Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez

The word is out there again: Recall

Every so often, there are rumors about a recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez — who made his lucky break on the recall of another Carlos — since he was elected after a special and historic mayoral recall.

It happened early last year, after Gimenez cozied up to our racist U.S. president and betrayed this community on sanctuary cities and a few years before that when he proposed to close down libraries and fire police and firefighters. Both times, thousands of people protested and many of them begged for a recall, but no actual petition ever materialized.

In 2014, there was an actual — albeit emotionally-fueled and feeble — recall attempt by a bereaved, retired firefighter father whose son died in a boating accident after the mayor cut fire boat services. Jack Garcia was not able to raise much money for his cause, however, and suspended the campaign after six weeks, calling it a victory because Gimenez restored fire boat services.

Today, it’s a number of insults and abuses: The $100k raise he wants, the hiked water fees, the stealing of the half-penny tax to pay for operations, the refusal to build rail to the south, the travel on taxpayer dime, the pushing for the Kendall Parkway MDX extension, the abuse of power to help his lobbyist son, the parceling away of our county piece by piece to his friends and family.

There is definitely an anti-Gimenez sentiment en la calle and Ladra thinks it would not be difficult to collect the 60,000 or so valid signatures we would need, especially during early voting next month and on Nov. 6, when hundreds of thousands of eligible voters head to the polls for the midterms.

But let’s face it: Recall efforts cost money. A lot of money. Just ask auto mogul Norman Braman, who bankrolled the ouster of former mayor Carlos Alvarez to make room for the rise of Gimenez. Ever wonder if Braman is even a little bit sorry? It would cost even more now because Gimenez can raise a ton against it from the interests that benefit from him staying in office.

So, who besides Braman has the kind of money that could make a recall happen? Well, maybe father and son Suarez.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez — who has half a million in his Imagine Miami PAC — wants to be county mayor in 2020 but Gimenez is going to do whatever he can to stop him. And the mayor is already giving Baby X, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a major challenge on the strong mayor referendum. A recall of Gimenez now can save the fam some future headaches.

First, article 8.02 of the Miami-Dade municipal code requires we send a proposed draft petition, including ballot language, to the county clerk, who must give it the legal green light. Any elected official is eligible for recall, but it must be one year since last elected. Check on that.

Then we have to get four percent of the eligible voters of Miami-Dade to sign that approved recall petition. That’s four percent of 1,406,082 (as of last July, so it might be a little more). That means you need to get 56,243 signatures. Or maybe 80,000 signatures or so to make sure that 60,000 are good.

That does not seem insurmountable with the upcoming election coming. Not if you have enough people collecting signatures.

You can also appeal to the nearly half million people who voted for the Pets’ Trust initiative only to have Gimenez slap them in the face and refuse to respect their vote. I’d be willing to bet we can get 50,000 just among them.

Once we collect the signatures, we have to present them back to the clerk for canvassing and confirmation. Once they are confirmed, they go to the county commission, which then has to set the recall election no more than 45 to 90 days after they were confirmed.

That means we could be rid of Gimenez by February. Que alivio.

This is also arguably our last chance to recall him before his term is up in 2020 — and Gimenez can do a lot of damage between now and then. So if anyone is in any kind of position to help fund a recall effort — and yes, X, Ladra is talking to you — please don’t let this timely opportunity slip by.

It’s now or never.

Carlos Gimenez, Francis Suarez, recall, Xavier Suarez

Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez added by Ladra on September 24, 2018
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