This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

John Herbst was finally able to take his seat on the Fort Lauderdale City Commission after his residency had been challenged by a losing candidate. The accusation was that he didn’t live in his district, though he claimed he has an apartment there. This has got to be extra sweet since Herbst, the city’s longtime auditor, was fired this February by three of his commission bosses, the Sun Sentinel reports.

The U.S. Senate this week confirmed Mark Lapointe as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He’s the “first Haitian American lawyer to serve in the region’s most powerful federal law enforcement position,” the Miami Herald reports. He’ll oversee 250 prosecutors in “one of the busiest districts in the country because of the region’s steady stream of financial fraud, drug trafficking and internet crimes.”

Add “chairman” to Alex Rizo’s titles. The Florida House member, who’s the state representative for District 112, has just been selected to lead the Miami-Dade County Republican Party. He’s “charged with sustaining a red wave in the county that proved one for the history books this past election,” Florida Politics says. Also cool: Among his hobbies on his official House webpage, he lists “bonsai and orchid culture.”

One of the sponsors of the controversial legislation dubbed the Don’t Say Gay bill by detractors, then-state Rep. Joe Harding was just hit with six federal counts of fraud or money-related crimes after authorities alleged he illegally obtained $150,000 in pandemic-related small business loans using the names of two dormant companies. Harding had previously blasted groups like Planned Parenthood who improperly received COVID-19 stimulus funds. The next effort for Harding, who promptly resigned? “Don’t say convicted.”

The controversy around the Tampa police chief who flashed her badge to get out of a traffic violation on a golf cart is finally over. Mary O’Connor resigned from her post this week. She was put on administrative leave previously for the November incident, in which she told a Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy, “I'm really hoping that you'll just let us go tonight." Well, she definitely is gone now.

This former Miami congressman signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s government. But an indictment alleges he was part of a conspiracy to lobby for the country to lower tensions with the U.S. government. He met with U.S. senators and people in the Trump administration on behalf of the socialist nation, apparently communicating with them using codewords. Maybe he can use that skill to come up with a prison nickname. But only if he's convicted, of course.