Contrary to the crap that's been foistered on the public since the election of Francis Suarez as the new Mayor of Miami about their being a new day, that's all manufactured bullshit, because the new day is like the old day, and only the names of the scammers, schemers and snakes slithering through the doors at City Hall have changed.

When Tomas "Free Rent" Regalado was the Major, the lobbyist of choice was none other than Armando "The Whopper" Gutierrez, who I had the good luck to photograph getting out of a city SUV chauffeured by a Miami Police Major.

"The Whopper" had a good run while Regalado was the Mayor, but alas, all good things must come to an end, and the sign that Guterriez's days at Miami City Hall were over came last month when the Commission voted to do away with the Red Light Cameras.  Guterriez, had been hired by the red light camera company to lobby on their behalf, and the word that I got was that for his services he received a monthly payment for the life of the contract. (You can read all about how that deal came down in my story from November 2012, about how this contract was handled, and how Carlos Gimenez Jr. accused Francis Suarez and Marc Sarnoff of being double-dealing snakes. HERE.)

Now "The Whopper" is gone, and Jorge Luis "The Vampire" Lopez seems poised to take his place.

"The Vampire" is a flashier version of "The Whopper."  Above, he poses with his wife and kids, all sporting Miami Heat Championship rings from his time as the lobbyist for the AAA Arena.

I've written about "The Vampire" before, as one of the many contributors of swag to corrupt State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, (You can read that story HERE,) and I'm willing to bet a dollar to a donut that I'll probably be writing about him as he burrows himself into the hip pocket of new City Manager Emilio Gonzalez.

The names change but the game remains the same, and you know what that means,

It's Miami, Bitches!