By Coral Gables Gazette staff

A political committee associated with Mayor Vince Lago raised just $10 in the first quarter of 2026 while spending more than $34,000 on consultants as the city approaches an April 21 charter referendum, according to newly filed campaign finance records.

The filing covers January 1 through March 31, 2026, the quarter immediately preceding the mail-only referendum April 21 deadline in which Lago has urged residents to vote yes on all eight proposed charter amendments. The PAC has sent email blasts promoting that position and operates a dedicated website, gables2026.com, registered in February, that advocates for approval of all eight questions.

The contrast with the same period one year earlier is stark. In Q1 2025, the quarter leading into Lago’s April reelection campaign, Coral Gables First raised $389,000 from 119 donors and spent $328,309. The Q1 2026 filing reflects a fundraising collapse of more than 99 percent — from $389,000 to $10 — while the PAC continued spending on the same core consultants that powered the mayor’s electoral operation. The filing shows no significant new financial support for the referendum campaign the mayor has publicly described as his own.

The sole donor and the PAC’s primary vendor

The only contribution recorded in Q1 2026 — $10, received February 13 — came from Sarah Manzano of Coral Gables. She is the wife of Jesse Manzano, the principal of Berthier Group Inc., the PAC’s largest vendor during the same period. Jesse Manzano also operates Tridente Strategies, through which he has managed Lago’s personal campaign committee. The result is a filing in which the PAC’s single donor of record is the spouse of its primary paid consultant.

Berthier Group received three payments from Coral Gables First in Q1 2026 totaling $20,075: $15,000 on January 30 for political consulting, $2,500 on March 2 for political and communications consulting, and $2,575 on January 8 described as a reimbursement for a chamber of commerce ticketed event or sponsorship. That last payment is reflected in the PAC’s distributions schedule as flowing to the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce — a civic sponsorship routed through a political consultant.

Campaign finance records reviewed by the Gazette confirm that Berthier Group and Artisan Media Group were paid simultaneously by both Coral Gables First and Lago’s personal campaign committee during the 2025 election quarter. In a single seven-day window from March 1 through March 7, 2025, Lago’s campaign paid Berthier Group $7,500 for political consulting and paid Artisan Media Group more than $49,000 across eight transactions — for digital advertising, video production, text messages, phone banking, direct mail, political consulting, advertising and printing — while the PAC was paying those same firms tens of thousands of dollars in the same period. Artisan Media Group received more than $100,000 from Lago’s personal campaign account in the weeks immediately preceding the April 2025 election.

A new vendor, a familiar network

The second-largest vendor in Q1 2026 is a firm that did not appear in prior Coral Gables First filings: Big Tuesday Media, based at 1111 Brickell Avenue, Miami, which received two payments totaling $13,932 — $7,500 on February 13 for marketing consulting and $6,432 on March 6 for marketing consulting and digital media.

Artisan Media Group, which received more than $100,000 from Coral Gables First during the 2025 election quarter across more than a dozen transactions covering direct mail, digital advertising, social media, phone banking, email communications, and political consulting, does not appear in the Q1 2026 expenditure filings. The Artisan Agency’s public portfolio, available on its website, features no political clients.

Big Tuesday Media is led by Jorge Bustamante, who also serves as vice president of Strategy, Digital, and Business Development at Artisan Media Group, headed by Danny Bustamante. The shift in vendor from Artisan Media to Big Tuesday Media — a firm led by an Artisan Media executive — represents the most significant change in the PAC’s consultant roster between the election quarter and the referendum quarter.

Spending on reserves

With $34,007.70 in expenditures against $10 in new contributions, Coral Gables First drew down its reserves during Q1 2026. The PAC has raised $2,131,854.85 in total contributions since its founding and has spent $2,072,730.53 in total, leaving approximately $59,000 in net reserves. Those reserves — accumulated largely through the 2025 election cycle and prior cycles — are now funding the referendum advocacy effort.

Florida’s quarterly campaign finance reporting schedule means that the next filing, covering April 1 through June 30, 2026, will not be due until mid-July — well after the April 21 referendum ballots are counted.

What the filings do not show

The Q1 2026 filing does not disclose the terms or purpose of the Berthier Group and Big Tuesday Media retainers beyond general descriptions. It does not identify who directs the PAC’s activities or its referendum messaging strategy. And it does not reflect any spending that may have occurred after March 31, including the cost of operating gables2026.com or distributing email advocacy to voters in the weeks immediately preceding the April 21 election. Those expenditures, if any, will appear in the next quarterly filing.

The Gazette was unable to verify through documents reviewed whether Coral Gables First has separately registered as a referendum committee in connection with the April 21 vote.