Homestead rejects Steve Bateman for Bell vs. Porter runoff

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In what seems like an early guilty verdict, at least in the court of public opinion, former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman — suspended last month after his arrest on public corruption charges — was shut out of the runoff in Tuesday’s primary city election.

Former Councilman Jeff Porter came out of the first round with a small but promising lead of less than 100 votes (37 to 34 percent) over Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell. But many political observers say he is poised to win the Nov. 5 runoff, which may be a warning bell for the county commissioner, who is up for re-election next year and is facing a recall in the meantime.

In the council races, Councilman Elvis Maldonado kept his seat by getting 56 percent of the vote while Councilman Jimmie Williams, III, is forced into a runoff with former Councilman Norman L. Hodge.

But it was the mayor’s race that, naturally, drew all the attention.

According to results posted on the Homestead city website Tuesday night, Bateman got 513 people to vote for him, or barely 21 percent, despite the fact that he faced almost certain re-suspension by the governor while he awaits trail on charges of unlawful compensation in connection with a secret, lucrative lobbying job he allegedly got using his position as mayor with a company that has business before the city.

That’s 300 fewer than Bell’s 814 and almost 400 fewer than Porter’s 903. Even Rev. Joseph Sewell, who never stood a chance, creeped up to half of Bateman’s showing, with 198 votes.

Sources say the news is best for Porter, not just because he has a small lead — and is likely to capture most if not all the Bateman and Sewell voters — but because he was reportedly a distant third in polls before Bateman’s arrest.

Also because he can apparently squeeze more from a buck. Porter spent almost a third  of what Bell spent and still got nearly 100 votes more.

According to some preliminary math, Bell spent at least $52,000 — not including PAC money — which, at 814 votes, calculates to almost $64 per vote. If you count PAC money, and the other $10K he had in his account, it’s probably closer to $100.

Porter, meanwhile, spent less than half of that at $22,000. For 903 votes, that works out to about $24.36 per vote.

It will be interesting to see how the next month goes in the final leg of the campaign.

  Homestead mayoral race, Mark Bell, Steve Bateman