Qualifying for the city of Hialeah elections — which was moved up two months — is over today.
And we have two new candidates in the mayoral and council elections.
Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez is going to go up against two other opponents: Activist Juan Santana, who doesn’t stand a chance, and former Mayor Julio Martinez, who will count on the support of the thickening anti-Hernandez base and could be a challenge.
Councilwoman Katherine Cue-Fuente is the only one who is unopposed and who now gets to coast into re-election, much like she does at every council meeting.
Council Vice President Luis Gonzalez drew an opponent in activist Julio “El Flaco” Rodriguez, who has been contemplating a run for over a year. Rodriguez had also been hoping to run along his friend, retired Hialeah Police Detective Ricky Garcia, who died suddenly Monday morning of a heart attack, just hours before he became a candidate against Councilman Paul “Pablito” Hernandez, a lobbyist whose father is sergeant at arms at the Miami-Dade Commission. Hernandez now only faces Marcos Miralles, a produce boy at Publix who already has a facebook page and website (more on that later) where he says he was encouraged to run by family and friends (with friends like that…).
Former Mayor Raul Martinez, who fanned rumors that he might jump in again last week, went to the Bahamas instead of City Hall. He probably just picked up the candidate package Friday to mess with the mayor’s head.
That would have made the election news for everyone, not just the El Nuevo Herald reporters who are the only ones that spend more time in the City of Retrogress than Ladra. But perhaps it was a politically savvy thing to do. Martinez, a Hispanic darling among local Democrats, could always reinvent himself into something at the state and federal level, now that some seats become open.
But the mayoral race in Hialeah could still suddenly become interesting. The other Martinez is a good speaker, too, and will actually appeal more to the anti-Raul block that drove Castro’s 2011 victory. And Raul told Ladra he would help the foe-turned-ally raise funds. Guess he is ABC, too.
And The Other Martinez’s sudden challenge also fuels the first time candidacy of Rodriguez, who volunteered for the slate of candidates that ran in 2011 against the incumbents. These two — who worked together on the opposition campaign — will likely help each other. Hialeah has a history of slates doing well and, hopefully, they will reach out to Miralles, too.
Anyway, that’s the ballot as of the 5 p.m. filing deadline.
We get to know early because the qualifying period was moved up this year — with little fanfare or notice — by unanimous decision of the council in April, said City Clerk Marbelys Fatjo.
My guess is that there is more public housing to cover.
But according to the ordinance Satjo sent me, the change was made “in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare” of both the community and the government (read: government) and done so that there would be more time to campaign.
“So that the voters can have more than three months,” reads the ordinance, “to make informed decisions with the certainty and knowledge of which candidates are running for which office, rather than the existing time, which is less than two months.”
Really? That’s all it was? Why does it seem so much longer?
Anyway, today was the deadline. And it’s done.
So let the prolongued campaign period begin.
Hialeah election candidates: Something old, something new added by Ladra on
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