What some people might see como una desgracia, otros los ven como una oportunidad.
The handcuff marks on his wrists were probably still itching him when wannabes started talking about running to replace Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, who was arrested Tuesday on federal bribery and extortion charges.
One obvious hopeful is Vice Mayor Cesar Mestre, who will serve as acting mayor until special elections are called, which could be in 90 days. Mestre, who was in the mayor’s office at City Hall when he was led off in chains Tuesday, reportedly called a special meeting for Thursday to set the election date. The former Hialeah cop turned attorney has reportedly long considered himself the heir apparent and some believe he would be a Pizzi clone. He is also good friends with Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, who will likely be helping him financially. They share political consultant Sasha Tirador, so she’s probably already licking her lips, too.
Other possible candidates — names floated to me by several sources in positions to know — are Councilman Manny Cid, who used to work with State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, Councilman Nelson Hernandez, and activist David “Doc” Bennett, a longtime Pizzi foe who lost a bid for council last year 40 percent to Councilman Nelson Rodriguez‘s 60 percent. Founding Village Mayor Wayne Slaton, who lost his recent challenge of Pizzi’s questionable rule in August by a whopping 68 to 32 percent, has reportedly lost his appetite for political campaigns.
Bennett confirmed to Ladra that he was considering a run. He also hopes to convince Cid and Hernandez to stay put and help him defeat Mestre, who is going to have all or most of Pizzi’s traditional support base, plus the financial help of his friend, Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez.
“I need four votes on the council to be effective. [Nelson] Hernandez and Cid and Daubert are there already,” Bennett told me, referring also to Councilman Tim Daubert, whose term is not up until next November. Another person would have to run for Mestre’s seat if the vice mayor were to run for the top job permanently because he would have to resign to run.
There’s not as much chatter in Sweetwater, where Mayor Manny Maroño was also suspended after his arrest, also on Tuesday, on similar charges for the same thing. Both men stand accused of legislatively supporting, through their respective elected offices, federal grant applications they knew were bogus — and for a fee. Additionally, both men knowingly lied to FBI agents posing as federal auditors who contacted them to ask about how the funds were being spent, according to the charging documents.
In Sweetwater, some names that have floated around are former Sweetwater Police Officer Marcos Villanueva, who lost a challenge to Maroño in 2007 by about 90 votes, activist and political consultant David Guzman — a friend of Maroño’s who has traveled with the suspended mayor twice to Nicaragua in 2007 after Hurricane Berta and has long lamented the lack of Nica representation in Miami-Dade’s most Nicaraguan city — and activist Deborah Centeno, also Nicaraguan, who lost to the mayor’s mother, Councilwoman Isolina Maroño, last November. Centeno had already spoken to her political consultant, Pedro Diaz, by Wednesday. “What we don’t want is for someone to be appointed,” Diaz told Ladra, adding that she was looking to see if she ran for mayor or for one of the commission seats that may become available if one of the commissioners jumps in.
In Sweetwater they are not being as loud about the opportunities that this has opened up for some people, but there are private meetings happening, Diaz said. The city has not yet set a date for a special meeting and Ladra does not know if their charter would force them to have a special election, at a greater expense, or if they can tag along on the general election in November for the Jackson Memorial Hospital referendum, which is going to be countywide.
In Miami Lakes, there will also be meetings. Councilman Cid did not return several calls, but Hernandez confirmed to Ladra that he was considering a run but had to talk to other would-be candidates, first, to see if he could join forces with someone else.
“We need a fresh start so we can really move away from the taint of this recent scandal,” Hernandez said. “We just need to move quickly and have a resolution so we can begin the reconciliation with our residents.”
Hernandez said he wants “to talk to everybody” that is considering the run to see what their plans are.
“I have my own vision and it’s different from the vision the former mayor, the suspended mayor had,” Hernandez told Ladra, not missing an opportunity at a dig. And while he has a good relationship with Mestre, who he said is “a gentleman on the dais,” he has his reservations. “I understand that Cesar did have a good relationship with the mayor so I don’t know if he would do things very differently.
“I’d much rather support a candidate who supports my ideas, but if nobody has the same vision I have, then I’m running.
Bennett, the dentist, is extremely serious about his candidacy.
“I am ready to put in $10,000 to get things rolling. I will need to raise another $25,000,” Bennett, who has been wanting to have a forensic audit of city finances done for years — told me in a facebook chat Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning).
“Already have my walk list. Start Friday.”
Pizzi should have his office cleared of personal belongings by then.
Wannabes line up to replace arrested Mayor Michael Pizzi added by Ladra on
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