The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Mayoral Clown Car

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Everyone's running for mayor of Miami...including Joe Carollo yet again. Steve Leidner, Conservation Chair of the Miami Sierra Club, as well as one of the Miami mayoral candidates Ken Russell, joins Billy Corben to talk about the race and the building of a trash incinerator. Plus, Elijah Manley is running for U.S. representative out of the Congressional district that houses the city of Miramar. He comes on to earn Roy's vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Here I am. One battle after. another now playing only in theaters experiencing in iMacs all right we have some breaking news just into our newsroom miami city commissioner joy corroyo has entered the race for mayor of miami he has served as the city's mayor twice before already the last time being in 2001 it's a crowded field of people vying to be mayor of miami 13 candidates have qualified the miami mayoral election will take place in november 4th the current mayor francis forres as is term limited.

You know, the clown car is complete. We've got 13 candidates for mayor of Miami in an election that is really underway, like in a matter of weeks, vote by mail, go out in like October 7th or October 8th and the election of course is first Tuesday in November and Miami will have a new mayor on the upside Francis Suarez is term limited out after 16 years consecutively in office, eight as city commissioner, eight as a mayor, just absolutely put Miami into the ground economically with respect to, I don't know, everybody who lives in Miami except for if you're a client of Francis Suarez,

because he has over two dozen outside hustles and gigs. But at the risk of burying the lead, I don't think we did. This is on your little Twitter account, little Billy. Joe Corroyo is running for mayor again. Oh, God. I mean, Joe Corroyo, who was the youngest city commissioner in the history of Miami in 1979, is now going to be mad. The last time he was mayor, it was havoc.

I mean, the riots in the street, city leaders getting fired for out of political retaliation, him, of course, getting arrested for domestic violence because and now it might be happening all over again. It's like the Joker running for mayor of Gotham City. And he is not alone in this town where we do not recycle our trash. We reelect it. Also, running for office is Francis Suarez's father. Yes, who was also the mayor twice before in the city of Miami. These dynastic, multigenerational political crime families we have here, Xavier Suarez. Xavier Suarez became the city's first Cuban-born mayor in 1985.

Miami's first Cuban-born mayor. The first Cuban-born mayor. The first Cuban-American mayor. The city's first Cuban-born mayor. The first Cuban-born mayor of Miami. The first Cuban-born mayor of Miami. Now, 40 years later, he's running again. I don't know if you heard, but he was the first Cuban-born mayor in the city of Miami.

Should I play it again? No, no, I'm good at it. So here's the crazy thing about it. He was the first Cuban-born mayor mayor in Miami in 1985. But 13 years later, the last thing he did as mayor of Miami in 1998 was get removed from office for voter fraud. A Florida appeals court has ruled that 5,000 fraudulent absentee ballots cast in the November 4th mayoral election for Mayor Xavier Suarez should not be counted, swinging the election in Joe Corroyo's favor and returning Corroyo to office. We proved what everyone in Miami knew that these elections were won would mask of absentee ballot fraud. Yes, that's right. The 1997 Miami mayoral election was Corollio versus Suarez, or Suarez versus Corollio.

Suarez won, but then in 1998, after a lot of litigation, Joe Corroyo was installed into office as mayor by a judge because of excessive absentee voter fraud, which included Manny Ipp and his buddies down at the cemetery, as Carl Hyacson called them, a bunch of dead people, super voters, but dead voting in Miami. A lot of Trump's sort of mythology and demagoguery about election fraud stem out of the 1997 mayoral election, one of the most corrupt and fraud. in the history of the United States of America, or Miami, for that matter. Only in the Banana Republic, baby. Only in Miami. And it's all just a little bit of history repeating. And which even crazier, Roy, is that before Joe Corroyo was the District 3 commissioner for eight years, his younger brother, Frank Corroyo, was the District 3 commissioner for the eight years

immediately prior. And guess, now that Joe Corroyo was term limited out as commissioner and is running for mayor, guess who's running for commissioner? Frank Coroio. So, I mean... I was just guessing there. I just, God, I love the show. And this is going to prove to be the craziest season ever.

You know who else is running for mayor? Who's that bill? We had her on the show last week, Eileen Higgins, and this is what she had to say. You were quoted as having said that you would not meet with the Sierra Club as long as they employed Ken Russell, the former Miami City Commissioner, and one of your opponents for mayor. I did not say that. Now, I did not. Were you joking? Might you have said it in jest?

