Bayfront Park businesses helped bankroll executive director’s political action committee

Raul Miro appears to be heading for the exit at Bayfront Park as questions swirl about his political fundraising and his stewardship of the city-owned park. The park’s management trust is holding an emergency meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13, to appoint an interim executive director, according to an agenda posted on the semiautonomous agency’s website.

Shortly before Raul Miro was appointed as interim executive director of the Bayfront Park Management Trust in April 2025, his political action committee accepted a $10,000 contribution from Ultra Music Festival’s parent company.

Miamians For Fairness, which is chaired by Miro and is registered at his Sunny Isle Beach home address, also collected two more $10,000 contributions from Event Entertainment Group and its founder Russell Faifisch several months after Miro settled into his new job. He’s the top executive for the semiautonomous agency in charge of Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferre Park.

In April, the Miami City Commission voted to approve a new deal with Event Entertainment Group to continue hosting Ultra at Bayfront Park for another 20 years.

Miro’s PAC also accepted $5,000 each from Bayside Marketplace, the outdoor mall with a 99-year-lease at Bayfront Park, and Worldwide Amherst Media, a billboard company that has an advertising contract with the management trust.

Miro did not respond to phone and text messages to discuss why three entities doing business at Bayfront Park helped bankroll his political activities, what steps he took to avoid any perceived conflicts of interest and if he hit up donors while he was on the clock running the trust.

State law prohibits government employees from engaging in political stuff while they are at work, and they are also barred from using government resources for political purposes. And more importantly, it’s a crime for government officials to corruptly use their position to secure a special privilege or benefit.

Still, Miro does have a First Amendment right to engage in political speech, which includes establishing a PAC that raises money from people and entities seeking to curry favor with government officials. Whether Miro crossed the line into promising anything in return to the businesses at Bayfront Park is something that warrants an inquiry from the city’s inspector general, Antonio Diaz.

Miami’s official watchdog has the power to get answers from Miro about his extracurricular duties on behalf of his overlord, Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who has turned the Bayfront Park Management Trust into his fiefdom since taking over the agency last year.

For instance,the trust has become a cash cow for Atlantis Solutions and Elandor, two firms at the center of another controversy involving Gabela. Since 2024 and 2025, Gabela’s district office paid the two firms $450,000 in taxpayer funds for public relations work that included social media management, promotion of Gabela, his wife, the work the couple does in his commission District 1, and the creation of banners and vehicle wraps bearing the commissioner’s image.

At the trust, Atlantis Solutions and Elandor have billed the agency for a combined $129,000 since last year, according to public records first reported by Political Cortadito.

Miro’s fundraising prowess through Miamians For Fairness could explain why Gabela stubbornly championed his underling’s exorbitant salary raise in April from $150,000 to $255,000 a year. The city commission approved Miro’s new pay rate when he was confirmed as the trust’s permanent director. In June, after a flood of public outrage, Gabela retreated by getting the Bayfront Park’s board of directors to slash Miro’s salary to $175,000 annually.

Miro, who also chairs a separate PAC called Miamians For Truth And Fairness, proved himself to be a valuable cog in Gabela’s burgeoning political machine.

In January of last year, Miro formed Miamians For Fairness, which spent the next 12 months amassing a $170,925 war chest. In addition to the contributions from Ultra, Bayside and Worldwide Amerherst, the PAC accepted big money donations from developers, land use firms and city vendors.

Donors included the Allen Morris Company ($10,000); developer Lewis Swezy ($20,000); Orange Barrel Media ($25,000); 13th Floor Investments ($15,000); lobbyist Ron Book ($2,500); developer Russell Galbut ($5,000); and the law firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes ($5,000).

The bulk of Miamians For Fairness’ funds, $100,000, was transferred to another Gabela-aligned PAC called Serve & Protect Miami on Dec. 17 of last year. Serve & Protect Miami was formed in June of last year and disbanded last month, raising $160,950, campaign finance reports show.

This PAC gave $146,300 in two separate donations in April and July to Advance Miami, a committee established in February by Jose Sanchez-Gronlier, an attorney working as Gabela’s District 1 office legal counsel, earning a $130,000 annual taxpayer-funded salary.

Advance Miami, which has raised more than $500,000, also received a $31,697 contribution from Miro’s Miamians for Fairness, as well as a combined $50,000 from Ultra’s parent Event Entertainment Group and its lawyer Sandra York. In January and March, Miro’s PAC also made two payments in January and March totalling $13,662 to Miro’s company, Allegis Aviation Services for “consulting services.”

If you are receiving The Miamian that means that you genuinely care about staying up to date about true crime, corruption and controversy that infects daily life in the Magic City and across the Sunshine State. The Miamian’s purpose to serve as a source of news and analysis about the machinations going on at city halls, government centers, civil and criminal courts.

The Miamian is also a resource where you will find a steady diet of deep-dive, longform journalism about powerful people and how they wield their influence, crime capers involving shady colorful characters and volatile topics that have a direct impact on the daily lives of South Floridians.

Thank you for coming on this journey as a subscriber. Your support will help The Miamian continue growing in reach. We hope you will share The Miamian with your friends and neighbors.

Francisco Alvarado

Share The Miamian!