Last June, when Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez went on vacation, he designated his authority to Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt.
When he went to Asia for two weeks from March 13 through 
the 28th this year and when he went to Israel for a week in November 2017, Gimenez also delegated all his “delegable authority” to Osterholt.
When he attended the Socrata Summit in Washington D.C. and to meet with Dell in Austin in October of 2015, he put then Deputy Mayor Alina Hudak in charge.
When Gimenez went to China in September 2015, he delegated to Deputy Mayor Ed Marquez. Poor Deputy Mayor Russell Benford only gets a Saturday here and there, like a dog gets a bone.
Even when he is gone for a day or an afternoon, Gimenez will delegate his duties and authority to someone of his choosing to act as a temporary boss in his absence. Our globe-trotting county mayor names his own replacement — someone who was not elected — whether he is off with his wife or traveling with lobbying buddies, playing golf around the world or taking the afternoon off for a secret off-the-books meeting.
In fact, Gimenez has designated someone to be the de facto acting mayor more than two dozen times since 2015, which is as far back as one can search correspondence on the mayor’s website, using keywords “out of office.” There are likely more than we even thought. Ladra sent a public records request asking for them Monday, but we were still waiting for the complete list Friday.
So it makes him at best selfish and at worst a hypocrite when he claims that part of the issue he has with the strong mayor referendum in Miami is that the strong mayor would be able to name a successor who would temporarily step in should the mayor resign or be removed from office.
Yet, that is precisely one of the issues he has, Gimenez told Humberto Cortina Friday on Radio Mambi, where he got a free hour — maybe it was free because you know how Spanish-language radio is — to trash the referendum.
He wants to be the only strong mayor in town.
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Gimenez says all this with a straight face, like he’s not grooming Commission 
Chairman Esteban Bovo to be his hand-picked heir so that he still has a hand in operations (read: procurement) and his friends and family plan can stay pretty much intact.
And the mayor, who was ushered in post recall, wants to make sure he is not recalled himself too easily, which is why he also told listeners to vote for the county referendum that prohibits paying petition gatherers per signature. Good enough to recall former mayor Carlos Alvarez, to make room for Gimenez, but not good enough for him now.
There is not one single amendment or referendum question that the mayor campaigns for or against because it is the right or wrong thing to do. It’s all about self interest. Or self preservation.
Gimenez also spoke against state amendment 3, putting gambling in the hands of voters — because then his lobbying sons don’t have as many opportunities — and state amendment 10, which would give us an elected sheriff and supervisor of elections, because he doesn’t want his hand picked successor to lose that power that he’s been able to abuse so freely.
Read related: Elected Miami-Dade Sheriff, SOE could curb mayor’s abuse of power
But he only spent a total of five minutes on the other questions, focusing the hour-long interview on the strong mayor measure.
“This gives too much power to one person. Not Francis Suarez because we don’t 
know who comes behind Francis Suarez,” Gimenez said on Radio Mambi regarding the current mayor, who happens to be the son of his nemesis on the county commission. Francis Suarez being strong mayor would only help his father, Commissioner Xavier Suarez, if he were to run for top dog in the county, and Gimenez doesn’t want that.
Self interest.
Ladra may also believe that the Miami strong mayor measure should be rejected by voters because it gives too much power to one person. Gimenez is living proof.
But let’s not stop there. The strong mayor structure at the county should be eliminated — and that question should be on the next countywide ballot.
Hypocrite Carlos Gimenez knocks Miami strong mayor, petition pay added by Ladra on
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