I don't think so. I don't think so. Matter of fact, I think Ken's put out a video saying that that was not true. Steve Leidner is the conservation chair for the Miami Sierra Club. He is joining us now. Steve, Eileen Higgins says you're a liar. What do you say? Well, I say that I stand by what I heard her say, which is that she would not meet with me

or anyone from Sierra Club as long as Ken was in our employee. So that's what you do you remember. remember where she told you and when she told you that? It was at a quarterly meeting or the Miami Climate Alliance. It was at the Dade Public Library, downtown public library at their meeting site. So you know exactly when and exactly where this happened. And she's saying it didn't happen. She doesn't remember if she said it in jest.

Might she have said it in jest? I didn't take it that way. And I want to recant my answer. It actually was at the Miami-Dade, one of their meeting rooms. I forget what building. I think building, too. It wasn't at Miami-Dade Public Library. But no, I didn't think she said it in Jess.

Okay, let's assume, let's give her the benefit of the doubt, though. Let's say she did say it in Jester. Did she meet with the Sierra Club? No, she did not say it in Jess. She was serious. No, she never did meet with me. I wanted to discuss her vote in favor of incineration, which she has been a consistent proponent of date county moving forward building an incinerator so i want to talk about that in just a

moment but first roy you remember at the end of that clip eileen higgins candidate for city of miami mayor and now it turns out possible liar she might have sat right here in this studio and lied to my face but i've got the kind of face you can lie to so i can appreciate that but at the end there you notice what she said she said that ken russell put out a video saying that this didn't happen. So I didn't know what video she was talking about, but here's that video. No, Commissioner Eileen Higgins did not get me fired from Sierra Club. What she did was not very cool or terribly ethical, but it does not rise to the level of Joe Corroyo corruption. But let me go into this, this false accusation that she got me fire. I was a contractor.

I have a small consulting company. I was working on political strategy with Sierra Club to help get cities in Miami-Dade County as well as Miami-Dade County away from. from building the garbage incinerator. And we were successful with many things, but the County Commission, including Commissioner Higgins, voted to build the incinerator. And when the Sierra Club principles talk to Commissioner Higgins about this, she said, I would be glad to sit down with you

and talk about the incinerator once Ken Russell is no longer involved. She did not use the words, get rid of Ken Russell. When Sierra Club brought this to me, I resigned immediately, told them I didn't want to cause them any drama or difficulty in their efforts. They didn't accept my resignation, but my contract was organically ending at the end of July, just a few weeks later. So we finished out the contract. It did not renew. It's not to say that it would have renewed but for Commissioner Higgins, but her pressure was not appropriate. I don't think anyone should limit access to their office based on political opposition, et cetera, things like that. Ken Russell is joining us as well. He is a candidate for City of Miami Mayor running against Joe Corroyo, Xavier Suarez, Hylene Higgins, and the rest of the clown car.

Oh, I didn't mention Alex Diaz La Portia, remember him, got arrested a couple years ago and was removed from office for money laundering and bribery charges that were later somehow dropped. He's running as well. How many mugshots do we have in this race, man? But Ken Russell, former city commissioner as well and former, as it turns out, Sierra Club lobbyist, that video doesn't quite say or deny or disprove what it is that I think Eileen Higgins was trying to mislead me to believe, no? No, she misled you that she didn't get me fired. What she didn't say is that she tried. So she wasn't successful as what she should have said to video set. What you're saying is she didn't get me fired, but she did in fact say what she said

or you did in fact understand or believe that she effectively threatened the Sierra Club to say that as long as, by the way, same thing Joe Corroyo did to a lot of the tenants of the ball and chain owners, the property owners, Bill Fuller and Martin Pania on a coyote, saying like, hey, as long as your tenants of these guys, we're not going to help you or we're going to try to shut you down. I mean, that was the same thing Eileen Higgins was saying, was saying like, yeah, as long as you employ Ken Russell, you're not going to get a meeting or access to me. You still believe that happened.

