Yup. He did it.
Former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman, suspended from the post Wednesday after he was arrested on public 
corruption charges, has filed to regain his seat.
We knew it was coming. Ladra reported to you Thursday that he was going to be at a honk and wave event that night — and there he is smiling and waving in the middle of this photo to the left, about 24 hours after he posted bond for charges of unlawful compensation stemming from his secret lobbying gig with Community Health of South Florida, Inc., which paid him$125 an hour to grease the government wheels on behalf of projects and permits for the company’s planned expansion.
Just a few hours before Friday’s 4:30 p.m. deadline, Bateman qualified.
“It’s kind of disturbing,” said former Councilman Jeff Porter, who had challenged Bateman when he was just an accused incumbent rather than a man facing criminal charges.
Which sets up for a deliciously dirty campaign in which the allegations against him — not just the CHI thing but the land deals for Dade Community College, his wife’s Benz, reportedly bought from the college CEO, and other alleged shenanigans that Ladra and 20 other reporters are now digging on — will be center stage.
“The allegations are always going to hurt you a little bit,” Bateman told Ladra in a quick telephone interview about a half hour after he qualified before he had to hang up and go into a meeting.
“But I’m innocent,” he managed to say first, adding that he would not talk any more about the charges on the advice of his attorney.
He did say he was going to run on his track record.
“I’m going to run on all the things I’ve accomplished in Homestead. We have three new high schools in three years, a trolley system that moves 700 people a day, 730 new business licenses, over 3,000 trees planted,” Bateman said.
“People know who showed up every day and who worked their tail off here for the citizens of Homestead,” Bateman told Ladra, adding that 60 people showed up to his honk & wave event Thursday night. “Next week, it will be more than 100.”
Candidate Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, said Bateman’s bid won’t change his message, however.
“I’m not going to change anything we’re doing,” said Bell, who had already predicted that Bateman would be crazy bold enough to run, which means these allegations about him will be further scrutinized in the public arena.
“We already set out campaign in motion. We have our literature we are going to put out. We’re going to go on just like we have been doing,” Bell said.
He told Ladra he won’t make the race about the graft allegations but, rather, on creating a more business-friendly attitude at City Hall.
“We need new leadership and new direction. They will tell you Homestead is very business friendly, but I do not think so. I own a business and other business owners come to me and tell me that they way they’re handling things in the city makes it extremely hard to run a business in this town.
“We want to change those things,” said Bell, and I guess the “we” means him and his major campaign contributor, Wayne Rosen, who has several projects in the city.
The other candidates in the mayoral race –Porter and the Rev. Joseph Sewell, because Vice Mayor Jon Burgess didn’t have the, um, boldness to jump in –– may very well bring up the headlines, Bell added. “I think it depends on the other folks running against him. Personally, me, I’m going to keep pounding on what we decided before he got arrested.
“I think it will hurt him, of course. But as far as changing our tactics, no we are not going to do anything differently than we did before.”
Porter said he wouldn’t do anything different either.
“It doesn’t change the race for me. I think it changes the race for him,” Porter told Ladra. “I don’t know how anything positive can come out of what he just did to the city, the embarassing place he put the city in.”
He is focusing on showing people that he has the experience needed to hit the ground running.
“I’ve been there. Not in the position as mayor, but as a council member, and I’ve stayed involved. I think I could step into the job and work with the council right away, without any disruptions.”
Like Ladra, he thinks Bateman will come in dead last, or just above the Rev. Sewell, but only if the former mayor can hold on to some of the unfathomable support he’s been getting in the last couple of days on facebook and comments on stories posted online.
A lot of people believe Bateman is innocent. But is it enough?
“For all practical purposes, it just happened Wednesday,” Porter said. “Let it absorb in. Give it a chance to take root and people will see there are significant charges.
“As time progresses and people get more opportunity to get their arms around it, there will be less support.”
Arrested, suspended Mayor Steve Bateman files for old job added by Ladra on
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