The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found Wednesday that 
there was no probable cause to a complaint against former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez for violating the Mandatory Fair Campaign Practices Ordinance when he ran for Miami-Dade Property Appraiser last year.
Filed by then-candidate Pedro Garcia, who won the election Nov. 4, the complaint claims that the Gonzalez campaign lied in political ads which stated that, in his first term as Property Appraiser, Garcia paid a $400,000 salary to a no-show employee.
Read related story: Eddy Gonzalez’s ‘$400,000’ attack ad is a desperate last stab
The $400K figure corresponded to four years salary and benefits for an employee who was also a union designee representative and who worked for the union on the public dime. But he was also one of 40-some employees who had the same paid leave from their job for union duties and it was a benefit that was negotiated with the administration, which Garcia could do nothing about.
“The investigation found the ads were misleading, but did not expose Garcia to hatred, contempt or ridicule or injure him in his business or occupation, as required for there to be a violation of the ordinance,” the commission summary stated, adding that the Gonzalez would get a “letter of instruction… advising him to avoid similar misleading political advertising if he should run for office again.”
Avoid? Avoid? Really? Really? I think it did open up Garcia to contempt from the voters. That was the intent. And does the fact that it didn’t injure him mean the findings might be different if Garcia had lost the election?
It’s interesting that the commission didn’t think Gonzalez lied even though the former state rep — who I hear may be looking at a city manager’s job (more on that later) — basically admitted to it himself on a local TV newscast days before the election he later lost.
Read related story: Eddy Gonzalez: ‘We can even say things that are lies’
“We live in a free country, where we have freedom of speech. Where we can say things…
really, we can even say things that are lies,” Gonzalez told Univision 23 reporter Carolina Rosario, who was doing a story about Garcia’s complaint.
Maybe they didn’t use that as evidence in their determination?
Or maybe Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, who the commission found probably cause on a complaint that he lied, set the bar a little higher on political falsehoods so that when Gonzalez’s case came around, it seemed like a little white fib.
Well, the verdict that really mattered came down on Gonzalez Nov. 4, when his desperate attempt to smear Garcia failed and he lost by a whopping 16 points, with only 42% of the vote.
Thank goodness he couldn’t avoid that.
Ethics commission: Eddy Gonzalez didn’t lie, just misled added by Ladra on
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