I know that it happened because I believe Stephen. And what I further believe is that Sierra Club ethically never considered firing me. I offered to resign, but what's more important is that they realized she is not ever going to come around on this issue because of her compromised position and the money she's received from FPL. They are a massive bidder on this incinerator, and she's never going to come. She was on her show saying she is not open to listening to the other side. So my employment was Sierra Club, and I still help them, you know, completely off book and just happy to be available as a resource, because this issue is so important for Miami-Dade. County, you know, how our garbage is handled. And to build the country's largest garbage incinerator that would be a massive producer of carbon emissions and put it potentially in the

average. It's so many bad things. What's most important is her vote is what's important, not how she treated me. That's all rough and tumble in politics, and we can handle that. So, Steve, let's talk about this, because this is a multi-billion dollar deal of great consequence economically, environmentally. As Ken Russell just said, we're talking about building an incinerator to burn billions of tons of trash, possibly in ecologically sacred areas. Also, show of hands, everybody out there. How many of you know a trans athlete? None of you do.

It affects none of your lives. Let me ask you this. How many of you have trash? Throw out trash. Go to a trash shoot to throw your trash out into a dumpster. Drag your trash can out to the curb, you know, twice a week, three times a week, to have your trash picked up. This is an issue that affects 100% of us.

So while it may not sound sexy, let's be clear, there are billions of dollars of your tax money at stake. There is the future of our planet, our clean water supply here in South Florida, as we continue to grow by leaps and bounds, I would say, in an unsustainable way. And of course, if there is no place, what happens if the garbage truck stopped showing up, Roy?

What happens if... Mass hysteria. Mass hysteria, cats and dogs. living together. So this is an issue that affects 100% of the people, things you want your local government to do. Provide public safety, have the lights go red and green, pick up our trash, just the basics here.

So Steve, talk to me about this issue, how all this scandal has come up, which is this idea of incineration. And Eileen Higgins has insisted, I'm sure you saw her interview, that that is the most environmentally sound option for what to do with the, again, billions of tons of trash we generate in Miami-Dade County.

Yes, correct. Ever since the Dural Incinerator burned down in 2003, February 223, the county has been trying to figure out how they're moving forward. They now plan to build the largest incinerator in the country, 4,000 tons per day. It will produce that much CO2 being spewed into the atmosphere, exacerbating our already extreme heat events and sea level rise and strength of hurricanes, everything that climate is raining down on us. Incineration is the worst option for climate. Some of our commissioners think that landfilling is the better option, and that's not scientifically correct. Landfills do emit

methane. Methane is a climate problem. Methane can be mitigated. There are ways to handle waste, so we take out the organic debris. Even if we didn't take out the organics from a landfill, landfilling is a better option than incineration. So, Ken, I imagine you agree that environmentally, which the better option is, but also talk to me about the money. Let's follow the money here.

What is going on? Who is paying who or donating to who, what, in order to get this push through? Why is Eileen Higgins taking this position that appears to be antithetical to what environmentalists and scientists believe is the better option? So the money is what creates what's called greenwashing. And that's where corporations don't use the green of money, but the green of environmentalism

to wash over the bad things that they do. And using their money, however, they're able to influence politicians to repeat those greenwashing lies to make it sound environmental. and this idea that burning garbage will create energy so it's renewable. It's one of the worst ways to create energy, least efficient and dirtiest ways to create energy. And it's not efficient. It's not financially efficient.

But the money that's flowing, this is a multi-billion dollar contract to span over 40 years to build this incinerator instead of going to newer and better technologies that are out there employed by other major cities like Austin. Name names. Follow the money. Who is donating to Eileen Higgins that you've, believe is persuading her in this? Sure.

Eileen Higgins has received substantial contributions during this garbage decision process from the company that writes the reports for whether or not this is environmental, as well as FPL themselves, who are the number one bidder on building the incinerator. And why does FPL want an incinerator? Because they're able to then turn a little turbine, make some electricity, and call it renewable. So what is it, Steve, that people need to know about this? because this doesn't seem to be a battle that the Sierra Club, the environmentalists, are winning here. Is there overwhelming science on this?

Is the jury still out? What should be happening here in Miami-Dade that's not happening? The jury is not out. As I said, incineration is the worst pathway forward. There are a number of options called zero-way solutions that the county is in the process of adopting that can deal with our solid waste issues to a substantial degree. Composting alone reduces 50 to 70 percent, diverse 50 to 70 percent of our waste from our landfill. So there are many options. We could do more effective recycling. We could do a help me Ken here, Ken's the expert on construction and

demolition debris, a mandate to divert that debris. Substantial amounts of that goes into our landfill. So there are many options that the county could pursue. And actually, the county has hired a zero-waste contractor to advise them. But the county's only planning on letting about a million tons per year come under the auspices of zero waste. They're planning on diverting another million to the incinerator. That doesn't include the amount of waste that the municipalities generate. This is unincorporated day. So, yeah, our commission is is hell bent on pushing this issue forward and building this incinerator. Billy, they're not, we're not alone either.

