Eddy Gonzalez’s ‘$400,000’ attack ad is a desperate last stab

Eddy Gonzalez’s ‘$400,000’ attack ad is a desperate last stab
  • Sumo

He must be desperate. And it’s not like State Rep. Eddy “Here Comes Hialeah” Gonzalez can actuallyelection2014 run on his own track record in his bold (read: WTF?) attempt to become the most unqualified ever Miami-Dade Property Appraiser.

So Gonzalez — who came in 10 points behind former Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia in the August primary — is doing what most desperate politicos do when they see defeat coming at the 11th hour: He is making stuff up or taking truth wildly out of context.

Gonzalez is hinging his campaign on an attack video ad against the front runner for allegedly having a $400,000 no-show employee when he was in the property appraiser’s office from 2008 to 2012.

Well ain’t that the pot calling the cafetera black. Nobody knows what Gonzalez does at his own and latest no-show job, which he will likely lose as soon as he is termed-out in November, if he doesn’t find another elected position of influence to cling to, and pronto. Hence the countywide race.

This  honorary member of the Hialeah Hoodlums has almost no choice but to launch a TV attack ad that says Garcia looked the other way while one of his employees made $400,000 without coming into the office. But that’s not really true. And if Garcia looked the other way, so did countless of other department heads at the county and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez himself, who, by the way, is endorsing Gonzalez.

In fact, Gimenez might be the most responsible for that “no-show” employee. That’s because the worker, on of 370 in the appraiser’s office, was the union representative who — because of the contract negotiated by the administration — is paid a salary while working union duty.

Not that it’s going to have much effect on the campaign, but earlier this month, Garcia filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

Read related story: Marco Rubio comes out for Eddy Gonzalez in prop app race

The reference in the ad was to one employee who made somewhere around eddypedro$86,000-a-year (the $400K calculates benefits) and whose job was protected. In other words, Garcia could not fire the worker, even if he had wanted to. He could not demand that the worker devote himself to county duties. The employee is one of what we now know is around 40-some county employees who do union work on the taxpayer dime, again, as per the contract that the administration negotiated with the 10 unions that represent Miami-Dade’s 25,000 workers.

And he did not pay the worker. They are all on the county payroll.

“It is a big, fat lie,” Garcia told Ladra about the attack ad, in which former candidate Alex Dominguez — who came in fourth in August’s five-way primary — urges voters to support the candidate he used to call a corrupt career politician during the primary.

“Pedro Garcia had his chance before, and he failed us,” Dominguez says in the 30-second spots in both English and Spanish. The Spanish-language one sounds worse, because Dominguez says Garcia paid the worker a $400,000 salary. That’s just not true. The salary was $86,000.

Where is PolitiFact when you need it?

There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”

Pages: 1 2

14 Responses to "Eddy Gonzalez’s ‘$400,000’ attack ad is a desperate last stab"

  1. With all do respect to Mr.Dominguez and Mr. Gobel, we grow tired of all the negative messages lacking factual information filled with misrepresentations the taxpayers deserve better. Neither Dominguez or Gobel have first hand experience or knowledge since they did not work at the PAO to make the statements they have made. The employee in question did/does participate in union functions such as meetings, negotiations, grievance representation but these are not 40 hrs a week , they are a small portion of the time. The employee for the majority of the week does perform his job duties in PAO. This is stipulated in the contracts between the County and the Union, Union Employees. All County departments have employees that serve in the same capacity. This is not a Mr. Garcia decision to make as it has been misrepresented. As to the rest of comments made by Mr. Dominguez, Gobel they are lacking first hand knowledge and a distortion of the truth.

  2. The Property Appraiser’s administrator/manager, Jaime Martinez that Lopez-Cantera hired was part of his administration was found committing Homestead fraud. In addition the present administration still continues to endorse and follow Lopez-Canteras policies and procedures. The homestead fraud was covered-up by the present administration from May 2012 till Feb 2014, and not until October 2014 was he just allowed to resign versus being fired after committing a criminal act which is a misdemeanor. Whether the Property Appraisers office is independent or not, if it run by a POLITICIAN the corruption will get worse.

  3. Mr. Berrios – You are misinformed. Pedro Garcia is not an elected politician. Pedro has four decades of experience not just as a property appraiser but more importantly, as a magistrate. That experience in unequaled. And you can see that his list of endorsements includes Miami Association of Realtors, Government Supervisors Association of Florida and the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Association, among others.

  4. http://nhexposed.blogspot.com

    Above mentioned blogger has been supporting Pedro Garcia and making claims against Eddy Gonzalez at every opportunity. Mr. Horta is a convicted felon posing as a blogger. Blogs such as Political Cortadito are very informative, but this guy is a piece of garbage. Last I checked Mr Gonzalez has never been charged with anything, unlike Mr Horta. Pretty obvious he and Mr Garcia are tied at the hip. Shame on you Pedro.

