UPDATED: Miami Beach Commissioner Ed Tobin, who is termed out in 2015 and has always wanted to be a 
police officer when he grows up, is asking his colleagues to waive the two year requirement before he can apply to the city’s police force.
Tobin has requested a discussion on the matter at Wednesday’s meeting — 13 months before his time is up as commissioner. He has also asked City Manager Jimmy Morales to present his statement of intent to apply for the job. Morales — who has seemed to lose his spine somewhere between the county commission dais and the Beach, maybe in Doral? — did not return calls to his office and cellphone from Ladra.
But Tobin confirmed to Ladra late Monday that he had every intention on applying immediately. He said there is a current recruiting window that closes next Friday and he would like to apply before that. He says that he has no intention of resigning while the decision is made, which could clearly present an abuse of power situation.
If Beach commissioners goes along with this, giving him the green light to apply no instead of waiting two years, it would present three potential problems:
- It would put him in the middle of the interviewing process while he is a commissioner, or in essence, the boss of his future boss. Tobin voted in favor of the new police chief, who will make the decision on whether to hire him or not. If they don’t pick him, Tobin, as boss, could make the lives of the chief and Manager Morales miserable.
- It would give Mayor Philip “Fix It” Levine the opportunity to appoint someone temporarily — someone who will then have a leg up as an incumbent next year. If Tobin were forced to wait two years, he has no reason to leave and would stick around through the end of his term limit. Then the open seat would have an even playing field — well, as even as you can get if Levine decides to fund someone.
- And it would provide a precedent and clear path for Commissioners DeeDe Weithorn and Jonah “Potty Mouth” Wolfson to apply for jobs
as the city’s chief financial officer and attorney, respectively. It is widely rumored that the commissioners cover those positions and why wouldn’t they work it while they are sitting in their seat up on the dais?
But isn’t this a textbook example of political corruption? Isn’t political corruption defined as someone using their public office or position for personal gain? Especially since, with seven years already as a commissioner, Tobin — who, by the way, would likely be the oldest rookie cop hired ever at 53 — would be vested and able to retire in three years with a nice payout?
Especially if he moves up the department ladder fast, getting those better salaries. Sources told Ladra that Tobin has taken management classes at organizations like the Southern Institute of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police — classes that are normally reserved for deputy chiefs and majors and captains and lieutenants and maybe a few sergeants, certainly not for a rookie politician who has never patrolled a midnight shift or even worked an hour as a police officer.
Tobin has already used his position to impact the management at the police department where he intends to apply. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?
“It could be. If I wasn’t so qualified,” Tobin told me, repeatedly boasting that his aggregate experience as a Police Explorer and criminal defense attorney make him a perfect candidate for the job of police officer.
“I don’t think you could fabricate in a laboratory someone more qualified than me,” he said.
He said it was always his dream to be a police officer but that his parents directed him to law school. He also said that the ordinance requiring the two year waiting period was not meant for this kind of situation, which he characterized as a pay cut. He voted for the ordinance.
“We didn’t want public officers to get these cushy, perky, imaginary, six-figure jobs that get created. I don’t think we’d care if some commissioner who was extremely qualified wanted to take a $50,000 job in the police department,” Tobin told Ladra, adding that he didn’t want a management position.
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