County chairman fires chief of staff for unknown reasons

Halfway through his rocky stint as Miami-Dade Commission Chair, Commissioner Jean Monestime abruptly fired his chief of staff this week, with no explanation.

Gerard Philippeaux was told to clear out his things and leave the office Monday. Technically, he is on leave and his position is terminated Nov. 20, but sources say he has already been to Human Resources to seek another position within the vast Miami-Dade bureaucracy. Surely, he wants to keep his $112,600 annual salary.

County Hall insiders and commission staffers were shocked by the dismissal, which Monestime made in a cold, matter-of-fact letter Monday to Philippeaux, who also once worked for Commissioner Audrey Edmonson and former commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler.

“I want to sincerely thank you for your committed service to the residents of District 2 and the Office of the Chair. Effective immediately, you are placed on administrative leave and should no longer report to work.”

Some speculated that Philippeaux’s head had gotten too big as the gatekeeper of the powerful chairman. Others said that Terry Murphy is really Monestime’s right hand man and the chief of staff was extraneous. Monestime has more staff than other commissioners. Because of the additional work as chairman he has four additional staffers on his budget for a total of nine. There looks to be no immediate move to name a successor.

The dismissal also comes on the heels of what could be Monestime’s biggest political losses at the end of his first of two years as chair, when he failed to get his choice for director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation board. Traditionally, MPO members choose for a shortlisted three top candidates. But Monestime wanted to name the finalist. Could he feel that Philippeaux failed to get him those votes?

That might make sense if Murphy wasn’t the point man on that.

The chairman has also come under not wanting to cut tax increases produced by rising property values and asking Mayor Carlos Gimenez to set aside $18 milion — including $5 million going to reserves — to provide additional benefits for employees. Both initiatives failed miserably before they ever became measures. He simply could not gather the support.

Despite a few victories — most notably, having the county drop questions about criminal history from employee applications — Monestime has also come under fire for ignoring the passenger for hire controversy created by the non regulation of Uber and Lyft, public spats with Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, the former chair and everyone’s elected grandma, and cutting off speakers at commission meetings, resurrecting an old and unfair rule that says if speakers could address an issue at committee, they can’t bring it up before the full commission.

But all the speculation is just that. Most of the staffers and insiders who spoke to Ladra told her the firing came as a surprise and that they had no idea what precipitated it.

“But it’s a big deal. Something must have happened,” said one lobbyist who is at County Hall regularly.

In a statement, Monestime said “Gerard is the consummate professional. I thank him for his contributions to District 2 and to the Office of the Chair. I am pleased that the separation was on good terms, and I wish him well in his future endeavors.”

But not everybody buys that. “You don’t just up and fire your ‘consummate professional’ right hand man for no reason,” one longtime employee said.

Philippeaux is being mum about it. Smart man. He wants another job with another commissioner so he can’t badmouth Monestime.

“I have no comment whatsoever,” he told Ladra. “We work for elected officials and that’s the way it is.

“This is the world I chose to function in. Hopefully, there will be other opportunities.”

We may never know what the real reason is.

But this is Miami. So we may find out tomorrow.

Gerard Phillipeaux, Jean Monestime

County chairman fires chief of staff for unknown reasons added by Ladra on November 13, 2015
View all posts by Ladra →