Protesters urge Daisy Baez to resign; GOP head says ‘refund’

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Holding up signs that said “Liar, liar” and “Resign now” in both English and Spanish, a group of Republicans protested in front of Democrat State Rep. Daisy Baez‘s Coral Gables home Monday morning — the one that sits outside the district she was elected in — and demanded she resign from office.

Baez lives in House District 112 instead of 114 where she was elected. She admitted to Ladra on Saturday that she was sleeping at her old house in Malaga Avenue and would not tell me if she had slept even one night at the apartment on Anderson Road, where she changed her voter’s registration to a week before the election.

That’s ticked some Republicans off. Like Mauricio Pons, an FIU student who worked on the campaign for John Couriel, who lost to Baez in a very close race last November (51 to 49 percent).

“There are only two things required of our state representatives. One is that they live in the district. The other is that they vote on the budget. That’s it. She failed at both,” Pons said, noting that Baez missed the May 8 vote on the state budget, the one vote the legislature must make.

“She doesn’t live in the district. What more proof do you need as proof than her leaving her house in her blue Mercedes at 8:30 a.m.,” said Pons, 20, who happens to live in 112.

Baez definitely is required to live in the district she represents. She does not. She only Saturday put an offer on a property in District 114, she said. Only now do we see the “For Rent” sign that was leaning against a wall in her porch on Saturday, on the front lawn.

Read related story: Daisy Baez should resign, not just drop out of other race

And while she isn’t really required as an individual member to vote on the budget, passing the budget is literally the only thing the legislature is required to do. And she did skip that part. Records show she neither voted yay nor nay on that. Baez told Ladra via text message that she “had permission from the speaker to return to Miami to be with my mother, who was hospitalized.” She didn’t want to be out that day because she also wanted to vote against the controversial education bill, she said.

Ladra has already said that Baez should resign just on the residency thing. She basically lied to voters when she said she represented District 114 as a voter and elector, as required. She also lied on her voter’s registration form, which is a third degree felony and she could be charged with a crime.

Miami-Dade Republian Party Chairman Nelson Diaz said Baez “failed us as a state representative” and should pay another way — by refunding her salary of about $85 a day.

“She owes us $15,000.”

  Daisy Baez, Miami-Dade Republican Party