Recall Mayor Carlos Gimenez and strong mayor post

Recall Mayor Carlos Gimenez and strong mayor post
  • Sumo

For months, there have been whispers about a possible recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Tainted Boy” Gimenez, who was twocarlosput in the county’s top position through the recall of his predecessor Carlos Alvarez.

This week, the firefighter father of one of the young men killed in a boating accident on the Fourth of July said he was going to actually start the process.

My first reaction was where do I sign? I told Captain Jack Garcia to send Ladra 100 petitions. I can get those signed, too.

And, while my heart goes out to him, it’s not just because of the his tragedy. The death of his son certainly gives the recall effort an emotional angle. And Garcia’s grief-stricken drive could give it the fire it needs.

“I’m not a bullshit guy. I’m not a politician,” Garcia told Ladra. “I realize this is a David and Goliath situation, but we all know how that panned out.”

Especially since this David only needs about 50,000 signatures or so. Let’s say 60,000. We got 114,000 against Alvarez, if I recall correctly. I think Gimenez will be easier, even without a benefactor like car mogul Norman Braman behind the effort. After all there are about 20,000 employees or so — excluding the top tier of six-figure executives — and their immediate families to start with. That could be your quota right there. You might not even need to go after the signature of voters at the polls in November, but you could probably double your number there.

“This guy has burned every bridge he ever built. Even Chip Iglesias bailed on him,” Garcia said, referring to the mayor’s longtime right hand man and confidante who resigned recently to take a job with a lobbying firm. “They’re bailing on him every day.”

There is widespread support for a recall on Gimenez.”We like the idea,” said PBA President John Rivera. With the police department alone, we got nearly 6,000 employees, retirees and their family members who will not just sign but go out and collect signatures. Volunteer petitioners.

“Hes’ not going to govern under threat of recall,” the mayor’s spokesman, Michael Hernandez, told CBS4, which broke the story. “He feels he has done what is in the best interest of the county.”

Yeah, like not funding the fire boat to spite the union, despite pleas from the community in the wake of the tragedy, is in the best interest of the community. That is just the latest in a long list of reasons that make this mayor much more recallable than the last one ever was.

Gimenez decimated the police department, threatened to shut down libraries, cut out fire rescue paramedic services, made the 29th floor a paradise for lobbyists and special interests, gave away the farm to the Miami Heat for the arena deal, gave away millions of our tax dollars to Miami Dolphins’ billionaire owner Stephen Ross to makDolphins stadiume improvements to his privately-owned stadium, gives millions more to cruise companies and art galleries, refused to respect to the 64% vote of the people on the Pet’s Trust Initiative, awarded a $4 million contract to the company that hired his son, had countless of bid protests and problems due to the undue influence of his friends and what else? Oh, yeah, took a much-needed vacation to Paris and Rome, where he saw the Pope with his favorite lobbyists Jorge Luis Lopez.

Prohibido Callarse host Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera baptized him Carlos II, like the second king of the county, and it has stuck.

The former mayor was recalled for giving his cronies raises and the Miami Marlins stadium boondoggle. But since Gimenez was elected, he’s had a far bigger dirty laundry list of sins committed on the public. The fireboat es el colmo ya, but like I said, people had been whispering about a recall campaign for months.

And for any politicians who may want to run against him in 2016, it would certainly be easier to run in an off year after he is recalled by a low turnout of motivated voters than it would be to beat the incumbent arrogant tyrant with millions of dollars in a presidential year election.

But let’s say the recall is a given. Then what? Might we not end up with Carlos III.

There needs to be a parallel campaign to repeal the strong mayor form of government. Gimenez gimenezcandidatewould be expected to campaign against a recall, and use his million dollar PAC and the deep pockets of all those in his friends and family plan that benefit from him being in charge.

But how could he, the onetime “great reformer” on the dais, fight a grassroots movement to put a referendum on the ballot that would repeal the strong mayor? Especially since he has advocated for that himself — of course, when he wasn’t mayor — as commissioner on the charter review committee and later on the 2011 campaign trail.-

“The way he viewed it then is that you run the risk of electing the kind of person who wouldn’t move the county forward,” Hernandez told Ladra. “Back then, he didn’t believe in putting that kind of power into one person.”