Sixty organizations and environmental leaders signed a letter urging the county not to do this and to seek the alternatives. The only one to listen actually was Danielle Living Kava, who reversed her position on incineration and came around to what we were offering. And other major municipalities like Austin already do this. They burn the same amount of garbage as we, I'm sorry, they handle the same amount of garbage we do without burn. burning and it is possible. If it wasn't for reverse positions, Daniel Levine Kava wouldn't have any at all. How about that? Roy? Steve, of course, we're worried about the methane when it comes to these landfills, but are we also worried about anything seeping into the groundwater? Good point. Yes. The generator produced a substantial amount of ash. I mean, what doesn't go up, the flu as CO2 ends up

as ash, and that ash has to go into a landfill, and that ash is highly toxic, highly concentrated, and our landfills leak into our aquifer. So filling our landfill with incinerator ash is another very dangerous path forward. Ken Russell, I'm going to give you the last word. I know you listened to that interview last week, so you're good enough to join us today, live from your car. I'm guessing you're canvassing and campaigning for mayor. Was there anything else in just the last 60 seconds here? you feel that you heard from Eileen Higgins that the record needs to be corrected or you felt was disingenuous or in the cases we've been talking today, a flat out lie.

Sure. No, she conflated composting and incineration as complete separate things. They are one and the same in terms of they use the same fuels. But that's the science. What really matters to you here and to the voters is the beginning of your segment that they have a choice between the mayors of yesterday or the potential mayors of tomorrow. And if they're considering between myself or Eileen Higgins, for example, they need to recognize these differences on ethical choices, on who's funding their campaigns, and, of course, how they are on the environment. So I'm putting my forth as the ethical champion of the environment, of housing, of all these issues that we care about. And I'm going to keep chubbing along in this race, regardless of whatever political games get played, we're in it for the next month, and we're going to see.

And it bears mentioning that one of Eileen Higgins County Commission colleagues, Keone McGee, honor about the same meeting in which they voted for an incinerator, had suggested in a roundabout sort of way that now that the property, the Dade Collier landing strip, has been activated for other uses, in this case, the state's alligator alcatraz immigrant concentration camp, that perhaps they could put the incinerator there. because what concentration camp is complete without the ovens. So what could possibly, possibly go wrong here? Ken Russell, running for Miami Mayor, Steve Leidner, conservation chair for Miami Sierra Club. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, sir.

Thank you, Billy. What's up, listeners? I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I certainly dreamed big. I think when we were all kids, we dreamed big, whether we wanted to be astronauts, presidents. Personally, I wanted to be a pitcher for the then Florida Marlins. Now, we're dreaming of something else, like owning our own businesses.

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the state accidentally overpaid invoices to the tune of more than $5.7 million. And when they asked the company to return those tax dollars, they claim they got no response. The overpayments occurred in the spring of 2021, while Sheriffless McCormick was the CEO of Trinity, her family's company. She left the job soon afterwards to run for Congress and eventually won the seat formerly held by Alcy Hastings. But the Office of Congressional Ethics has been investigating her campaign finances and she reported to them, she got a $6 million raise from Trinity in 2021. And just days after Trinity was overpaid by $5 million,

Sheriff Phyllis McCormick personally loaned her congressional campaign committee $2 million. And she reported making more large loans after that. I wanted to ask you about the investigation into your families. But this is also part of her congressional duties. Congresswoman, you know, you're under investigation for the congressional ethics for violation of campaign finances. Hey, Roy. You know this takes place in

in your congressional district. This is your congresswoman, Sheila, Scherfellis McCormick. Yes, I voted for her. Oh. Roy. How could I know? She's a Medicare huckster?

It's always Medicare. So I want to tell you something crazy. You want to have something crazy? What's that, Billy? So she's running for re-election this year. I will not be voting for her. And she's running against a young man named Elijah Manley, who is a very young man. How old are you, Elijah?

26. He's 26 years old. He is a public middle school teacher in Broward. If I understand it, the congresswoman is suing you for defamation, libel, slander, all kinds of shit. You're running against her in Florida's 20th congressional district. which includes Roy's house. And first of all, what is this thing that happened here with this money? How does she get $5.7 million in public money that she wasn't supposed to get?

