There was a little, bloodless political battle at the MPO meeting Thursday
when the body of electeds that plan regional infrastructure and transit improvements elected its new chair and vice chair.
It wasn’t over the chair. The new Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jean Monestime was unanimously and quickly elected to replace former chair of both, Commissioner Rebeca Sosa. That is the tradition. Little discussion there.
But when it came time to name the vice chair, there was a tiny tug of war between Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.
Suarez won. But only in the third round. Levine got a majority of votes in the first two rounds. Then Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo motioned to waive the 12-vote rule and two MPO members — Monestime and School Board Member Perla Tabares-Hantman — changed their votes from Levine to Suarez.
So Suarez, who had to drop out of a mayoral race after a series of embarrassments, beat the powerful millionaire with the crispy white smile, the Clinton connection and higher ambitions. That’s intriguing. Two sources described it to Ladra as un golpe de estado.
But even more interesting is that this battle may have provided a little peek into a festering feud on the board between two of the 305’s most dynamic politicos.
Levine was nominated first, by former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre. But he respectfully declined. “I thank you so much but I have too much on my plate right now,” he told his fellow board members. Then county Commissioner Audrey Edmonson nominated Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. But she withdrew that when it was brought to her attention by Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava that he would be out of office in November when his term expires. So she nominated Suarez.
That’s when Levine did a double take. You could almost hear him scoff.
“I understand that Commissioner Sarnoff can no longer be on because of his term limits so therefore I will reconsider,” Levine said.
What the…? Is that a galleta sin mano, or what? Seems to Ladra that ol’ Phil has a bone to pick with Baby X. Because he declined the post and he was okay with Sarnoff getting it. But not Suarez? Ohhhh, not Suarez. Or was he suddenly able to clear his plate?
People in the know — and Ladra doesn’t pay as much attention to the MPO meetings as she should, especially now that they are preparing to hire an executive director — say that Levine only fought for the post because of a little head-to-head he had with Suarez at an MPO meeting a few weeks ago. Suarez wanted to study the implementation of street cars in Miami. Levine, who wants to dedicate resources to the Bay Link connection between the Beach and the mainland, said he wanted street cars, too.
So it’s pretty much a pissing match?
Suarez told Ladra that the nomination was unexpected. Sources tell me he wanted it but he said he did not lobby for it or consider it before Thursday.
“I did not go to the meeting with the expectation that I was going to leave as vice chair,” he said, adding that he was “not going to take a parochial approach.”
Baby X acknowledged that there was some debate at the last MPO meeting on the streetcar issue, but said it was hardly a conflict with the Bay Link project. “They’re not mutually exclusive,” he said. But in the same breath, he said that the MPO couldn’t stand still on other needs.
“We need to prioritize based on what we can do,” Suarez said. “If we always look for the home run, then we miss getting on base with a single and advancing our game.”
His dad, Miami-Dade Commissioner “Mayor Sir” Xavier Suarez , who tried to second the nomination, beamed with pride.
“I was stunned and it’s attributable to the charisma he gets from his mom,” Suarez said.
‘Coup d’etat’ at MPO: Francis Suarez beats Phil Levine added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
