Miami manager says he did no wrong, exits in “couple of weeks”

UPDATED: Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who resigned under political pressure last week — and said Sunday that he will probably leave within a couple of weeks — will not finally get a chance to speak to his bosses on Thursday and publicly address allegations that he abused his office.

We’ll have to make do for now with what he said Sunday on TV.

Ladra thought he would because there was a public appearance item on the agenda with his name on it. But, in fact, Gonzalez is still on family leave, or FMLA, named for the Family and Medical Leave Act, a labor law requiring larger employers to provide employees unpaid leave for serious family health issues, such as his wife’s serious illness. He has told people he is not coming and that the public appearance item was a carry over from the Jan. 9 meeting that ended abruptly with no work being done.

In fact, his accuser, Commissioner Crazy Joe Carollo, who voted against Gonzalez when he was appointed two years ago and has been trying to get rid of him ever since, tried to fire Gonzalez last month while the manager was on FMLA, which Ladra believes is a protected status.

In December, Carollo made a public claim at a commission meeting that the manager had repaired a backyard deck without a required permit and that he should be fired for it.

But that could be a smokescreen. Gonzalez went on This Week in South Florida Sunday and told Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg that he did no such thing.

“You can interview any city employee you want and they will tell you that never happened. I have the permits I was told I needed,” Gonzalez said, adding that it is difficult to fudge permits on the city’s electronic permitting system.

He also said that he welcomed an investigation, but not by the city’s auditor or inspector general. Like Mayor Francis Suarez, Gonzalez said it has to be done by a outside agency.

“I’m not real comfortable right now with an investigation by an entity which is controlled by the same people who are accusing me,” he said.

Makes sense. Why would Carollo and his cohorts object to an independent investigation?

Because the truth is that Carollo — who, by the way, was found to have done work at his Coconut Grove home without the proper permits — just wants him gone and will find any reason to boot him. Why? Ladra suspects the main reason is that he wanted Gonzalez to weaponize the city against Little Havana developer Bill Fuller, who owns Ball & Chain and several businesses along Calle 8, one of which hosted an event for Carollo opponent Alfie Leon. And Gonzalez refused to do his dirty work. Because since April, Crazy Joe has placed a city manager discussion item on almost every single meeting agenda as an intimidation tactic. He didn’t have the votes to fire him.

But in November, when Alex Diaz de la Portilla won his seat in District 1, Carollo thought he got the votes he needed. He made the move to fire Gonzalez in December — while Gonzalez was out on family leave to take care of his sick wife — and failed because he needed four of five votes. DLP said he didn’t know Gonzalez but trusted Carollo and Reyes, who said the manager didn’t take him seriously enough or return his calls. But both Commissioners Keon Hardemon and Ken Russell voted against the measure, which needed four out of five votes. The commission did, however, vote unanimously to have the auditor general investigate the claims.

Then Gonzalez submitted his resignation, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife of 41 years.

“And based on the last two commission meetings, I figured this was the best time to go,” Gonzalez told Putney. “Our city has performed in a spectacular manner these last two years. Our finances are fine. Our budget is less than last year. Our reserves are fine. Our investments are up. So I thought this was the right time to do it.”

Milberg said he was being “very diplomatic.”

But in the letter of resignation, Gonzalez was less softball and more honest about the toxic environment.

“Quite sadly, this city has entered a new era. Our city commission meetings have devolved into a circus,” Gonzalez wrote. “Policy discussions have given way to politics of personal destruction. As the city manager and more importantly a resident, I think it is best for our city if I remove myself from this spectacle.”

The letter, he said on TV, “is a reflection of what was being told to me. I would go to the grocery store, I would walk my dog and people would come up to me ad say what is going on?”

He said he didn’t know why Carollo has a bead on him.

“I don’t know what’s in his mind,” Gonzalez said, “I always carry myself in a very professional manner. I have resigned from my position and I will talk to the mayor sometime this week to see the actual effective date will be when I leave and it probably won’t be more than a couple of weeks from now.

“So the animus of wanting to pile on or me leaving not under my terms but on somebody else’s terms may be behind this.”

But he knows why. Because he wouldn’t do Carollo’s bidding on his vendetta against Fuller. And, knowing Gonzalez from his days in immigration, Ladra bets he has the documentation to prove it. And that he won’t be shy about it in his public appearance — if Carollo lets him.

Ladra also suspects Gonzalez has talked to an attorney. Because they tried to fire him when he was on family leave.

So esto se pica y se extiende. Roughly translated, that means this ain’t over yet. Not by a mile.

Can’t wait ’til Thursday.

Emilio Gonzalez, Francis Suarez, Joe Carollo, Miami politics

Miami manager says he did no wrong, exits in “couple of weeks” added by Ladra on January 20, 2020
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