Miami Beach mayor lets AB aide go after election

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Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine used to call Leonor Hernandez the mother of Miami Beach.

Today, we can all call her a clerk in the building department after Hernandez (seen in this photo standing next to Levine with a sign in North Beach) was fired from the mayor’s office last week and Commissioner Jonah Wolfson — in one of his last acts before leaving his seat Monday — saved her with a position in another city office.

I guess she didn’t drum up enough absentee ballots.

That’s how she got her cushy job at the mayor’s office in the first place. She had been working in Wolfson’s office until she took a leave of absence to work on the 2013 race. Her performance delivering the ABs was rewarded with a position that came with perks: She came and went as she pleased, took two hour lunches and did pretty much whatever she wanted.

Read related story: A tale of two aides — fired and hired

Because everybody who knows Miami Beach politics knows that Leonor Hernandez really had one job and one job only: Deliver those absentee votes when the time comes.

And while she may have done her job with the mayor — who got more than double the absentees as his opponent — she let his slate down. Only Ricky Arriola got a good lead on ABs, with almost 700 more than Mark Weithorn.

But in the Group 6 race, John Elizabeth Aleman, who eventually won, got only 205 more ABs and those were almost a moot point after early voting and Election Day results, both of which Mark Samuelian won. But in the end, the ABs saved Aleman (and Levine) by 77 votes — so you might think Leonor would get a medal.

Enter Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who will be sworn in as commissioner Monday, and who won the election on Election Day and in absentees, where she got more than 200 over Levine’s handpicked candidate, Betsy Perez. Ditto on the runoff.

But while some might speculate that she was moved as punishment for not getting the ABs, Ladra thinks there might be something else afoot. After all, the elections are over.

Maybe she was moved to building so she could help Levine and Wofson get their way with Rebecca Towers — which the mayor’s consultant/lobbyist was on the payroll to redevelop — and who knows what else?

Levine owns multiple Beach properties and Wolfson sure has amassed a bunch of properties while sitting as commissioner. And he was the one who reportedly found her that landing spot.

So, the moral of the story here is that Leonor may have left the mayor’s office, but she is still worth watching.

  Jonah Wolfson, Miami Beach politics, Philip Levine