Reminds me of a recurring Mel Brooks line in History of the World Part I: “It’s good to be the king.”

 Y ahora? What made Gimenez change his mind? Hernandez (and this is why he answers rather than the mayor) couldn’t say exactly even if he had changed his mind. He said that Gimenez had cut top staff and divided functions to five deputy mayors. “It’s a cost savings because we aren’t paying George Burgess and 13 assistant managers,” he said, referring to the former county manager, “and we’re not paying the deputy mayors anywhere near as much as we were paying him.”

“Voters had their voice heard and voted overwhelmingly in favor of the strong mayor initiative. The mayor is proceeding with the path that the voters wanted,” Hernandez said.

“This is the form of government we have now,” he added.

Well, for now maybe.

The Commission chambers was packed for Tuesday's meeting. Yellow t-shirts = firefighters. Blue t-shirts = librarians and friends.
The Commission chambers was packed for the budget meeting. Yellow t-shirts = firefighters. Blue t-shirts = librarians and friends. I see dozens of signed petitions.

Because after speaking to many community activists and the stakeholders — librarians, union leaders and just people like Ladra who are can’t believe they fell for it and voted for him the first time — there’s as much or more support for the repeal of the strong mayor measure than there is for a recall.

And Gimenez would be hard pressed to fight this campaign with is vast PAC funds. Not only because he’s advocated for the very same thing. But also because it just doesn’t look good for him to go all out on such a movement. It would be perceived as a king trying to protect his kingdom — which would immediately provide the recall campaign with fodder for mailers and robocalls.

Ladra believes we that the voters will want to end not just this tyranny, but all future tyrannies.

We should recall both the mayor and the strong mayor, Mr. Garcia. Call me.

42 Responses to "Recall Mayor Carlos Gimenez and strong mayor post"

  1. La Vaca,

    Let me take you back to the days of Penelas. Back then we were experiencing the residential housing boom, which meant the following:

    1- Because of the expansion of residential areas in Miami-Dade, more money was budgeted for infrastructure development.

    2- All the construction developers were making money off their developments and no real need to depend on County contracts (Steal from the County like MCM).

    3- Most of the corruption and flim flamming was occurring with the construction projects at MIA.

    4- Carlos Alvarez took over and continued business as usual, except we had the housing market and economic crash. Alvarez would have probaly done OK had he not sold his soul to the devil with the Marlins stadium project. (Not verified but he is suspected to have made some money off that by buying some nearby property that was later bought out to expand the stadium project).

    5- Alvarez did realize we were in a hole and slightly raised taxes but the timing with the stadium deal and the raises to the police managers is what killed his career. Unfortunatwly, he was on the ight track with the taxes in order to maintain service levels.

    6- Carlos Gimenez immediately and aggressively slashed taxes back to rates of nearly a decade before; cutting critcal services (fire boat, police officers, DERM, etc.) but he continued to give his friends government contracts. No need to mention the list of thugs again. Gimenez also started a war with the police union after cutting the public corrution unit that came very close to involving him in the absentee voter fraud case of 2012. He’s added further insult to injury to his County emplyees by giving away monies to the fat cats in private industry by way of tax and advertisemnt credits.

    The point is that Penelas had an easy ride with lots of money coming in. The demise of the other two has come from greed and just dumb political decisions. One obvious note, Penelas was a true politician that tried to appease everyone, where the other two bring the gangster mentality to politics. And we all know what happens sooner or later to poliicians with this mentality… Their political death through recall.

  2. We need to bring back the days of Alex Penelas. Under his leadership, Miami-Dade thrived. Since then, it’s been one embarrassment after another.

  3. Dear Chino,

    You get what you pay for. Let me know how you manage if our aging sewer system (which needs major repairs, except there’s no money to fix it) blows out the force main in front of your house, or a water main breaks and you have to boil all your water for a few months.

    I guess you’re not a library person. Too bad, you might learn something there. I would recommend that you don’t get in any boating accidents. And if you’re a crime victim, good luck on getting any justice.