So, definitely in very nefarious ways, allegedly. He's very careful now, Roy. You notice allegedly. Very careful. You need to earn my vote. I need to earn your vote. That's right. But in 2021, during the COVID pandemic,

The Florida Department of Emergency Management was given out a contrast to many health care agencies, including small ones, to provide vaccines to various communities in Florida, including the black community here in Broward County. One of those companies, Trinity Healthcare Services, which was being ran by then CEO, Sheila Sherfell McCormick, submitted an invoice for $57,000 to receive funding for providing vaccines to the community. the state accidentally misplaced a decimal and paid her out, I think, $5.7 million. Wait a second. So this was a clerical error. She was supposed to get $57,000 and they sent her $5.7 million. This is office space. Honest mistake.

I mean, it never happens to me. But they send this lady $5.7 million. She's a CEO. She knows it's a mistake because presumably she invoiced and signed off on $57,000. So she gets this money, public money, our money, taxpayers. money and she realizes the mistake and she returns it immediately to the state of Florida and the federal government, correct? Nope.

She keeps it. She pays herself out millions of dollars and then she mysteriously drops millions of dollars into her congressional campaign in the special election. The special election, she won by five votes. Mind you, she ran for office twice before against Elsie Hastings and reported her income being, I think, around $60,000 a year and her financial disclosures and never raised more than maybe $50,000 to $100,000. And so it was weird, everybody, including the newspapers, were asking.

She just ran a few months ago, and she was broke. Where did this money come from? I mean, suddenly you have millions of dollars that come out of nowhere. The people have a right to know where this money is coming from. And so she got sued. She got sued by the state of Florida. And she just never returned to money. But I'm sorry.

We won by five votes, and I was one of them. You were one of them. Roy. So, okay, there's a woman who is making approximately, according to, as you said, her disclosures, about 60 grand-ish a year. All of a sudden, she raises her salary to $5 million and then loans that $5 million to her congressional campaign to effectively buy. So, by the way, that was a million dollars a vote she spent for, did you get that million, Roy? I did not. Okay. So then, though, Elijah, then the Honorable Congresswoman pays the money back, right? The $5.7 million that she knows she got mistakenly.

She then pays that money back that she loaned to her campaign back to the state and the feds, right? Nope, it disappeared. Never to be seen again. And she gets 19 years to pay it back. I'm sorry. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So the state sued her, you said. That's right. And they settled that she got this in one fell swoop. And within like days or weeks was moving this money around to buy a congressional seat. And yet she has how many years to pay it back? 19.

Interest free. 19 years to pay it back. Interst free. And now she's suing you from what I can tell because it's suddenly illegal, Roy, to criticize public officials or tell. the truth about them. This is crazy. I read the lawsuit. I read her complaint. One of the things she says is that, well, she says you're deliberately spreading malicious and false statements about her resulting in reputational harm and public discredit as if she needs your help to do that. This woman is a ghoul and a criminal. That's my opinion, allegedly. And this is what, don't get sued.

This is what she, here I am. Here I am. Come find me, anti-slapp. I will, you will be paying my attorney's fees. you'll be, you'll be transferring some money to my account. I'll tell you that right now. This is what she claims you've said defamatory. In a campaign video, you said, you can't fight corruption with more corruption or with representatives who are themselves under investigation for serious ethical violations. What about that is untrue?

It sounds completely true to me. She is corrupt. She engaged in shameless, unmitigated overt corruption. And she is under. investigation is she not house ethics committee investigation still ongoing it just found probable cause back in july uh to continue their investigation that there was wrongdoing in that probable cause statement they said it was likely she committed these violations fc investigation for massive campaign finance fraud i mean in the the the millions and hundreds

of thousands of peace and there have been two criminal referrals one to the u.s department of justice and to the Florida Attorney General's office, which we'll hear what happens with that soon. But this is all stuff that's been publicly reported on. So everything I've been saying about this case, the stuff the media has been reporting on, Sunset, no Miami Herald, CNN, the Washington Post, political, other outlets, CBS 12. So I don't know why she's suing me for it. I don't know why she's suing you for it. I don't know why she's suing you for it.

