With all the absentee ballot shenanigans going on here and there, one would think the county and a respectful municipality would not even imagine having an election that is exclusively and entirely through the mail.
But that is exactly what the tony town of Miami Lakes is doing this month with a proposed charter change amendment that would make all council members electable at-large, instead of by district, and that would effectively hand the mayor — who has been pushing hard for a yes vote — the power to stack the council in his favor with handpicked pupped candidates.
All 17,980 voters in Miami Lakes got absentee ballots in the mail earlier this month. This AB-only election was requested and passed into resolution by the town council. They purposely made it a mail-in ballot vote only. it is not the first time. In 2009, three ballot questions — eliminating the requirement that the town pay “annual mitigation payments in perpetuity to the county,” eliminating the requirement of county police and extending the time for run-off elections — were put on referendum solely via ABs. Less than 2,700 ballots were cast, or a 15.5 percent turnout. And all the changes passed overwhelmingly with 93, 88 and 78 percent of the vote, respectively.
Ballots for this election, to allow all council members to be elected at large rather than have two at-large and four from residential districts, were sent out June 5 and must be returned by June 25, said Miami-Dade Elections Spokeswoman Christina White. She said other cities had also had exclusive mail-in elections, including Doral, Miami Gardens, and Palmetto Bay.
This is something that all politicians are going to be jealous of. How come they can’t just send absentee ballots to all voters in their constituency but the government can when it decides it is more convenient? It’s going to come up. This sets a terrible precedent.
Especially since there has been no balance of information or advocacy. There has only been an aggressive campaign for the yes vote, including a mailer and personalized letter on city letterhead sent by Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi. But Ladra doesn’t think Pizzi — who was squarely against this charter change when it was proposed back in 2006, though it came with a reduced number of seats — is doing it for the betterment of the community, as he writes. It is obvious he is trying to find a way to pit candidates against anyone on that dais who has any independent thought, which means Councilmen Manny Cid, Tim Daubert and Nelson Hernandez. The latter two — often thorns in Muscles’ side — are up for re-election next year.
Pizzi doesn’t even deny the power grab. In an email sent to Ladra after I first posted about this two days ago, the mayor did not address those accusations at all. Probably because he knows it’s useless. He reached out to me — after ignoring my calls and emails for days — to complain about Hernandez’s comments and raise issue with them.
“FYI. Councilman Nelson Hernandez voted in favor of the charter change to allow at large elections in Miami Lakes. Again, councilman Hernandez supported and voted to change the charter. That is a matter of public record,” he said, even though I had clearly written that Daubert was the only dissenting vote. I decided to add, after this, the Hernandez quote about why he voted in favor, which was to put the question to voters, without supporting the item (kind of like what Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata did with the thankfully defeated Miami Dolphins stadium deal that he didn’t support but put to voters).
“I respect Tim’s comments because he voted against it. But, Nelson Hernandez voted in favor of it and did not speak out against it when it came before council,” Pizzi went on and on, as if this was the most important thing for him to address.
“If Mr. Hernandez believed everything he said in your article, then why did he vote for it? I voted for it and I proudly stand behind my vote. Nelson voted for it, and now he says he voted for something he does not support. I don’t get it, with all due respect. Why didn’t he say all these things at the meeting and vote against it. Anyway, just FYI.”
Yeah, fyi my perfectly proportioned you know what.
So, I called him again — no answer — and replied to the email telling him that I found it quite a coincidence that this is when he responds to my repeated calls and emails and quite interesting that he would address only Hernandez’s comments and not the question about his power grab and obvious intent to stack the council.
“Do you really think this is the most important thing you can respond to in the blog post,” I asked him.
He responded again. Twice in one day, lucky me.
“When the town council discussed this topic, Mr. Hernandez did not express any of these concerns or tell myself or the council any of the things he told you. If any elected official believes that something will destroy the town or is bad policy, then they have an obligation to say something and at least make their views known,” Pizzi wrote back, signing this time “Mike,” instead of “Mayor Michael Pizzi” — so maybe he doesn’t hate me that much after all?
“He never said he was against it, but would put if before the voters,” he continued harping on Hernandez. “He never said he had a problem with it. He said he was ok with it. As for single member districts, I thought everyone disliked them. If candidates run at large in a city the size of Hialeah, then why do we need single member districts in a town the size of the Lakes?”
Friday, he wrote back again to tell me he would be “tied up until Monday” because he was in Denver, where Miami Lakes is a finalist to be named All America City. Guess that’s as good an excuse as any for a little taxpayer paid trip. Well, maybe not as good as a trade mission to Spain and Paris where you can take your friends and family and catch the Air Show while you are there (more on that later).
Pizzi clarified that in 2006, “the proposal was to eliminate two residential seats from the town council and reduce the council from seven to five. I was against reducing representation on the council. Big difference.
“Also, when we first incorporated, there was concern that the parts of the new city that were not part of the original Miami lakes master planned community needed someone to voice their views, because they were in a different situation from the rest of the town. At this point, the town has united as one, the issues are similar town wide and I don’t see a reason to impose artificial barriers to democracy,” he said, then took a shot at the county. “Were single member districts good for Dade County, or has it promoted little power pockets with less focus on county wide issues? Fair question. I respect everyone’s views . This is my view.”
He also said he trusted his constituency with their view. “We need to have faith in the people to make good choices. “The people of our own are very intelligent voters.”
Yes, but only your view is being promoted by you and your minions and it’s an mail-in vote election entirely and you’ve used Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador before and I can’t help but be reasonably concerned that the system is being manipulated.
In fact, yesterday, as we exchanged cordial emails, Mike, a resident on your very block got this typed promotion of the charter change at their home. Left in the nook of the doorway. Unsigned. Not on town letterhead, because even you are not dumb enough to do that twice. But using much of your language and sporting many of your chronic misspellings (which Ladra mostly fixes, you’re welcome) nonetheless.
“The Miami Lakes council, with full public support, proposed a charter change that will improve democracy and services in Miami Lakes. By voting yes (200) on the ballot you received, you will,” and it proceeds to list the same arguments used by Pizzi.
“Right now, you are barred from running for most council seats, while a neighbor across the seat may be able to run,” it says, disingenuously, since everyone can run for exactly the same number of seats — the on in their district or two at-large seats that already exist and that are curiously ignored in the pro-change propaganda.
“By voting yes, you will make sure that all council members care about our neighborhood and all areas in town, not just the one they live in.”
Pizzi wrote one last time to me defending his aggressive campaigning for the at-large measure.
“The charter change was put on the ballot by the town, with town, taxpayer money and was passed by a six to one vote. It is a town sponsored initiative,” he wrote Friday morning. “I will most certainly take a position and use my town letterhead to educate voters as to why the town is doing something and what my position is.”
He also said he checked with Town Attorney Joe Geller, who approved the letterhead ad that came sans political ad disclaimer.
“Joe Geller is one of the state’s but election lawyers [pretty sure he meant “best”] and is an expert on these things. He said there was no issue.”
Then he gave me the cordial blow-off.
“Anyway, I’m going to try to enjoy our town’s moment in hopefully being named one the nations best cities. I am also going to try to enjoy Father’s Day with the kids. Have a nice weekend.”
I will. Because I don’t live in Miami Lakes. If I did, I would be campaigning door to door against your little power grab. Someone should, to provide some balance.
Miami Lakes Mayor pushes hard on mail-in only vote added by Ladra on
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