Hotel investor Brian Ehrlich and spec home developer Fred Karlton are now looking to add “Miami Beach city commissioner” to their resumes.
Ehrlich, co-founder of Miami Beach-based Paradigm Hotels, is vying against five other candidates for the open seat created by city commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez’s decision to run for Miami Beach mayor. Among the other contenders is Monique Pardo Pope, an attorney whose late father was a Nazi-sympathizing, serial killer executed in 2012 for murdering nine people.
Ehrlich’s other opponents include historic preservation activist Daniel Ciraldo; realtor Ava Frankel who is using Tik Tok and Instagram to promote her political platform; former Miami Beach city commission aide Monica Matteo-Salinas; and Lincoln Road restaurant owner Omar Jimenez who has advocated for environmental sustainability in North Beach where he lives.
Pardo Pope, Ciraldo, Matteo-Salinas and Jimenez have each lent tens of thousands of dollars to their individual campaigns, while Ehrlich has raised nearly $165,000 via his individual campaign and Miami Beach in Focus, his political action committee (PAC). Ehrlich’s committee has received more than half of its contributions from other PACs, making it harder to determine the true donors to Miami Beach in Focus, campaign finance reports show.
In the other city commission race, Karlton, who leads Miami Beach-based Karlton Companies, is looking to unseat incumbent city commissioner Laura Dominguez. The race has taken a nasty turn over accusations by Karlton and Miami Beach city commissioner David Suarez that Dominguez repeatedly voted for legislation that benefits developers who have financially supported her campaigns. Karlton is bankrolling his own campaign, while Dominguez is relying heavily on donors, including prominent individuals and companies in real estate and hospitality, according to their campaign financial filings.
The race to replace Rosen Gonzalez
None of the candidates running for Rosen Gonzalez’s open seat have consolidated support from players in real estate and hospitality, with the exception of Ehrlich, campaign finance reports show. Ehrlich’s individual campaign has received $1,000 each from Arnaud Karsenti, managing principal of Coconut Grove-based development firm 13th Floor Investments, his wife Rebecca Karsenti, the Catalina Hotel at 1732 Collins Avenue, and two entities managed by Miami Beach-based real estate investor Jimmy Resnick.
Ehrlich is the only candidate in both races who is raising money through a PAC in addition to an individual campaign account, documents filed with the city show. His Miami Beach in Focus has raised $109,400 through Oct. 17, according to city records. Nearly a quarter came from Shawn Vardi, who leads Miami Beach-based Think Hospitality, a firm that owns seven Art Deco Hotels in South Beach. Vardi donated $25,000 to Miami Beach In Focus.
Christopher Cuomo, ex-COO of Miami Beach-based Groot Hospitality, also donated $5,000 to the committee, campaign finance records show. Groot, led by David Grutman, owns Papi Steak restaurant in the city’s South of Fifth neighborhood, and co-owns Liv nightclub in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort. Yet, $67,800 raised by Miami Beach In Focus came from two separate PACs controlled by Christian Ulvert, a Miami-based political consultant who ran former Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber’s campaigns.
The individuals donating to Ehrlich’s campaign and PAC believe he has a “compelling message about revitalizing Miami Beach,” Ehrlich told The Real Deal. His ideas include investing public dollars to create more tree canopy and pedestrian friendly improvements to Lincoln Road, Washington Avenue and Collins Avenue, Ehrlich said. “That is why people are donating to my campaign,” he said.
Among the other candidates Ehrlich is battling, only a couple have received campaign contributions from real estate and hospitality interests. Matteo-Salinas has raised $63,126, including $38,000 that she lent to her campaign, financial reports show. Individual donors who gave her the maximum contribution of $1,000 include longtime LGBTQ nightclub Twist and its owner Joel David Stedman. Ocean Drive bar Mango’s Tropical Cafe contributed $500 to Matteo-Salinas.
Pardo Pope had a little better luck tapping real estate and hospitality donors. Her campaign received $1,000 each from Alex Kleyner, a real estate investor who lives in Miami Beach; Julie Grimes, managing partner of the Hilton Bentley Hotel South Beach; and Chris Paciello, another Miami Beach real estate investor who owns the Anatomy fitness club chain. Four affiliates of New York-based Infinity Real Estate, which recently acquired an Alton Road assemblage from Michael Shvo, donated a combined $4,000 to Pardo Pope.
Last month, Pardo Pope’s campaign gained notoriety after Miami filmmaker and civic activist Billy Corben posted a short video on his Because Miami social media accounts about Pardo Pope’s father. A former police officer, Manuel Pardo was convicted in the 1980s of murdering nine people. During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Pardo collected Nazi memorabilia, idolized Adolf Hitler and had a swastika-tattooed dog.