I don't know why she further claims that you defamed her when you said in the same Instagram campaign video, quote, took $5.7 million from taxpayers. shows bad judgment on her part, followed by regular people don't get away with these types of crimes, and she was busy taking your money to chase power. What about that is untrue or defamatory or militias are false? I'll tell you what, it sounds to me like there's a politician who's afraid that her career is coming to an end, and instead of taking responsibility and accountability for her actions, she's lashing out on the community, you don't know her on anyone that talks about.

And so instead of saying, you know, I'm taking responsibility, I made a mistake, I did something, and maybe it wasn't a mistake. It doesn't look to be a mistake. How can you mistakenly take millions of dollars? I wake up tomorrow and there's $3 million in my account from the government. The first thing I'm thinking is, well, I know I didn't earn this money. I don't know why I have this money. I'm going to call the government and say, hey, you sent me $3 billion. I don't want to go to jail.

Take this money back. So you can't really mistakenly take $1,000. Well, maybe that's your mistake, right? last two things. First thing, this is not the first time she has tried this, in my opinion, unethical tactic against an opponent. And I believe an abuse of our court system as well. She's tried this against a primary opponent about four years ago. The person she beat by five votes, Adele Honest, she sued him for a million dollars for pointing out the same as that thing. That case pretty much got all but thrown out. I believe this one will be thrown out as well,

because it is a clear slab loss. We have the First Amendment right to free speech, and it is incumbent upon her to prove that what I was saying was false. I can't prove that it's false. I can't prove that she didn't take the money. I mean, she has to prove that she didn't take the $5.7 million, and the state agrees with me. I'm just reporting what the state has said in their lawsuit

and what the House Ethics Committee is saying. Her own colleagues, Democrats and Republicans on the House Ethics Committee, have said this is what she did. Elijah manly.com. I'm going to give you the last word 30 seconds to convince your constituent, Roy, to vote for you. No, I'm going to for him. Wait, that's it?

Yeah, that's it. That's it? Yeah. Am I going to vote for her? I think you I don't know. She's got the money, man. A million dollars a vote she spent for your vote last time. Yeah, well, she's got $300,000 per year for the next 19 years to pay back. So let me give him 30 seconds to convince everybody

else to vote for him. Well, thank you, Roy. And honestly, this isn't even about partisanship. This is about accountability and government. You should be able to trust your elected officials not to abuse power, not to bully their own constituents with lawsuits, but also not to take your money to chase power. That's not something I'm going to do. We should be focused on the cost of living, on affordability, on tackling the affordability crisis, these high rents, climate change. These are the things we need to be focusing on. But instead, we have people in Washington who is focused on enriching themselves. That's not the type of person I am. That's not the

background I come from. I come from a background of childhood homelessness and I want to go to Washington to make sure that the people in our district and our community, some of the poorest people in the country are actually taking care of it. So I hope to earn your support. I promise I won't be taking millions of taxpayer dollars to abuse my position or sue any of my constituents. You know what they say, Roy. We either need less corruption or I need more of an opportunity to participate in it. That's what I'm, I need some decimal points and clerical errors moving around And for me, elijah manly.com, good luck to you, sir. Awesome.

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I am, number two team in the nation, man. Did you do any tailgating? No. Are you serious? No. I love to. When it comes to gaiters, I love to eat them, then beat them. In that order.

Yeah. I love gator. Have you ever had gator? Yes. Not fried, though, because they always fry gator. No, I never had. Baked gator, no. Are you, like, sauteed or grilled?

No, it's always been fried. I would like to have, I would like to have more gator. If you're going to bring some in, that would be great. I'll bring some in. We've got to season it right. You got to cook it right. Everybody always fries it. But to me, if you're going to fry it, like, you might as well be eating, like, tilapia or chicken fingers.

It doesn't matter. And it doesn't mean, like, citrus forward. Yes, citrus forward. Wow, that's exactly. Citrus forward. I can cook a little bit. Maybe you should cook it. We should grill up some gator.

I wonder how that would taste. You get it frozen at Wild Fork, which is not ideal, but you can get it at least, which is great. Because otherwise, it's pretty hard to come by, unless you want to go hunting. No, I'm good. But get some of that bedia, like orange pepper, lime pepper or lemon pepper. Yeah, some Everglades seasoning. Get that right. Oh, I love that.

The citrus and the spice all at the same time. The tart and the spicy, spice and the tart. Yeah, I'm hungry, man. Let's go for some gator. God damn it. Speaking of which. Speaking of slippery, slimy, swamp creatures from South Florida, Eileen Higgins was on the show, as we were talking about.

