Miami will have a special Feb election to fill Ken Russell vacancy in District 2

It took two days because Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was hoping to wear two of his colleagues down. But Commissioner Manolo Reyes and Chairwoman Christine King stood fast on their desire for a special election to fill the vacancy in District 2 created by Ken Russell‘s resignation to run for Congress (he lost the primary).

This election will likely take place on Feb. 27, the absolute last day it can, according to the city charter, according to City Clerk Todd Hannon and City Attorney Victoria Mendez. If it could be later, ADLP would have it later.

Diaz de la Portilla was so intent on naming former and disgraced Circuit Court Judge Martin Zilber — who Ladra first pointed out as a wannabe replacement weeks ago — that he wanted to wait until Thursday’s commission meeting to call for the election. After pretending to worry about how much an election would delay representation for D2 residents, he tried to drag it out as long as possible.

There was a stealth community campaign for an appointment. And then more than a dozen votes between Saturday and Sunday — because the meeting was recessed. Each and every time, ADLP voted for Zilber, who was forced to leave the bench after an ethics investigation found he had staff run errands for him on public time and was calling in decisions from the beach. Birds of a feather.

Commissioner Joe Carollo, who also wanted to appoint someone, changed between Zilber and James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance, and two other applicants. Because he knew it was futile so he wanted to score points with everybody. Especially former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, a last minute applicant who has represented Carollo in legal matters.

Both King and Reyes — which, coincidentally, translates to kings — held their ground, indicating on their ballots that they did not choose any applicant. Reyes even offered to donate $50,000 of his office budget to help defray the cost of the special election, estimated at $300K to $330,000.

It was ludicrous for Carollo — who spent a lot of time spanking Russell for putting them in this position (which he didn’t do with Keon Hardemon in 2020) — to make the cost argument. Here is a guy who spent almost $1 million on some iffy sculptures for Maurice Ferre Park, a guy who has racked up close to $1 million if not more in legal costs defending against lawsuits about his abuse of power, a guy responsible for a million or so in overtime for police protecting illegal barricades the county has sued to remove. He’s soooooo fiscally responsible.

None of the other arguments held water.

That the elected would only serve until November? So what? The appointed person would also only serve until November. Unless Carollo had something else in mind. Yes, the district needs a voice through November when they can pick again. They should pick that voice, not the commission.

That the district would be unrepresented for months, when it’s really only about five weeks and four commission meetings, which aren’t always very productive. There are items on the agenda for Thursday, for example, that have been deferred many times.

That it was not enough time for people to campaign, giving an advantage to some who were planning it. Did he even hint that Russell could come back? Or did Ladra imagine that? Said ADLP: “It’s going to be rigged.”

He would know, right?

Reyes said it wasn’t for a lack of good, qualified applicants, either.

“We have an excellent field,” he said. “We have have people who have proven themselves.” But since he couldn’t choose, a special election was best, he said, hinting early on that he was not going to change his mind.

“Everybody knows that my word is my bond. I won’t back down.”

Reyes had said from the beginning that he wanted an election. On Sunday he admitted he was wrong when he went for the appointment of Jeffrey Watson in 2020.

It was great to watch Manolo grow a pair and to watch King cleverly manhandle the Two Amigos with unending patience and her indoor voice. She gives them just enough rope to hang themselves. Has she figured their plans out? Is she pissed off that they tried to play her?

Either way, the Two Amigos do not get their power grab and automatic three vote bloc — and neither does Jorge Mas, the developer and InterMiami owner who is building Miami Freedom Park and will need a four-vote majority to make changes to their agreement (and those requests are coming, folks). But the people in D2 do get to exercise their democratic right and choose their commissioner.

So, who’s going to run. Ladra believes that Torres will run a campaign for the seat. Zilber allegedly already has a political action committee. Some have mentioned Jim Fried, who ran against Russell in 2019 and came in second place — with 15% of the vote.

But there are also a few other, dare Ladra say, more exciting names being floated around, including Anthony Balzabre, the former assistant director of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency — who was forced out after he cooperated with an investigation into an ADLP crony, Jenny Nillo, and her ghost job — and Juan Zapata, the former county commissioner from the “West End” who now lives in the Brickell area.

Either would be such a welcome breath of fresh air on the commission. Let the campaigns begin.

Ken Russell, Miami politics

Miami will have a special Feb election to fill Ken Russell vacancy in District 2 added by Ladra on January 9, 2023
View all posts by Ladra →