We are dropping our Lago recommendation
Last week, the Miami Herald Editorial Board recommended Vince Lago for Coral Gables mayor, based largely on his “open door” commitment to listening to residents and his independent views on development in the community, where he has sometimes been the lone “No” vote against going bigger.
On Friday, new information surfaced about Lago. A Miami Herald story reported that, in October, Lago, along with other parents, had signed a controversial letter sent to administrators at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, the independent Catholic girls school in Miami’s Coconut Grove that his children attend. The letter said changes in the school’s curriculum to address the issue of racism were incompatible with the school’s religious foundation. We continued to recommend Lago but our recommendation was less enthusiastic.
In the following days, after additional consideration and discussion, we have reached a different conclusion and now withdraw that recommendation.
The decision to recommend a candidate to the voters is not made lightly or quickly. The decision to revoke a recommendation is rare, and deserves even more deliberation. In this case, this has occurred since Friday. Although we updated our recommendation on Friday, to signal concerns about the problematic letter, on further review, we have decided it is a bigger issue than we originally thought. It is our obligation to inform readers of our process.
Some readers may consider the Board indecisive. We would counter by saying conscientiousness must take precedence over appearing resolute and consistent at all costs. The cost of putting a questionable candidate in office can be high.
Some readers may think we are engaging in “cancel culture.” Again, we are concerned only with the need for an elected public servant to represent all constituents fairly.
RACISM A ‘SIN’
The Carrollton letter was contradictory in parts. It called racism and discrimination
“sins” but also called for the school to stop teaching about issues such as “systemic racism” “systemic inequality,” “implicit bias” and “marginalized communities.”
When the Editorial Board re-interviewed Lago on Friday after publication of the Herald news story, he told the Board that he strongly believes that issues such as systemic racism exist and that his motivation for signing the letter was to start a dialogue with the school. After discussion, and mindful that votes were already being cast in the race, we revised our recommendation, but we did not withdraw it.
The letter from parents — including former Florida House Speaker José Oliva and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — is repugnant in a number of ways. It objects to what it labels as “critical theory” being taught in the school, saying it categorizes some people as born “victims” and others as born “oppressors. “It calls the teachings “divisive rhetoric.” Entire books have been written on the subject, but critical theory, or critical race theory, is generally considered to be the examination of the way race and racism influence such areas as politics, the law and culture.
The letter also attempts to tie the Carrollton school’s revisedteachings to Marxism, saying critical race theory originated from the Frankfurt School in Germany in the 1920s “founded with the aim of developing Marxist studies in Germany.” The Marxism reference is a particularly potent trigger in Miami where many have fled authoritarian regimes. And the Frankfurt School reference has a troubling anti-Semitic connection, too. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the school is linked to the accusation that a small group of Jewish philosophers who moved to New York in the 1930s aimed to attack so-called traditional American values.
But critical theory, already a flashpoint in the culture wars, has been repurposed by some in the GOP as shorthand for creating divisions in society. In fact, different political and philosophical factions bring their own interpretations to the concept. The Carrollton school, meanwhile, seems to be simply trying to teach kids about what is happening in society, an admirable goal.
BLACK SUPPORTERS
The Board is not calling Lago racist or anti-Semitic. In fact, Lago was instrumental in making a long-promised community center in a predominantly Black neighborhood of the Gables a reality, working closely with residents such as Leona Cooper.
Cooper told the Editorial Board that she was aware of the controversial letter and that, like Lago, she sent her daughters to Carrollton. “I don’t think Vince is a racist,” Cooper said.
Still Lago’s decision to put his name on the letter could leave some voters with the impression that such biases are possible.
When the Editorial Board asked if he regretted signing the letter, Lago responded that he signed it because he wanted to start a conversation with school administrators. And though he said he rejects racism and has
no issue with concepts of racial inequities being taught at the school, he still put his name on a document that objects to teaching about racial inequities, marginalized communities and other related concepts.
That contradiction leaves us with three possibilities: He signed the letter and believes what it says. He signed the letter and didn’t fully understand it. Or he signed the letter and he didn’t believe it. None of those options is acceptable for an elected leader of a diverse community.
To become mayor, he is asking Coral Gables voters to believe he will be fair to everyone who lives in or visits the city. He would be the top leader in the city, trusted with decisions about inclusion and the role of “marginalized communities,” another phrase the signers of the letter objected to. We believe that Lago is a well-intentioned man who has done good for the Gables. However, we do not believe he can do those things effectively with this stain on his record.
Initially, on Friday, with mail ballots in the April 13 election already out and early voting set for April 10 and 11, we gave
Lago the benefit of the doubt while still raising a red flag to our readers in the revised version of the recommendation.
We can no longer do that.
We regret that this troubling new information only became available after our initial recommendation was published and so close to Election Day.
But even with the difficulties of sorting through these issues, many voters still must make a choice. We recommend Commissioner Pat Keon for mayor. Keon is a two-term commission member, first elected in 2013.
She supported the compromise development plan for Miracle Mile, once a thriving restaurant and retail corridor. The plan allows for smart growth there, maintaining the streetlevel profile of attractive storefronts, while moderate, higher construction is stepped back.
TECH UPGRADES
Keon, 72, is a registered nurse with a master’s degree in public administration. She became a policy aide to then-Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales and has served on a number of Gables boards, including the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Planning and Zoning Board.
While on the commission, she has pushed for a more efficiently run administration, seeking to invest in upgrading technology, especially in the building department, where permits are granted. “By August, we should have new IT platform in place, making the building department more efficient,” she told the Editorial Board. It will “increase the productivity and reliability of the work put out by the city.”
We like her wonkish focus on stormwater drainage, the need to migrate from environmentally damaging septic tanks to sewers and to confront sea-level rise. She says that police are well-trained, to the point where, she says, in two instances of an officer’s use of excessive force during an arrests, colleagues stepped in to stop it.
We think Keon’s practical vision can serve the Gables well. The Herald Editorial Board recommends for mayor.