It's a cold thing to say. So we call it segue, Roy. That's a seamless transition is what that is. Well, another thing she said, because people have been blowing up my phone about this interview last week and pissed off. Someone called me a very politically active, concerned citizen, Miami resident, who will vote in this election for Miami mayor. and their hand was shaking while they were talking to you on the phone,

said their blood was boiling listening to this interview. When I asked Eileen Higgins about the city's attempt to illegally cancel the election and gift themselves an extra year in office and the fact that she stood down and said nothing and was silent when Emilio Gonzalez, the former city manager, now a Miami mayoral candidate, sued the city successfully and won to get the election reinstated and reenfranchised. the candidates and the voters, I said, why didn't you say anything? And then all of a sudden, Emilio Gonzalez wins the lawsuit, and you're sending out fundraising emails saying victory for democracy, but yet you didn't say anything.

And furthermore, I argued, you would have benefited from a one-year delay. So it didn't, I wasn't entirely surprised to see you sit it out. I don't understand. You'd have an extra year in office at the county. You'd have an extra year to fundraise. You'd have higher Democratic turnout in an even-year election than in an odd year election. I would not have benefited in any way. The reason I'm running for mayor is the city needs fixing now.

It does not need fixing next year. So this furious concerned citizen heard that on the podcast last week and called me shaking to say that they spoke to Eileen Higgins last June at the Gumbay Festival in Coconut Grove in Miami in the historic West Grove. And Eileen Higgins told them, quote, I don't care if they push the elections to year. It's going to be better for me because I can easily win next year. I'm just surprised you was at the Goombay Festival. We all went to the Goombay Festival. It's fantastic. It's a lot of fun. Great music,

great dancing, great food. I recommend going every day. Were you at the Goombay Festival? I was not. Okay. So I wish I was. You were busy up in. That's, yes. We don't have the Goombay Festival. In Miramar? There's no Miramar. Maybe we should bring it. Well, a little Bahamas, you know, in the West Groves is the oldest neighborhood in Miami. It's even older than the incorporation of the city because it's where the people lived who built the city of Miami.

Eileen Higgins was there telling people apparently that I don't care if they push the election year because of exactly what I said to her on the show, which is that I don't blame you for sitting it out. You benefit from a year delay. You and your political puppeteer and campaign consultant Christian Olvert, you know, this corrupt ghoul can

run around shaking down businesses and vendors and contractors with the city and the county and lobbyists it's just and then she denied she lied to my face over and over and over again and it's incredible to me and by the way these people calling me to back check her are all democrats this is not this is a nonpartisan race so this is not like there are people on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum who are calling her out these are technically her people who are just just sick and tired of the lies and corruption in this town. Do we need to pivot from Francis Suarez and Joe Corroyo corruption to Eileen Higgins and Christian Olvert corruption?

That really is the question. And I will give Eileen Higgins and Christian Olvert an opportunity again to return to the show. We can go back and what are you laughing at? I mean, yeah. What are you laughing at? Everything that you just said in this segment. Yeah, that's really going to convince her to come back on this show. She lied to not only that she lied to me, but more importantly, she lied to our audience.

I'm always listening. So it offends my tender sensibilities, my gaming gator sensibilities. It really does. More importantly, from Ms. Miami on TikTok, she is an almost former Miami-Dade County employee. Remember, we've been talking a lot about the $400-plus million dollar budget deficit, which they finally shored up and passed a budget this past week with all kinds of crazy, you know, pork and corruption in it, or Lechon, as we call it, here in Miami. I'm hungry, man.

So this is a very, it's like a Scorsese movie. It's like all food. You're just like, I'm starving. We got to go. Pork and Gator. We got to go eat. This woman is losing her job along with probably hundreds of other county employees. And she's a little pissed off when she discovers that the county is also going to be funding FIFA World Cup for over $60 million.

This is our Miami moment, Cocaine's. I would be losing my job after September 30th. I'm not going to lie of y'all. I had a certain respect for our mayor here in Miami-Dade County until this happened. They go to tell us that we will be impacted by budget cuts. Then I turn around and I do more research all to find out that my county is funding the rural cup next year.

I got cut from my job so a motherfucker could play soccer. Now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Quervo. What are you doing here? Quervo. Anytime someone says, Quervo, I show up. Well, I do know that to be true, but even during an ad reads, like...

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