Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is waging a legal war on Actualidad 1040 AM, suing the Spanish-language radio station and its parent company, Actualidad Media Group LLC, for more than $100,000 after comments aired suggesting he was entangled in an ethics investigation, a claim he vehemently denies, as per a press release obtained by Florida Politics. The central part of Lago's lawsuit filed on December 22 hinges on the broadcast from February 27 featuring radio host Roberto Rodriguez Tejera and City Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, where they allegedly asserted Lago was being probed by the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission in connection with his family's business dealings, statements later established as inaccuracies according to findings by the Ethics Commission provided in a press release obtained by BNN Breaking News.
While Lago was under a preliminary review, not an investigation, this tethering of his family's past lobbying activities to an ongoing ethical debacle, projected Lago in a disparaging light, triggering a cascade of negative public perception, leading to public humiliation and ridicule, his lawsuit states. Lago's attorney told Florida Politics these statements on air were knowingly false and maligned the Mayor's reputation, yet host Rodriguez Tejera, unwavered by Lago's legal move, is prepared to challenge the Mayor under oath about his civic dealings in what's shaping up to be a gritty clash between press freedom and personal accountability.
The defamation suit follows tensions between Lago and various media figures, including a sparring incident with filmmaker Billy Corben who Lago had threatened with a defamation lawsuit, afterward accusing him of anti-Semitism, according to BNN Breaking News. Despite these confrontations, Lago claims to uphold the freedom of the press while asserting that there needs to be a balance with media responsibility when statements can fundamentally alter public figures' reputations.
Fernandez brushed off the Mayor's lawsuit as a thin-skinned reaction to power recalibration within the City Hall dynamics, asserting Lago's intent was to muzzle critics Fernandez further elaborated on his perspective on the Mayor's motivations in a statement to the Herald. In contrast, Rodriguez Tejera remained undeterred by Lago's claims, welcoming the possibility of diving into the Mayor's public record in a courtroom setting, "I look forward to having the Mayor under oath when we ask (him) questions regarding (his) public actions and decisions," he told the Miami Herald in an interview that signals a looming courtroom face-off that blurs the lines between the judiciary and the Fourth Estate.