    For the rest of us, if the folks collecting signatures for the recall put a tip jar on the table, I’d be glad to donate a few days’ lunch money. Anything left after the election could be donated to Friends of Animals.

  4. My sincere condolences to the firefighters family, many thanks to the remaining officers NOT sitting behind a desk, risking life and limb for citizen safety every day but it should also be noted that there are also many other employees protecting public safety making the water that you drink, cook and bathe with safe for everyone- whether they are in the plants exposed to hazardous chemicals such as anhydrous ammonia, fluoride or corrosives like lime that are used in the purification process or working underground to repair broken sewer mains exposed to raw sewage and the plethora of bloodborne pathogens, chemical grouts and the ever present threat of explosions due to the fluctuating levels of hydrogen sulfide. Miami dade county sits on all the countless men and women permanently hurt and in some cases disfigured due to preventable accidents caused by Carlos Giminez slashing budgets and eliminating safety equipment or refusing to repair dangerous conditions altogether. The broken water main that flooded Hialeah around NW 57th ave had been budgeted and approved for repair until Giminez decided to withdraw the funds at the last minute for the construction of the Marlins Stadium 6 months BEFORE THE RUPTURE TOOK PLACE. The entire water infrastructure of Miami Dade County is in extreme danger of complete failure because Giminez keeps withholding funds for these projects. Employees who ensure public safety are more than just police and fire, they are also your medical, your solid waste and your plant operators and maintenance workers who keep your facilities running 365/24/7

  5. The County should lay off all the people who are in the DROP. They are already retired, banking their pension with a huge interest rate and banking all their sick time for a gigantic pay out when they leave. Meanwhile the lowly $40,000 employee is getting cut after cut and lay off after lay off. Someone also needs to look at all the reclasses most upper management employees are receiving, in lieu of raises. Last and final vent is why do the 26 departments that we now have, include a Director, Asst. Directors, Division Directors, Managers and Supervisor. What happen to all the indians, oh I forgot, we only have chiefs.

  6. Well said F. Marrero, those that complain about officers’ pay and pensions don’t realize there isn’t a price on your life. Officer put their lives on the line everyday. Also those complaining had the same opportunities to apply. Perhaps at the time they were making more money than entry level cops, or didn’t want to work shifts, or they didn’t have the testicular fortitude, or maybe they couldn’t pass all the required tests. Whatever the reason they could have, but didn’t. Stop being a hater. Cops never complained about what other people were making. I hate haters.

  7. Hopefully Llorente and Lopez will be removed from the county ASAP, they are the main culprits stealing and raping!

  8. Old Timer – I apologize for talking out of my rear end on the number of officers but the challenge in recalling him remains the same. At the end of the day taxes have not been raised, county employees have been laid off and people in general are happy…and trust me I am not defending it. Cops may think they have it bad but their contract is much better than what AFSCME and even GSA contracts. No one questions the dedication of officers…but don’t tell me that there isn’t a little padding on the pay…especially as you near the end of 25.

    • Don’t ever remember an AFSCME or GSA employee responding to an armed robbery, sexual battery in progress or domestic violence complaint. At the “end of 25” cops are so burnt out that statistics show they die at a much younger age due to accumulated stress than most professions. They don’t pad their retirement they earn it. Next time you hear noises around you house call GSA and ask them to stop by. Too bad this community is full of ingrates who value little what police officers do for all us. The job for county police was always open to anyone who wished to apply. What stopped those that complain from applying?

  9. To The Ibis, first of all there isn’t 6,000 cops in the Miami-Dade Police Dept. There’s 2,700, this is down from 3,200 back in 2007. So down 500, laying off 217 and over 300 leaving within the next 18 months. That’s 1,000 less cops. The unions are not asking for a penny more, they are asking to give the employees back what they took from them three years ago, like all the holidays. When Gimenez got into power, the first thing he did was roll back property taxes to what they were in 2007, we are now in 2014, what has he done with the monies from employee concessions for the last three years. Spend it on projects and friends. Think of the millions spent training those cops that now you are going to layoff, so that other departments can hire for free. Some of these cops have been protecting our street for three years, now you are going to lay them off because there’s not enough monies to go around. Really!! We need a mayor who’s a leader, and less divisive.

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