Coral Gables Mayor sues local radio station for defamation, citing ‘reckless journalism’

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Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is suing a local Spanish-language radio station for defamation, alleging comments it aired by a host and City Commissioner were untrue and damaged his reputation.

The 36-page lawsuit, filed Dec. 22 and first flagged by Political Cortadito, seeks more than $100,000 in damages. It names Actualidad Media Group LLC, the parent company of Actualidad 1040 AM, as the sole defendant.

The lawsuit cites an on-air segment Feb. 27 between host Roberto Rodriguez Tejera and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, the publisher of local media outlet Gables Insider who at the time was running for the City Commission.

The pair, according to the suit, “falsely” claimed Lago was the subject of a Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission investigation into ties they said he had to a trailer park in Little Gables, an unincorporated area Coral Gables has long sought to annex.

Lago at the time was actually under a since-closed preliminary review by the agency, which is not an investigation, Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust Executive Director Jose Arrojo told the Miami Herald.

The Ethics Commission had received a complaint that Lago lied in a sworn affidavit stating neither he nor any immediate family member had business interests in Little Gables. Lago’s accuser, whom the agency did not name, said the Mayor’s brother, Carlos Lago, had an “ongoing and active relationship with the largest landholder in the Little Gables area.”

That was technically true, the Ethics Commission determined, but not an accurate characterization.

In 2014, Carlos Lago registered as a lobbyist with the city of Miami — not Coral Gables — for Titan Development, a real estate company that owns the Gables Trailer Park in Little Gables. Through interviews with Titan President Jesus Suarez and the Lago brothers, Ethics Commission investigator Karl Ross determined that while Carlos Lago’s lobbyist registration for Titan remained active through March 6 — six days after the Actualidad segment aired — it had been more than a decade since he had done any work for the company and he had no business interests in Little Gables.

On Oct. 10, 2023, the Ethics Commission review (viewable below) concluded Lago “did not knowingly make a false statement” and that no further scrutiny into the matter was warranted.

“This matter is hereby closed,” Ross wrote.

Mayor Lago signed the affidavit in question Aug. 24, 2022, amid protracted contract negotiations with a union representing Coral Gables firefighters. It was meant to “create public trust,” he told Ross, by affirming that he and his family had nothing to gain financially from annexing Little Gables — a move the firefighters union opposed, arguing it would further strain the city’s already thinly staffed fire department.

Lago said he only signed the affidavit after consulting with then-City Attorney Miriam Ramos, who drafted the document and advised him to ask family members if they owned property or had any business interests in Little Gables. The Mayor told the Ethics Commission he did so and “nobody in his family,” including Carlos Lago, “indicated they had any property or business interest in Little Gables.”

Arrojo told the Herald the distinction between a review and investigation is important, since “the lesser designation is designed to prevent the unfair smear effect that the label ‘under investigation’” could have on a public official.

Arrojo added that Lago’s assertion that he was “never under investigation … is accurate.”

Lago’s lawsuit (viewable below) marks the most recent escalation in growing hostilities he and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson have had with Fernandez and Coral Gables Commissioners Melissa Castro and Kirk Menendez.

Fernandez and Castro won their City Commission seats in upset victories in April, defeating two better funded opponents whom Lago endorsed.

The panel has since seen several split decisions on major issues facing Coral Gables, including votes Castro, Fernandez and Menendez cast to redesign a planned $63 million “Mobility Hub,” approve big pay raises for Commission members, maintain the city’s tax rate and keep its municipal elections in April.

Lago and Anderson, meanwhile, advocated for moving forward with the Mobility Hub as designed and opposed the pay raises. They also voted unsuccessfully to lower the city’s millage and change its Election Day to November to coincide with state and national elections.

Shortly after the pay-raise vote, Lago derided his colleagues in Spanish-language media. He said they were unprepared for office, “reached into residents’ pockets” and that Fernandez and Menendez — a frequent Lago ally who now is the Commission’s de facto swing vote — “live off their wives.”

In October, Castro, Fernandez and Menendez voted to censure the Mayor and block his move to reverse the pay raises.

Lago’s lawsuit says its aim is to “stop reckless journalists from making orchestrated and intentionally false statements to push their own narratives and agendas by recklessly pushing known falsehoods about the plaintiff.”

It asserts Fernandez and Tejeda “knew the statement (they made about the Ethics Commission review) were false (and) had no factual basis (but) disregarded whether the statements were true when made.” In turn, the suit says, Actualidad “knowingly published the statements, with full knowledge of their falsity, with malice, and with reckless disregard for such falsity to retaliate against the Plaintiff.”

Coral Gables Attorney Christina Suarez told Political Cortadito the city has no part in Lago’s suit against the radio station.

Fernandez told the Herald that Lago “needs to grow thicker skin.” He said the Mayor’s suit stems from frustration with a shift in power at City Hall and is an effort “to silence his opponents.”

Rodriguez Tejera dismissed Lago’s complaint as meritless, telling the Herald he looks forward to having the Mayor “under oath when we ask (him) questions regarding (his) public actions and decisions.”

In a Thursday statement to Florida Politics, Lago said his decision to sue Actualidad stems from his “firm belief that the media should be held to account when they cross the line.”

“In my case, the false and damaging statements made by Actualidad Media Group LLC have had a profound impact on my personal and professional life. As a result, I am compelled to seek redress through the legal system to remedy the harm caused to my reputation and shed light on the importance of responsible journalism,” he said.

“By holding Actualidad Media Group LLC accountable for their actions, I hope to contribute to the broader conversation about media accountability in our community. It is my sincere belief that this lawsuit will serve as a catalyst for positive change within Actualidad Media Group LLC and the local media industry at large.”