Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who has already shaken up the city quite a bit with his power grabs and grandstanding as the new boss in town — has introduced legislation that would limit the citizens ability to recall their elected officials to once per elected per year.
This comes at the same time as his buddy and closest ally, Commissioner Joe Carollo, faces a recall effort that grows stronger every day in both signatures and support. Organizers have publicly said that if at first they don’t succeed — they need 1,600 or so valid petitions in 30 days 
for the first round, then three times that in Round 2 — they plan to try and try again.
ADLP’s ordinance would not allow that. It’s a solid to his pal, who threw a paella party for him in Miami’s public housing when Diaz de la Portilla ran unsuccessfully for county commission. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is supposed to be investigating what should have been a cut-and-dry charge of Carollo abusing his office for PaellaGate, thousands of dollars of the tasty Spanish rice dish used to woo absentee voters in the 2018 special election for Miami-Dade District 5.
Read related: Joe Carollo fires staffer who reported abuse of office to State Attorney
Almost two years later — and despite records that prove Carollo used city funds to pay for $3,702.72 of paella with salad and drinks to do catered events at three comedores — we’re still waiting for charges and fielding ludicrous attempts to limit people’s rights.
“Because the recall process is subject to abuse, could potentially subject the City of Miami to exorbitant costs for the process of scheduling multiple special elections during a single year, and is an unfunded mandate upon the city by the Florida Legislature, it is appropriate to limit the recall process to one (1) recall per year per elected official,” the ordinance reads, adding that it is in the best interest of the citizens to have “clarity regarding the procedures for the recall of elected municipal officials.”
The language added to the city code would be: “No recall petition may be certified for the recall of an elected official in the city 
within one (1) year after a recall petition against him/her is defeated.”
But, again, he is being disingenuous. What a surprise. Because there wouldn’t be any “exorbitant costs for the process of scheduling multiple elections during a single year” if the first recall attempt and/or second attempt and/or a third attempt, if needed, are defeated. Because that would not trigger a special election. And also because as a state legislator he passed plenty of unfunded mandates. And also because there is plenty of clarity in the state law.
The only best interests served here are his own and Carollo’s.
¿Pero que se ha creido?
The Dean, who spent almost two decades in Tallahassee in both the House and the Senate, is all about process and procedure and loves to write legislation that serves his little grupito. We should have seen this coming.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla got $740K between the general and the runoff
Especially after, at last week’s meeting, he scolded and silenced a resident who blasted them for all the BS and politiqueria.
“You deserve better for your office. You deserve better for us,” he said, emotionally. “Think of us for a change. All of you need to step up your game.”
Diaz de la Portilla did not let him finish.
“Is he here on an item or just for political speech? Talk about what’s on [the agenda]. I’ve been in the senate and we’ve never had people give political speeches and call us names.”
Actually, they did, but that reminds us that he spent almost two decades in Tallahassee. You would think he knows that the city cannot pre-empt the state law that establishes the procedures for recalling electeds.
Florida Statute 100.361 states very bluntly that it was the intent of the legislation to provide uniformity, and there is a repealer clause to repeal any conflicting law: “It is the intent of the legislature that the recall provisions provided in this act shall be uniform statewide. Therefore, all municipal charter and special law provisions which are contrary to the provisions of this act are hereby repealed to the extent of this conflict.”
“The statute is pretty clear,” said JC Planas, a former state rep turned political attorney who is representing the Take Back Our 
City group behind the Carollo recall. “The city can’t mess with this.”
Why would ADLP, who spent almost two decades in Tallahassee (and secretly wants to go back there), propose an ordinance that he can’t pass or that would be repealed by the state on the spot? Especially when he is riding high as the new Miami power boss?
“Alex has never cared about the law,” Planas told Ladra. “He has always wanted to do whatever he wants.”
Read related: Recall effort vs Joe Carollo picks up after commission meltdown
City Attorney Victoria Mendez , who signed off on the ordinance as legally sufficient, should also know that it’s not. Because the city got an opinion in 1982 from then Attorney General Jim Smith about this very issue. It states that “the provisions of statute 100.361 are applicable to cities and charter counties which have adopted recall procedures…are applicable to municipalities within Dade County and will prevail over any conflicting provisions in such municipalities’ charters to the extent of the conflict.”
The opinion was issued to then City Attorney George Knox. But, hmmmmm, Carollo was a commissioner and vice mayor who was under fire from the police chief and the community for earlier racist remarks. Was he the one who triggered the opinion?
Attorney David Winker, who has had plenty of other issues with the city, describes the proposed ordinance as “an illegal effort to limit democratic expression.” In a letter to Mendez, Winker says it should be stricken from the agenda and not even considered because it is contrary to the Florida Legislature’s intent to have recall procedures that are uniform statewide.
Winker, who saw the citizen being silenced on Thursday, 
said that residents must have avenues to communicate and express their needs and desires.
“No one likes being criticized,” he wrote in the letter to Mendez, but he may as well be talking directly to Diaz de la Portila. “Being held accountable isn’t fun. But our elected officials have been elected by us, the residents, to serve resident interests, not their own.
“Engaged citizens participating in public debate of civic issues is a central feature of American democracy. Both public comment and the ballot box provide critical avenues for citizens to contribute to the debate on matters of public concern and any efforts to restrict these activities are repugnant to our system of democracy,” Winker said.
For all his blustering about communism and socialism, one might think Alex Diaz de la Portilla would know that.
Alex Diaz de la Portilla wants to silence critics and limit recalls in Miami added by Ladra on
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