Judge Keeps Results Of Commission Race Secret Thanks to Banned Banker Ricardo Corona

By Tim Elfrink Tue., May 24 2011 at 11:31 AM

via Mega TV

Ricardo Corona

Want to know who will replace mayoral candidate Carlos Gimenez on the County Commission? Too bad! The results will be secret thanks to a bizarre ruling last night by a judge who wants more time to decide whether candidates had enough time to file for the race.

Even stranger is the would-be candidate who sued to stop the election: Ricardo Corona, attorney, Spanish-language TV personality -- and disgraced banker banned from the profession by the FTC.

Late last night, the Miami Herald reports, Circuit Judge William Thomas ordered the Election Commission not to release results in the District 7 race, which pits ex-state Rep. Julio Robaina against former Miami Mayor Xavier "Mayor Loco" Suarez.

Corona tried to throw his name in the hat as well, but when he filed to run two minutes before a deadline on April 14, he screwed up a financial disclosure form. By the time he'd corrected it, he'd missed the deadline and was left off the ballot.

Thomas wants time to decide whether the commission was unfair in giving potential candidates barely a day to meet a filing deadline, so he ordered the Robaina vs. Suarez results kept secret in the meantime.

We wrote about Corona a couple years back when he made a bid for circuit court judge.

Along with his father and brother, he was banned from the banking industry in 1986 over allegations that his family bank -- Sunshine State Bank -- had made millions in shady loans and taken start up cash from a drug smuggler.

Corona lost that race for judge, and then reinvented himself as an advice-dispensing program host on Mega TV.

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Matthew Earl

I like Corona beer...

Lorenzo

What a coincidence... Aren't you the same person that wrote that last artice that you refer to? Who pays you and how much do they pay you to write these articles? Your article seems pretty defamatory with your Libel languange. Also, maybe you should do a little bit more research on what this lawsuit was about... It wasn't about Mr. Corona not being able to get on the ballot, but that NOONE THAT wasn't already on the ballot had an opportunity to do so... Your one sided story is pretty pathetic and that banker nonsence is old news.

Tim Elfrink

Wow, what a sleuth you are, Lorenzo. Yes, I wrote the last story -- that's how I knew who Corona was when I saw the Herald's report this morning. As to your question, the New Times pays me, and not nearly enough.Old news? Don't voters deserve to know the background of the guy keeping an important commission race tied up in court?

Lorenzo

You should do your journalistic duties and find out what the actual lawsuit was about. It was not about Mr. Corona being left off the ballot but that NOONE had a chance to get on the ballot. 29hr deadline... Don't voters deserve to have a chance to choose from a list of qualified candidates that had proper notice about the election, or only from the 2 people who were already on the ballot for 2012?

And if you feel the need to give the people background information, you should give them accurate information... Have you done your research on him or only on the issue from 20 years ago?