Miami-Dade County Commission sets special election, qualifying date
Miami-Dade County Commissioners formally scheduled a special election for May 24 to pick a new county mayor and District 13 commissioner.
At the meeting, held Monday morning, the commission also nailed down a qualifying date for 5 p.m. Tuesday for candidates to toss their hats in the ring for the short, intense sprint.
The dual moves came as the mayoral race is well under way with various contenders making the rounds in the community to raise funds and debate.
The mayoral candidates include Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina; former county transit director Roosevelt Bradley; former state Rep. Marcelo Llorente; County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez; and former 2 Live Crew front man Luther Campbell. But the official field of candidates won’t be known until Tuesday evening, after the window for qualifying closes.
The special election was prompted by the dramatic March 15 recall of Carlos Alvarez as county mayor and Natacha Seijas as District 13 commissioner. Alvarez and Seijas were removed from office by a decisive 88 percent of those who voted.
Following the recall -- which was widely seen as an indicator of deep-seated discontent with county government, not just disillusionment with two once-powerful politicians -- the commission agreed to place six proposed charter reforms on the May 24 ballot. A move to readdress them Monday was quashed by the county attorney, who said the items could not be brought up because they were not placed on the meeting agenda in advance.
Commissioner Jose “Pepe’’ Diaz said he intends to seek a special meeting before the May 24 vote to get the charter amendments taken off the ballot. Commissioner Gimenez had previously tried to remove two amendments but his fellow commissioners did not agree to set a special meeting to do that.
The proposed charter reforms have been widely criticized as weak and self serving. They include a 12-year term limit that would allow incumbent commissioners to stay on to 2024, while receiving a pay raise to $92,097 a year from $6,000 a year in exchange for giving up outside work.