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law,” Planas said. “If the city clerk and the city attorney were wrong, that can be addressed at another time.”
But that may be the real problem. It’s never the crime
but the cover up that gets you.
The smoking gun in this case might be the emails between the city clerk and the city attorney ad the city clerk and the county elections department, which indicate that they knew there was a problem as early as Jan. 16. Emails back and forth between Gonzalez-Santamaria and Assistant Deputy Supervisor of Voter Services Michelle McClain also seem to show that county staffers were concerned about the timeline.
“I guess the question now is did the candidate start collecting signatures prior to filing the intent to run for office? If so, how should we proceed,” McClain wrote, showing that the county officials did raise an eyebrow to the dates.
Gonzalez-Santamaria forwarded it to City Attorney Jan Seiden, who had already told her that he thought it was legal to collect the signatures, and that the provision may only apply to when the petitions are filed, because one has to pay for the filing. But he also admitted that the city charter is silent on the matter.
He responded to her Jan. 17, a Saturday.
“Why else would someone collect
signatures if they did not have the present intent to run for office? Otherwise, it would seem a gigantic waste of time and effort,” Seiden wrote, quickly hinting at the true, legitimate remedy: collecting new signatures. After all, Garcia only needed 50!
“It would seem that, at the very least, the current cadidates subject to the issue are considering getting ‘duplicate and current’ petition signatures depending on whether the petitions have already been forwarded to elections for verification or not,” Seiden wrote. And they had. Obviously. He knew that.
“You should check with those candidates to determine what course of action they will follow and advise elections to either count what was submitted or await the ‘duplicate and current’ petitions from your office,” he ended.
Remember that Planas said his client was never consulted, just instructed on what to do.
But on Wednesday, Jan. 21, Gonzalez-Santamaria wrote McClain and provided a new “start date” for the collection of signatures: “You have advised that MDED requi
res a start date for the verification of signatures on petition forms for a candidate. In response to that request, as the Supervisor of Elections for the city, I agree that the date of the first signature on any petition gathered by any respective candidate will be the start date for verification for that candidate.”
Then she said Garcia’s start date would be Nov. 29, 2014.
So their fix is to change the start date of the petition gathering period. Naturally, they set the dates for everybody, not just the mayor. You know, to throw off our scent.
“She comes back and arbitrarily sets a date? Wait a minute. The statute says it’s when you file,” Cunill said. “They knew about it and they could have cured it. They had a good month.”
By then, Planas argues, the petitions had been accepted. “Nobody is going to disqualify a candidate based on that. That’s a technicality.
“And no court is going to set aside an election based on something procedural,” Planas said. “If they were fraudulent. If there were forged signatures, that is something major. That’s a substantive violation.
“In this case, it’s a procedural violation. What they are saying is he got them a couple of weeks early,” Planas said.
Um, yes. Exactly.
Oh, and that the city clerk and city attorney maybe conspired to do everything they could to ensure that the signatures did meet legal standards.
Said Cunill: “If you’re going to completely disregard the state statute and operate on your own, the citizens have a right to challenge that.”
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Lawsuit seeks to oust Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia added by Ladra on
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Sorry, but Garcia DID break the law. The signatures were checked to see if the voters were valid, but they were NOT approved for the election by law. AND the mayor was told that he needed new signatures, just like Bain was told. Bain went out and got the required signatures, Garcia did not because he thinks he is above the law. HE IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW ! !
Was going to suggest Kathy Rundle get in there and prosecute Garcia for election fraud… but everybody knows Rundle would indict a ham sandwich before she’d ever root out municipal corruption.
Sorry, but Garcia didn’t break the law. The signatures were approved by the county and the city. If they had asked the mayor to get more signatures, he would of, but they didn’t because they reviewed and deem the signatures valid. Suco lost that battle prior to the election. They told Suco that the case was closed and that 81 of Garcia’s signatures were valid at the time of the election. The people voted, Suco lost, and that should have been the end of it. But Suco can’t let it go. He has to make a mockery of the city with this frivolous lawsuit! He wants to make the city pay for his shortcomings. He is a sad, angry little man that just needs to pack his bags and leave our fine city alone.
Garcia broke the law, pure and simple. He had the opportunity to get duplicate signature, but he chose not to. This proves, exactly, what he thinks he is, above the law. The other Council members abided by the law, he did not. He figures he is above the law. You and I abide by the law, but the law does not apply to him. I am one person who prays the Court will uphold Mr. Suco’s Complaint, thereby putting Garcia out of the Mayor’s seat. This is only one example of his dishonesty and way to dupe the Citizens of Miami Springs of their right to have a decent Mayor representing them and our City.
Fred Suco is a low life scum bag. He will stop at nothing to take control of the city for his private interests and to benefit his pocket. His arrogance will not allow him to see that the residence do not want him involved in the city. He lost the election, and the gathering of signatures has nothing to do with it. Suco is reaching for anything he can to get what he wants. The residents of the city voted, and he fell short again. Yes, that’s right, he is a three time loser. You would think he would give up and move away from the city. This time, he thinks he can force his way in. He’s not asking for another election, because he knows he can’t win on votes. He wants the courts to award him the seat, despite the fact that he didn’t have enough votes to win. All this nonsense will end up costing the residents of Miami Springs thousands of dollars. Suco likes to blame the city for his shortcomings, but then again that’s what losers do.
I am glad I no longer reside in Miami Springs. Choosing between a cheat (Garcia) and a bully (Suco) is like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Then again Garcia got what he deserved when Suco ran against him. Garcia and his council put Suco’s business interest ahead of the peace and comfort of the West End citizens. Karma is a bitch.
Maggie hands down every time all the time the deep blue sea.
Garcia doesn’t care about the rules. He dropped out of highschool. Arrested for trespassing. Was evicted from Miami Lakes. Owes the IRS $200,000. Was caught removing opponent’s yard signs in a previous election. And now he can’t follow the election rules.
Most litigants that have both the law and the facts against them always categorize rules and procedures as “technicalities”. But in a democracy those “technicalities” meaning laws that set out rules and procedures are precisely the elements that keep us free and keep us a democracy. As to “laches” I believe finding out if the Ethics Commission is going to rule, or in any manner act, should be conidered a prudent step in avoiding unnecessary court litigation.
In this case, Planas is wrong about the technicalities. A court is required to strictly construe the Election Code. The Code doesn’t allow a judge or a city official to decide what is substantive and what is not. Or to be a little more Catholic, what sins are venial and what sins are mortal. If the signatures were not collected in the time allowed, then they are invalid. However, a court may say that Fred Suco engaged in “laches” — an equitable principle that tells a litigant who waited too long to come to court that he has no remedy. Here, the court will have to decide whether waiting for the Ethics Commission to rule was a reasonable delay.
Suco did not wait. Suco filed a complaint with the State Attorney Public Corruption Unit in February right after he found out that Garcia did not have new signatures. ThE next time he was notified that there was a problem was the day before the early elections began. He filed his appeal to City Clerk the morning that early voting was started and he was denied by the same City Clerk that changed all of tge start dates for Garcia. He was left with only filing a lawsuit in circuit court. Also tge law is very clear when a conspiracy exists time is not an issue.
WTF!!! What’s orlando lopez picture doing in this article???
Fred Suco is the Rightful Mayor of Miami Springs. period!