His final words before dying by lethal injection in 2012 were, “Airborne forever. I love you, Michi baby,” referring to his daughter, who was four years old when Pardo committed his crimes, published reports state.
Karlton sets scope on Dominguez
In the race to keep her seat, Dominguez is taking fire from Karlton and city commissioner Suarez. Dominguez was elected three years ago in a special election to serve out the term of the late Mark Samuelian, her life partner who died on June 22, 2022 from an undisclosed illness. She was also Samuelian’s campaign manager and treasurer.
Karlton and Suarez have hammered Dominguez over her ties to real estate developers and investors who have come before the city commission for project approvals since she took office. At a candidates’ forum this month, Dominguez was caught on video ripping away the microphone from Karlton when he was rattling off the names of real estate individuals and entities who donated to Coastal Communities Matter, a PAC that supported Dominguez in 2022.
For instance, Nomade Lido, the entity that owns the The Standard Spa, Miami Beach hotel, donated $10,000 to Coastal Communities on Sept. 20, 2022, campaign finance reports show. The hotel’s investors include billionaire Barry Sternlicht, star architect Bjarke Ingels, and Nomade People CEO Miguel Isla. Dominguez recently sponsored legislation to rezone The Standard Spa, Miami Beach that would have paved the way for a major renovation of the hotel.
Last month, Dominguez pulled the item indefinitely at Isla’s request due to controversy over Nomade Lido agreeing to pay $1.2 million to a nonprofit created by the Belle Isle Residents Association in exchange for the association’s support. Dominguez lives in Belle Isle.
Coastal Communities Matter also received $10,000 on Sept. 12, 2022 from two affiliates of Location Ventures, the defunct Coral Gables firm founded by disgraced developer Rishi Kapoor. A year later, Dominguez was among six city commission members, including then-Mayor Dan Gelber, who voted to approve an ordinance on first reading that would have allowed co-living units on Washington Avenue between 15th and 16th streets where Location Ventures was under contract to buy two commercial properties. Kapoor’s firm lobbied for the change, city records show. The legislation died when Location Ventures shut down in 2024.
Karlton, who also donated $2,500 to Coastal Communities in 2022, told TRD that he is a former Dominguez supporter. “She turned out to be a special interest candidate,” Karlton said. “She talked about quality of life when she was running, and then she started voting for every high-rise. She has not voted against any of the projects and has sponsored nine of them.”
Karlton’s campaign finance reports show he has raised $150,000, all of which he donated himself. “I don’t take donations,” he said. “I don’t want to owe anybody any favors.”
In a recent newsletter to his constituents bearing the city of Miami Beach seal, commissioner Suarez stumped against Dominguez.
“Laura Dominguez has a long history of dirty politics,” Suarez wrote. “Most politicians tell voters what they want to hear, smile during campaign season, then work behind the scenes for special interests. And when confronted with the truth, they lash out and play the victim.”
For this election, Coastal Communities has not raised any funds, campaign finance reports show. Its last reported contribution occurred in October of last year when Big Easy Casino, a parimutuel gambling site owned by billionaire developer Jeffrey Soffer, gave $3,000. Soffer also owns the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort.
For her individual campaign, Dominguez has raised $310,628, with many real estate and hospitality bigwigs donating the maximum $1,000 each, including developer Michael Shvo; Jose and Diego Ardid, developers who lead Miami-based Key International; New York-based LeFrak Organization’s managing director James LeFrak and a LeFrak affiliate; and two executives with Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group. Other $1,000 contributors are restaurants Big Pink, Prime 112 and Ocean’s Ten.
“I’m proud to have the support of local residents and small business owners in our city who share my vision and commitment to a neighborhood and residents first agenda,” Dominguez told TRD in a statement. “Those are reflected in my report and reinforce why our community and residents believe in my campaign.”
She also accused Suarez of feeding misinformation to Karlton and Miami Beach voters. “I have been attacked by a sitting commissioner who is using the city seal to influence an election,” Dominguez said. “He takes a kernel of truth and then lies about it. Everything he does is misleading to the public.”
In a statement, Suarez doubled down on his criticisms, saying Dominguez has “voted for every major upzoning since taking office, sponsoring more than 80 percent of them, and taking campaign or PAC money from over half the developers involved.”
“She was even caught on tape coaching developers on how to sneak their 400-foot towers through during low-turnout elections,” Suarez said. “That’s not a ‘kernel of truth’ (as she says), it’s the whole cornfield of corruption.”
