudez said he last spoke to Trump earlier this year as the former president began the process of seeking city approval for residential towers at his Trump Doral golf resort.

Bermudez criticized Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s 2023 budget lowering property-tax rates by 1%, calling it too modest. On moving the Urban Development Boundary, which divides farm land from suburban development, Bermudez said he wants a broad look at when to expand development west and south rather than deciding as individual projects make their requests.

He said he was glad commissioners watered down a proposal to force cities to rewrite zoning rules to allow apartment and condo buildings near county transit lines, saying mid-rise development needs to be more strategically placed.

“We also have a shortage of single-family homes. Let’s be realistic,” he said in an interview. “You have to have a variety of products.”

After 15 years as mayor, Bermudez said he’s proud of Doral having one of the lowest property-tax rates in the county and of the city’s expansive park system.

“The thing I’m proudest of is creating community,” he said. “Today people are very proud of being Doral residents.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2022 at 3:12 PM.