  5. Alex D what a joke, he just did it to make some money, he has lost alot pumping money into his 3 losses, had to compensate somehow

  6. Naturally the Herald endorsed Albert Armada the worst of the 5 candidates in the primary. Our county is going to shit quickly Elaine. I voted for Dominguez in the primary but will vote for Gonzalez against Garcia. The better of two lifelong politicians. The herald just endorsed another disaster in Joe Garcia. We need another newspaper in Miami!

  7. We need better representatives in our community. THIS is what we have to choose from? Both are garbage. Miami is in such bad shape because we put incompetent people in charge. God help us!

  8. Carlos, please tell me what it is that Eddy Gonzalez was so effective with during 8 years at the State House.

    The fact is that the person or people responsible for the union employee no-show is Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the commission, not Garcia. The ONLY reason Lopez-Cantera brought it out was because it was a good negative campaign tactic for his independentization effort, which might very well be a good idea (I think more needs to be discussed about how that would work and what the oversight would be).

    But, clearly, Pedro Garcia will not BE ABLE to go back to business as usual. He will be forced by a much more aware community, by a much more active community, by this blogger, to face these issues head on.

    Do I think he could have done better the first time around? Sure.

    But I still think he’s a better choice this time around than the absentee ballot fraud stained “Here Comes Hialeah” who is all about protecting his cronies. Sorry.

    Love, Ladra

  9. Elaine, with all due respect, I believe we are missing the point. I could go on forever on the numerous issues plaguing that office… but will only stick to the topic you’ve written on. It took Lopez-Cantera just a few months to expose what was wrong with the office while Pedro ignored it for years. CLC’s attention to the matter then uncovered 44 other similar cases county-wide. It’s an absolute travesty. This type of scenario serves to further strengthen the argument as to why the PAO needs to be independent… part of which is to be able to negotiate union contracts; something Pedro opposes. Is it a coincidence that Pedro is endorsed by the same union who negotiated the current contract and doesn’t want the PAO to be independent? Rather than focusing on the minutiae and questioning the trivial aspects of a 30-second television commercial (i.e. “was it $400k in one year or over 4 years?” or “was it Pedro that paid him or the county?”), why aren’t we asking “How did we allow this to happen?”, “Who’s responsible for this?”, “How do we prevent this from happening again?”. Bottom line… Pedro’s message has been consistent throughout this campaign – “I was the former property appraiser… and I will continue to do what I did before.” That’s not good enough. His track record says it wasn’t good enough. And the tax-paying homeowners of Miami-Dade County shouldn’t accept it as being good enough. Pedro is the reason I ran in the first place and is the reason I’m supporting Eddy Gonzalez. Eddy will make a difference. Eddy will push for independence. Eddy will not be beholden to tax agents who make a fortune on the inefficiencies and inadequacies of a poorly managed PAO. We’re dealing with two savvy politicians. The question is… who’s been the more effective elected official? The answer is clear.

  10. I stand firmly in my endorsement of Eddy Gonzalez for Property Appraiser. If anyone has ” sold their soul to the devil” it’s Mr Garcia who has accepted thousands of dollars from tax appeal agents who prey upon the inefficiencies of the property appraisers office.(I don’t accept lobbyist money) Mr Garcia did a terrible job in his 4 years as appraiser and literally overtaxed residents of Dade County by not including short sales and foreclosures. Miami dade county residents should not give him a second chance. Mr Garcia stated many times during the debates that he believes that we have reached our limit on fighting homestead fraud??? Amazing when we lead in fraud with everything else! Mr Garcia also stated that he does not want the appraisers office to be an independent office like all other 66 counties in Florida???? My platform as a candidate was 100% different than Mr Garcia and almost the same as Eddy Gonzalez. For the same reason Carlos Goebel another candidate who I highly respect has endorsed Eddy Gonzalez as well. This election is about the future of the office of the appraiser. Those are the facts. Nothing personal against Mr Garcia, but his time is up, it’s time for someone else to step into the job. It was an easy choice, VOTE Eddy Gonzalez for appraiser.

  11. Don’t we have any persons that are not Recycled politician with a different last name that could do this job? The corruption of recycling is they owed too many favors to donors. Please look at the Tax Rolls and the Miami river Properties, Marinas are getting “Farming property rates” See Allied Marine 21 ave and N.w So . River Drive . We are tired of hearing that this or that Politician is coming to Save Us. When in Reality they are coming for The Money and the Benefits. Hope For New Faces, Stop The Negative Adds

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.