Former Miami-Dade Police Det. Fred Suco lost his bid to unseat 
Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia earlier this month by 341 votes. Garcia won-re-election with 56% of the vote.
Or did he?
Suco and his attorneys say that Garcia never qualified or was qualified illegally for the April 7 election because all but one of the petitions he turned in were signed before he ever opened a campaign account. He has sued Garcia, the city and City Clerk Erika Gonzalez-Santamaria — who may have known there was a problem but covered it up — to throw out the election results.
The argument is that, as the only other candidate in the mayoral race and the only one who qualified, Suco is the rightful mayor.
Garcia “wasn’t a legitimate candidate at the time of the election, and the only legitimate candidate was Fred and he should have been the mayor,” said attorney John Cunill, of Adorno-Cunill & Damas. “He should have won the election.”
The mayor would not comment on the lawsuit pending the litigation, but his lawyer, former State Rep.-turned-political-attorney J.C. Planas, characterized any potential issue with the dates as a “technicality” and insisted that the court will never overturn the election based on that.
Documents show that Garcia opened his account and identified a treasurer, declaring his intention to run, on Jan. 12. Two days later, he submitted 103 petition signatures and a $103 check to qualify. He only needs 50 to qualify. But of those, 102 had been signed before Jan. 12. Some as early as November.
Florida Statute 99 clearly states that “signatures may not be obtained until the candidate has filed the appointment of campaign treasurer and has designation of campaign depository.” Miami Springs city charter is silent on the matter so, under normal circumstances it stands to reason that state laws and election guidelines apply.
A report from the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust says the conflict is between the state law and the city charter, which is silent on the matter.
But the violation is out of their jurisdiction, so the report pointed Suco to civil court. 
The first hearing is May 6.
“This is on behalf of the citizens,” Cunill said. “If they are not getting a fair shot at having their voice heard or having their vote count, what is the purpose of going to the election?”
Suco told Ladra that Garcia had ample time to correct the discrepancy with the dates before the end of qualifying Feb. 20 and that he himself had mentioned it to City Attorney Jan Seiden at a charity poker tournament a month earlier.
“I told him, ‘I hear my opponent, after five times, can’t even get it right.’ Jan shrugged his shoulders. He had a month and he wiped his ass,” Suco said.
“It shows incompetence and that is what I ran on. We’re playing games here. Quit playing games. Do the right thing. Just do it right,” Suco said. “Quit cutting corners. Quit cheating.”
Planas said his client did not know about any issue and complied with what he was told by the city clerk was required.
“This is the problem they have. The mayor followed the instructions of the clerk and city attorney. That in and of itself shows no intent to subvert the
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