When push comes to shove, political campaigns will more often then not turn to their tried and true financial backers in the closing days of a campaign when they think they need to raise more money, and that seems to be the case with Christian Ulvert, who raised $3,200 in his first week of fund raising for the runoff.

Of that amount, not a penny came from anyone in Miami Shores. Ulvert turned to his real financial base, the political consultants, PAC's and Democratic donors who he's always turned to as a campaign manager in previous campaigns for his clients.

Stephen Loffredo, on the other hand, and as expected, raised less money than Ulvert, $1.350.00, but he did get $600.00 of that from 3 donors who live in Miami Shores, leaving him with $1,770.55.

Ulvert, thanks to the $44,835,00 he raised before being forced into a runoff, now has $5081.69 available.

Whether it's a lack of interest by the residents, or a lack of effort by both candidates, the lack of money from Village residents belies the claim that some have made on social media about the level of support for either of these candidates, and in fact, given all the money that Ulvert previously raised, the fact that he came in tied for 4th, undermines any claims that he makes about community support.

THE ALLEGED HATE CRIME COMMITTED AGAINST ULVERT

Over the weekend I got a couple emails about an alleged hate crime committed against Ulvert, whose SUV had supposedly been tagged with homosexual slurs.

When I went to send him a text message, I discovered that he had erased the previous text messages we had exchanged, which prompted me to immediately make a copy of the text messages we exchanged on this crime, because even though Ulvert is not a public official, my underlying concerns about his response are ones that I think will become an issue if he does become an elected official.

Ulvert, chose not to respond to my question.

I do not for one minute doubt that what Ulvert claims happened to his SUV happened - Miami Shores is not necessarily the progressive little community that some would like to believe it is - but I was, and am concerned about a candidate for public office, whose received the endorsement of the local police union, support based on a claim that he is a supporter "of law enforcement and public safety," who would decide not to report a hate crime.

A candidate for public office who is the subject of a hate crime and who decides not to report that crime sends a disturbing message to the community by that action.  

You can't, as a public official, ask residents to support the police and to report crimes , and then not report a crime that occurs to you.

We've still got another week to go before the run-off election, and I'm sure that other fun stuff will happen between now and then, so keep tuned, this might not be It's Miami, Bitches!, but we're right next door and craziness seems to have no boundaries.